VANCOUVER, BC – Mike Fisher and Joel Ward displayed chemistry on Saturday night and cooked up a victory over the heavily favored Vancouver Canucks.
“I’m just trying to have a good time here, you never know when you’re going to be here again,” Ward said on NHL on the Fly after the game.
Ward scored two goals and added an assist on the night.
“This was a resilient effort, just hanging in there (in the first period),” said head coach Barry Trotz after the game. “We were on our heels and then we scored that first one and it was huge for us.”
In their first franchise win in an elimination game, the Predators were flat in the first period and appeared a bit listless on the offense.
That first goal Trotz referred to was a shorthanded marker set up by Ward. Off a defensive zone faceoff, Ward managed to chip the puck out of the zone and chased it down in the neutral zone. Recognizing the opportunity, David Legwand rushed up the middle and took a perfect feed from a patient Ward just inside the Canucks’ blueline for a breakaway. He beat Roberto Luongo to his right side for the 1-0 lead.
Legwand’s shot on goal was one of five the entire first period for the Predators.
The Canucks were not to be outdone in the first though. Raffi Torres potted his first goal of the post season at 5:59 off assists from Jannik Hansen who stripped the puck from a Predators’ stick. Torres had drifted into the low slot and took a perfect pass from Hansen to wrist the puck past Pekka Rinne for the tying marker.
With just four minutes left in the period, Chris Higgins broke the puck out his defensive zone for Vancouver and Mason Raymond raced up ice on a two-on-one with Ryan Kesler Raymond went deep to Rinne’s left and flicked a pass across the low slot to Kesler who tipped it past Rinne for the 2-1 lead.
The biggest shift in the series was in the second period when Legwand was credited with his second goal of the game. From directly behind the Canucks’ cage Legwand managed to lift the puck over the cage where it hit Alex Edler in the glove just as he was moving his upper body toward the goal. Luongo had no chance as he clearly had no idea where the puck was.
With the game tied at two apiece, the Predators brewed up the chemistry that has gotten them to the second round.
Ward was the author of the next two Predators’ goals. First he took a sharp, hard pass across the high slot from Fisher and one-timed the puck past Luongo for the 3-32 lead at 1:14 of the third.
Then, at 5:45 Ward buried what was to become the game winner. The Canucks’ defense was unable to gain complete control of the puck deep in the zone. Jordin Tootoo deflected the puck to Ward who was in position to wrist it past Luongo for the 4-2 lead.
Kesler added his second of the night at 16:14 to inject some energy into the arena and the Vancouver bench. But this game was over before the Canucks could regain any solid momentum.
So, now the Predators head home for game six in the series. “Smashville” has not been kind to the home side this series with the Canucks winning games three and four last week.
Game six will be Monday night.
Contact Lou.Lafrado@prohockeynews.com
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