Pekka Rinne leads Nashville Predators to 3-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks
Pekka Rinne turned aside 29 shots to notch his fifth shutout of the season, as the Nashville Predators blanked the Vancouver Canucks 3-0, at Rogers Arena on Thursday night.
An excited Rinne said after the game,” It feels good to get the shutout in this building against one of the league's toughest teams. I'm not going to lie, it feels good."
Blake Geoffrion and Patric Hornqvist each scored a goal for Nashville, who won for the second time in seven contests (2-4-1). David Legwand also notched an empty-netter in the win. The victory meant that the Predators moved up three spots in the Western
Conference to tie for seventh place; one point ahead of ninth.
Goaltender Roberto Luongo surrendered two goals on 28 shots for Vancouver, who completed a six-game home-stand with a .500 record. The Canucks have alternated wins and losses in their previous 12 contests.
Vancouver remains on top of the National Hockey League (NHL) Standings. They currently sit three points above the Philadelphia Flyers and are four ahead of the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference.
Robert Luongo was pleased with his side’s performance despite the defeat. He said, "They’ve been different types of games, I don’t think there’s really a pattern there. Just because we win or lose I don’t think it’s because we played good or bad. They just
made fewer mistakes than we did.”
After two scoreless periods, Nashville took a 1-0 lead in the second minute of the final stanza, when Jordin Tootoo’s relentless work set up Geoffrion's second career goal. Tootoo dug the disc out from a scrum and dished out a pass to Geoffrion, who put
the puck into the net from the top of the crease.
Geoffrion praised Jordin Tootoo after the game. He said, “My first two games I was pretty nervous, I’m not going to lie to you. I was kind of cautious with the disc and kind of frightened to make plays. Toots then helped me out. He told me to relax and make
plays and don’t worry about making mistakes.”
With less than three minutes remaining in the final period, Nashville doubled their advantage with an insurance goal. The goal came after Hornqvist stole the puck away from a Canucks defender. He then used a back-hander to get the puck past the Vancouver
net-minder.
With less than a minute remaining, Legwand notched an empty-net goal to seal the victory at 3-0.
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