Vancouver Canucks doubled up Nashville Predators, 4-2: NHL Play-off Recap
Ryan Kesler lit the lamp with a go-ahead goal in the third period, as the Vancouver Canucks held on for 4-2 victory against Nashville Predators to get on the brink of the Western Conference
finals, at the Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night.
Christian Ehrhoff netted a goal and assisted twice while Alexander Edler notched a goal for Vancouver, which is now up by 3-1 lead in the series and can clinch the conference semi-final
series Saturday on home ice.
Henrik Sedin also hit the net late in the third period and Roberto Luongo turned away 19-of-21 shots in the win.
"We have to take it one game at a time. The series is not over. We got to make sure we come ready to play Saturday," Luongo said.
Joel Ward and Cody Franson both found the back of the net and had an assist for the Predators, who got 24 saves from Pekka Rinne.
Vancouver drew the first blood with five minutes left in the opening period. During a failed rush, Alexander Burrows was not able to control the puck and his stick trying to elude a defenseman.
As Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin both held control of the puck in the zone, Burrows restored his stick and got position in front of Rinne, gently pushing the goalie as Ehrhoff ripped a wrist shot from the point into the net for a 1-0 lead.
The Predators then got on the board on a power-play that was resulted by a delay of game violation on Vancouver defenseman Sami Salo just three minutes later. Nashville was a combined
0-for-26 with the man advantage in the regular season and playoffs against the Presidents' Trophy winners, but Ward changed the trend by deflecting Franson's point shot and jamming home his own rebound for a 1-1 tie with less than one minute left in the first
period.
Predators found another golden chance to go up in the early stages of the second period, but they were unable to take advantage, when Luongo lost his stick for an extended period of time
after blocking a flurry at the net. Nashville went off-sides during that stretch, providing Luongo a break to catch his stick in the far corner, and then Predators found it trailing a short time later.
The Canucks went on top by 2-1 lead just few seconds before the midway mark of the second period. The goal was set up by Ehrhoff, who did most of the work, battling for possession behind
the net and passing the puck back to the point. Kesler and Edler were skating in an I-formation, and then Kesler tucked it back ever so slightly, leading to Edler's slap-shot past a screened Rinne.
Vancouver killed off two power plays later in the middle session, including a 47- second stretch when it was two men down.
"If you don't score on a 5-on-3 you probably don't win the game most times," Nashville's head coach, Barry Trotz, said.
Franson pulled an equaliser 2-2 for Predators about 3 ½ minutes into the last period. It started when Ehrhoff whiffed on a clearing attempt paving the way for Franson, who blasted a shot
cleanly through Luongo's pads for his first goal this postseason. But the lead didn't stand long.
Rinne then made a no-look pad stop on Burrows’s shot just a minute later, but had little opportunity of blocking a streaking Kesler.
With Ryan Suter in the penalty box for holding, Kesler drifted into the Predators zone with a full head of steam and caught Predators on their heels, stick-handling the puck on his way
between Shea Weber and Shane O'Brien. Once he get rid of the defensemen, he buried the puck past Rinne from short range for a 3-2 lead just 7 ½ minutes into the third period.
Luongo then kept Nashville off the board the rest of the period, and Henrik Sedin sealed the win at 4-2 with an empty-net tally with 20.6 seconds left in regulation.
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