The Preds evened the series up at one apiece after their 4-1 win last night in Vancouver. I would say the Canucks shot themselves in the foot, but it would probably have been blocked by a sprawling Nashville player. Without a couple key contributors, it was a tough game for the hometown boys. If you’re interested, here are your highlights:
News broke before the game that star netminder Thatcher Demko would be out for the game/series, and the series advantage took a decided shift towards the Nashville goalies. It played out from the start: a tough goal on the first shot against DeSmith, and Saros coming up huge when he needed to against the Canucks. With the crowd trying to get behind DeSmith early chanting his name, the first shot took a bad bounce and ended up in the back of the net.
“I didn’t see the guy’s stick in the lane and I was just kind of moving over to the backdoor guy expecting him to tip it,” DeSmith said of the first goal. “It got tipped up a little higher and [my] blade slipped out. That was a tough way to start.”
Saros, on the other end, was standing on his head when he was needed. The thing is, he didn’t need to as much as the Canucks would have wanted. The boys fired an impressive 84 shot attempts towards the Nashville net, but only 18 actually made it through to Saros. Nashville blocked… a lot of shots. At one point in the third period, they had more blocked shots than shot attempts. According to naturalstattrick.com, the Canucks owned 72.5 per cent of expected-goals-for at five-on-five.
This game wasn’t decided by the Canucks’ goaltending, though, it was more about the other end of the rink. They did a lot of things well, but they just couldn’t finish.
“We just can't waver, can't start trying to make pretty plays, pretty passes,” Miller summarized. “I mean, we made nice plays today; we didn't really finish. Eight-five shots, it's not like we're not shooting the puck. I mean, it's a lot of attempts. I don't know, I don't want to reinvent the wheel here. We did a lot of good things.”
Missed shots, missed open nets, blocked shots, and a power play that’s struggling mightily. The Canucks are 0 for 6 in the series, and have put just five shots total on net during that advantage. That is a quick way to lose a series.
“We had some chances, some looks on the [power play], some empty nets we didn’t capitalize on,” Tocchet said. “Maybe we got a little frustrated but we threw a lot of rubber around that area. We’ve got to keep doing that. I think the game plan is there, we’ve just got to start executing.”
The Preds are playing well – full credit to them – and they seem like a more desperate team. Maybe it’s telling a young Canucks team something.
“I thought we created a lot today (84 shot attempts), just didn’t capitalize on our chances. That was the difference in the game,” Zadorov said. “They’re super desperate. They're laying for every puck, they're trying to block with their faces. So, that's what maybe we can learn from them in that particular thing. It’s hard to win. I mean, it's playoff hockey. It’s a long series. There’s no panic in the room.”
“A lot of yellow jerseys,” Miller said of what he sees when he looks up to shoot. “I was slap-passing because Ryan McDonough is in the way all the time. You’ve got to get layers at the net and find the sticks and it’s hard to do. We had those moments but it didn’t happened.
“If we don’t get off Canucks hockey, we can find goals if we stay with it. They will come.”
One person they need goals to come from is Pettersson. He had a really rough game last night. Tocc knows it, and more importantly Petey knows it. He had nine shot attempts last night, but none hit the net: seven blocked and two missed.
“I just knew I had an open net and the puck stood on high edge right away, but I’ve got to score,” Petey said post-game.
“I put us in a bad spot with my mistake on that goal and that can’t happen,” he added. “If I score in the first, it’s a 1-1 game and maybe a different outlook. We’re creating looks and chances, but I’m always my biggest critic. I take a lot of blame for this one.”
“Petey is like the team — sometimes we’re not decisive,” Tocc said. “When you beat pressure and go downhill, we defer and try to throw a cross-ice pass. As for Petey, he’s a young kid and this is his first taste of pressure in the playoffs.
“It’s good for him. He’s got to learn. Dust himself off and be ready for Game 3. I want to see him shoot the puck and he’s got to take it.”
The Canucks will have to find a better way to beat Saros and the rest of Nashville’s defender-goalies as the series shifts back to their turf on Friday. The Canucks are traveling today, then skating tomorrow ahead of the earlier start time. Let’s see what adjustments the boys can make in the mean time.
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