x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Nashville Predators 3, Vancouver Canucks 4 (SO): Evangelista dazzles in loss

The Nashville Predators and Vancouver Canucks faced off in a late-night match in Vancouver.

Elias Pettersson got the Canucks on the board at 4:28 of the first period, but Colton Sissons answered right back with a goal at 4:55. Nashville then went to the power play at 5:16 as Cody Glass drew a penalty. The Preds were unable to score, and then, although they continued to press the attack, Vasily Podkolzin scored against the flow of play to restore the Canucks’ lead at 10:56.

Play stagnated for most of the rest of the period, until Cal Foote took a penalty late and the Canucks got, first an extended sequence with the extra attacker on the delayed penalty, and then a power play. Foote’s stick broke while cross-checking an opponent, never great optics. The Preds were able to kill the penalty off, with the last few seconds coming after intermission at the start of the second.

While the Preds controlled most of the second period, especially at the start, they were unable to score. The good news, at least, was that they also didn’t concede another goal, even when—with nine seconds left in the period—Tyson Barrie was called for hooking and the Canucks got another power play.

Nashville was able to kill this penalty as well, but at 5:43 of the third Dakota Joshua scored to increase Vancouver’s lead to 3-1. The Preds pushed back, and were rewarded when Luke Evangelista picked up a Kiefer Sherwood rebound and put it past Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs for his first NHL goal, at 8:31.

The Predators then took a pretty egregious too-many-men penalty. While they were able to kill it off as well, a better line change really would have been a great thing to work on there; there were six Preds skaters fully involved in the play.

With around five minutes left in the game, JT Miller checked Evangelista down to the ice and the Preds bench erupted in anger. There was no call on the play, but Nashville got their revenge on the scoreboard instead, as Roman Josi capitalized on a weak Canucks clear, Barrie took the shot, and a screening Evangelista tipped it to tie the game 3-3 at 16:55.

The Preds then benefited from a questionable non-call of their own, as Matt Duchene knocked a Canucks skater off his feet to the outrage of the arena. Neither team scored in regulation, and while overtime was a lively back-and-forth affair the game eventually headed to the shootout, where Pettersson scored the only goal.