On Monday night, the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators faced off against each other for the second time in nearly two weeks. The two teams played against each other on Oct. 23, with the Predators edging out the Canucks by a score of 2-1. Vancouver was coming off a 5-2 loss at the hands of the struggling Minnesota Wild, and Nashville was coming off a 4-2 win against the struggling Calgary Flames. Vancouver would get a welcome sight with their captain Quinn Hughes returning to the lineup from injury.
Game Recap
Both teams got out to a hot start and tried to get the opening goal of the game and start ahead. The Predators would be the team that got the opening goal of the game, with Filip Forsberg scoring. Forsberg took a great pass from Brady Skjei, and he deflected it past Thatcher Demko for a 1-0 lead. After the Predators took the lead, they sent the Canucks to the power play after Nicholas Hague took a hooking penalty.
On the advantage, Vancouver had some good movement, and Filip Hronek set up Evander Kane for a one-timer, and Kane finally scored his first goal as a Canuck. A definite dream come true for the B.C. native. Kane’s goal was the final marker of the first period as both teams went into the intermission with the score at 1-1.
The second period saw a pretty even game for the first 10 minutes, and neither team was able to score in that time. But the Canucks were given a 5-on-3 advantage with close to seven minutes remaining in the period and were able to break the tie. Shortly after the 5-on-3 ended, the Canucks maintained possession and set up a play. Elias Pettersson sent a great pass to Brock Boeser, and he sent the puck to the net, and it hit off of Jake DeBrusk and in to give Vancouver the 2-1 lead.
Quickly after the Canucks took the lead, Tom Willander carried the puck into the Predators’ zone and sent it out to Boeser in the slot. He fired the puck on net, and it beat Juuse Saros to give the Canucks a 3-1 lead. Another goal for Boeser and Willander’s first NHL point.
But near the end of the period, Aatu Raty took a hooking penalty and sent Nashville to the power play. While playing on the advantage, the Predators set up a great passing play with Luke Evangelista sending the puck down to Filip Forsberg, and he slid it to Erik Haula in the slot, and he scored on Demko to bring Nashville to within one before the period ended. Heading into the intermission with the Canucks leading by a score of 3-2.
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In the third period, Vancouver was able to answer quickly to Nashville’s late goal and restore their two-goal lead. On a Predators delayed penalty, Hughes began a tic-tac-toe play, and Kane finished off the sequence to put the Canucks up 4-2 and earn his second goal of the game. But Nashville would not go away quietly and scored another goal to get back in the game. Spencer Stastny fired a puck from the blue line, and Michael Bunting tipped in the shot to bring the Predators to within one.
Then, with Nashville on a power play towards the end of the game, Predators forward Matthew Wood tried to send a pass to the slot, and the puck got tipped to the point. Predators defender Nick Blankenburg one-timed the free puck, and it beat Demko to tie the game 4-4 with three minutes left. With the tied score, the game headed to overtime to decide a winner.
In the overtime period, both teams traded chances as the point up for grabs is incredibly important for each side. With the seconds winding down, it looked like the game was headed for a shootout, but the Canucks had other ideas. Off a timeout, the Canucks gained possession in the offensive zone with 10 seconds left in the frame. The puck squirted free, and Pettersson poked the puck away from Ryan O’Reilly and onto the stick of Boeser. With little time left on the clock, he dragged the puck to his backhand and beat Juuse Saros with nearly a second left on the clock to secure a huge overtime win for the Canucks.
Vancouver now has another game in the win column and improved to 7-7-0. They will be facing the Chicago Blackhawks in their next game at home on Wednesday. The Predators now drop to 5-6-3 and will be on the road to face Minnesota tomorrow.
