Vancouver Canucks beat Nashville Predators 2-1 - NHL Play-off Recap
Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond both scored first-period goals and Roberto Luongo turned aside 23 shots, as the Presidents' Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks advanced to the Western Conference finals with a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators in Game
6 on Monday night.
It was not easy for the Canucks, but they fought for everything and advanced to the third-round of the Stanley Cup Play-offs for the first time in 17 years.
Vancouver last made it to the Conference Finals in 1994 when it beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in five contests to advance to its second Stanley Cup Finals.
The Canucks will now face either the Detroit Red Wings or the San Jose Sharks in their Western Conference finals appearance. San Jose has won the first three contests of the series, but has lost the previous two games with Game 6 scheduled for Tuesday in
Detroit.
"We knew we wanted to take care of business tonight and we came out strong," said Luongo. "I thought we did a good job protecting the lead and now have a bit of time to prepare for the next round."
David Legwand notched the lone goal in the middle period and Pekka Rinne stopped 17 shots for Nashville, which was in the second-round play-off series for the first time in franchise history after dispatching Anaheim Ducks in the first-round.
"It's just an empty feeling we all have right now," said Rinne. "You don't want to go home early and you don't want to lose your last game, but it happened and we now have the offseason to think about it."
The Canucks had an opportunity to win the series at home on Saturday, but two final-period goals from Joel Ward helped the Predators win an elimination contest for the first time in club history.
Vancouver came out strong and notched a pair of goals less than two minutes apart to take a 2-0 advantage.
The first goal occurred in the eighth minute of the opening period when Ryan Suter turned the puck over in his own end. Ryan Kesler controlled the puck and from behind the left side of the net he made a feed to Raymond, who jammed the puck home for a 1-0
lead.
The Canucks doubled their advantage on the power-play in the ninth minute of the first period. Henrik Sedin sent a pass in front of the net, where Daniel Sedin banged the puck home from the left side for his sixth goal of the play-offs.
Luongo was solid between the pipes in the opening period, turning away 11 shots, but the Predators got on the board just less than four minutes into the middle period.
Legwand crashed the net with the puck on a breakaway and shoved a shot past Luongo into the cage. The goal was reviewed and upheld.
The Canucks’ defence did his job in the third period when the team limited the Predators to just six shots and no power-plays.
Even with Rinne benched for the extra-skater, Nashville failed to put any pressure on the Canucks as they spent much of the time in the Predators end.
Tags: