*Photo from Reuters*
Vancouver leads series 1-0
One of the more competitive games of the day was this one. Dakota Joshua had two goals and an assist, Quinn Hughes had two assists, and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Nashville Predators with a 4-2 win Sunday in Vancouver.
The Canucks got the win on the strength of 3 unanswered goals in the 3rd period, including two in 12 seconds. With the first playoff game in Vancouver since 2015, the Canucks got off on the right foot after winning the Pacific Division in the regular season.
Canucks forward Elias Lindholm said of the environment "Goosebumps for sure. Just in the warmups, people are standing up, you’re kind of fired up, kind of have to control your emotions a little bit during the warmup. It’s great to have playoff hockey. Obviously, it’s a lot of fun."
Jason Zucker started the scoring in this one, giving the Predators a 1-0 lead with the only goal of the first period. Lindholm tied the game 1-1 for the Canucks when he scored just 47 seconds into the second period. Ryan O'Reilly put the Predators ahead 2-1 when he scored a power play goal at the 10:46 mark of the period.
Pius Suter tied the game 2-2 for the Canucks when Hughes and Brock Boeser assisted on his goal 8:59 into the 3rd period. Just 12 seconds later, Joshua scored to put the Canucks ahead 3-2 with Hughes and Conor Garland assisting. With the net empty and 1:28 left on the clock, Joshua scored his second goal of the game to seal the 4-2 Canucks win.
Joshua said of his go ahead goal that "It’s a special moment. I’ll never forget it. And it makes you want to keep doing it. The building was crazy. You think you know what to expect until you get out there and you don't. The fans were behind us all night and it was nice to pull through for them."
As expected, Thatcher Demko got the start for the Canucks in goal and was able to rally to put together a win. Demko stopped 20 of the 22 shots the Predators offense sent his way, giving him a .909 save percentage.
Drawing the start opposite Demko for the Predators was Juuse Saros, who had a solid game despite the loss. Saros turned aside 17 out of the 20 shots on goal the Canucks tested him with, good for a .850 save percentage.
Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said of the loss that "We were a little sloppy with the puck, but I thought we handled the emotion, we handled the crowd, we handled the heavy forecheck, we handled the physicality. I thought we were starting to take over the game and we fall asleep on a shift in the offensive zone, lose assignments, don't block a shot and it's 2-2."
Game two is on Tuesday night in Vancouver, with the Canucks looking to grab a 2-0 series lead and the Predators trying to steal a win on the road and tie the series.
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