VANCOUVER, BC – Ordinary. That’s what a bunch of players with patience, enthusiasm, excitement, and passion made the Vancouver Canucks look like on Saturday night. Ordinary.
The Vancouver Canucks looked to make something happen off a neutral zone face off in the second overtime. The Canucks pressed forward but the Predators picked off a pass and turned the rush into the Vancouver defensive zone.
Ryan Suter tipped the puck to Nick Spalling who fed a perfect pass across the high slot to Matt Halischuk who wristed a shot into the high corner over Roberto Luongo’s glove.
Keith Ballard made a decision to slide in front of Halischuk as he shot the puck and got nothing of the puck. Instead, the puck was in the back of the net and the Predators celebrated. There was 5:09 left in the second overtime.
“Spally (Spalling) made a great pass,” Halischuk said of the play on Versus after the game.
“Pekka (Rinne) is unbelievable and he’s been our go-to guy all year,” Halischuk said of his goaltender.
Rinne was the story of regulation and overtime for the Predators as he stopped all but one shot all night and that was on a short-handed situation. He was brilliant I the second overtime robbing several Canucks of their moment to celebrate.
In the second period, Alexandre Burrows and Ryan Kessler broke up a Nashville rush and walked back into the offensive zone with Kessler feeding Burrows a short pass who flipped the puck past Rinne for the 1-0 lead at 2:00 of the period.
For the remainder of regulation, especially the third period, the Predators played well and made the Canucks look frankly ordinary. Their defensive scheme and pursuit of loose pucks kept Vancouver at bay. The Canucks certainly had their chances but this is the club expected to walk through the post season to the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Predators made them look ordinary in two games in British Columbia.
“Our execution was off,” said Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault in post game remarks. “Give them (Predators) credit they played a heckuva game.”
“We weren’t able to beat a great goaltender tonight,” said Vigneault.
“It was a big win for us,” said Predators head coach Barry Trotz. “Tonight we played Predator hockey. Our work ethic was there.”
The Predators forced overtime on what can best be described as a soft goal.
Suter was given credit for the tying goal with 1:07 left in regulation as Rinne was racing for the bench in favor of the extra skater.
Martin Erat had forced the puck to the corner to the right of Luongo’s cage. He turned scooped up the puck and put it into the paint at Luongo’s feet. Suter tapped it and the puck skidded across the goal line. The only sound heard was the breaking hearts of Canucks fans.
With the series tied at one apiece the teams shift to Nashville for games three and four where the Predators suddenly (r not) have home ice advantage. Game three is Tuesday.
Contact Lou.Lafrado@prohockeynews.com
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