Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators gear up for Game 3 of semi-finals: NHL Play-offs Preview
The Vancouver Canucks were awarded with the President’s trophy for having the best season in the National Hockey League (NHL), but they started to go downhill. After a hard fought battle against the eighth-seed Chicago Blackhawks in the quarter-finals, Vancouver’s might face difficulty when playing against Nashville in Game 3 of the semi-finals.
The Canucks are a flawless team, but when it comes to focusing on winning the game, they lag behind. Vancouver won Game 1, but lost in Game 2 at Rogers Arena. The way that Nashville is plays is hurting Vancouver which might struggle later on in the series if the Predators take a 2-1 lead.
It might not be totally Vancouver’s fault, facing a goalie like Pekka Rinne is more intimidating that facing a pack of wolves any day. Rinne has showed a spectacular performance throughout the post-season. He helped his team eliminate the Anaheim Ducks with a 4-2 lead in the quarter-finals and had a near shutout in game six.
"There's not a lot of room. There's not a lot of time out there to make plays, and he's a good goaltender. You've got to give him credit. I didn't expect coming into this these would be high-scoring games, and they haven't been so far," the Canucks' coach, Alain Vigneault, said talking about Rinne.
You cannot blame the Nashville Predators for not trying. Their coach, Barry Trotz, has finally gotten this far into a play-off series after standing behind the benches for over 12 seasons. The Predators have finally earned an opportunity and they will try their best to take full advantage of it.
Until now, the games have been low scoring games which ended in regulation with each team having one goal or less. Game 1 ended with Vancouver shutting out the Predators 1-0 while game two went into a double overtime with Nashville emerging victorious 2-1.
"It's a strength of this team," Rinne said. We don't panic when we are one goal down or it's a tie game. We have a lot of experience from that kind of game."
Alex Burrows has been a top performer for the Canucks in these past couple of games. Not only has he scored four goals in four match-ups, but has led his team in assists and turnovers. The Sedin twins who lead the NHL is scoring and assists have not been able to contribute a single point in this series against Nashville. Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin will both have to step up their game if they want to take a lead over the Predators. Whoever takes Game 3 will have the advantage entering the next which is always useful in a series like this. On the other side, San Jose and Detroit are fighting it out for the semi-final title which makes the outcome of this series even more exciting.
Vancouver is still missing their defenseman Sami Salo who went out with an injury in Game 6, but is close to recovering. His return will be a big boost to the Canucks who will now travel to Nashville on Tuesday in game three of the Western Conference semi-finals.
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