Luke Evangelista scored his first NHL goal and added a second tip in goal late to force overtime, but the Predators miss out on two points in a shootout loss.
The Nashville Predators took the ice tonight at Rogers Arena to face off against the 25-32-5 Vancouver Canucks. The Predators won the first two games on this six game road trip and were looking to earn two more points to stay in the wildcard chase. Nashville's roster tonight relied heavily on some younger forwards as Filip Forsberg, Juuso Pärssinen, and Phil Tomasino were are out due to injury. The Predators recalled forward Michael McCarron to return to the lineup after stepping away from the ice briefly and playing most recently in Milwaukee. Alexandre Carrier was out of the lineup expected to miss 4-6 weeks with an upper body injury.
Game Recap
The Canucks got the scoring started at 4:30 as Elias Pettersson scored his thirtieth goal of the year with a blast worthy of the reigning hardest shot champion. Nashville answered right back as Colton Sissons cleaned up a juicy rebound left by Arturs Silovs at 4:55.
Juuse Saros cannot make the save on an Elias Pettersson shot. Nashville immediately earned a power play as J.T. Miller headed to the penalty box for holding the stick of Cody Glass. The Predators recently potent power play didn't capitalize this time, and the teams returned to full strength two minutes later.
The Canucks retook the lead at 10:56 when Vasily Podkolzin tipped a shot through traffic past Saros. As the period wound down, Luke Evangelista nearly tied it up on a well placed pass from Tommy Novak, but Silovs made a big pad save.
With just under two minutes to play in the opening period, Cal Foote headed to the penalty box for a cross check, and Vancouver's power play went to work. The period ended with just :04 remaining on their man advantage to start the second period.
Nashville was able to kill off the last few seconds of Cal Foote's infraction, and the teams returned to five a side as the second period began. The teams traded offensive opportunities, but a scrum in front of the Vancouver net escalated as J.T. Miller and Cole Smith began throwing punches. Both headed to their respective penalty boxes to cool off for five minutes.
Cole Smith and J.T. Miller drop the gloves. The goaltenders came up with big saves to keep the score at 2-1 through the first fifteen minutes of the period. The pace picked up in the final moments, and then Tyson Barrie headed to the sin bin with :09 remaining for a hooking call. The Canucks power play carried over again into the subsequent period, and the teams headed into the second intermission with the score 2-1.
Vancouver had plenty of time on the man advantage to start the final period of play, but the Predators were able to kill off the nearly two minutes. The teams exchanged trips up and down the ice once Nashville returned to full strength. At 5::43 Dakota Joshua score on a well executed pass from Nils Aman to give the Canucks a two goal lead.
Luke Evangelista cleaned up another juicy rebound after a Kiefer Sherwood shot to score his first goal in the NHL at 8:31 and get the Preds back within a goal. Just as Nashville was gaining momentum from Evangelista's goal, the team was called for a too many men on the ice penalty. Vancouver went to work for their third attempt on the man advantage. Saros made a strong save right away, and the penalty kill kept the Canucks otherwise occupied for the remainder of the two minutes.
The Predators ramped up the pressure and with just 3:05 left in the game, Tyson Barrie fired a shot that was tipped by Luke Evangelista to tie the game late. The game headed into overtime. Vancouver put pressure on Saros and the Predators' three players on the ice but couldn't capitalize on their possessions, and the game moved on to the shootout. Elias Pettersson scored in the shootout, and Arturs Silovs made a final big save against Tommy Novak to give the Canucks the win.
Game Notes
1. Evangelista scored his first - and second - NHL goals tonight. The 21 year old forward has looked right at home in his first four NHL games, and his play tonight is a testimony to his growth in Milwaukee.
2. Nashville stayed in this game mentally. The Predators never had a lead in regulation but continued playing their game and chipping away until they could get the tying goal late. It wasn't pretty, but there are no style points in hockey.
3. One point is better than none. The Predators need to climb up in the standings in March, and this could have been a game to collect two. Nashville did get one point, so it's better than nothing but the team will need to play much better as they face more well rounded opponents later this month.
