Coach Barry Trotz Comments
Pekka Rinne, Cody Franson, Dan Hamhuis, Dustin Boyd, Ryan Suter, and Jason Arnott comment
Coach Alain Vigneault, Jannik Hansen, Mikael Samuelsson and Roberto Luongo comment
The Vancouver Canucks came from behind with a three goal third period to beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at the Bridgestone Arena.
Jannik Hansen scored on a breakaway with 5:42 remaining in the contest to put the Canucks in the lead and give them the victory. Alex Edler, Mikael Sammuleson and Henrik Sedin also had goals for Vancouver.
Olympic gold medal winner, Roberto Luongo got the win for the Canucks stopping 33 of 35 Predator shots.
The Predators goals were scored by Jason Arnott and Jordin Tootoo. Pekka Rinne took the loss and stopped 24 of 27 Vancouver shots.
Scoring Recap...
The game got off to a fast paced start with plenty of chippiness. At 3:30, a fight between Alexandre Burrows and Dan Hamhuis broke out near center ice that sent both to the box with five minute majors.
Vancouver was the first to get on the scoreboard at 11:10 when Alexander Edler was stationed in front of the Predator net and received a pass from Ryan Kesler who was in the corner and put it past Denis Grebeshkov and Pekka Rinne to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead.
The Preds came back to tie the game at 13:44 on the power play when Jason Arnott let go with a slap shot from near the blue line that was initially stopped by Roberto Luongo, but was then knocked in while trying to clear the puck from blue ice.
The Predators took the lead at 7:25 of the second period when Colin Wilson fed a pass to Jordin Tootoo who broke toward the Canuck goal from center ice, took a shot and followed knocking the rebound past Luongo to make ii 2-1.
In the third period, at 9:59, Mikael Samuelsson tied the game 2-2 on a shot from near the boards on the left of the Pred's net as he skated into the zone a half a step ahead of Dan Hamhuis. Rinne got a glove on the puck but it deflected into the net.
The Canucks took the lead at 14:18 when Jannik Hansen got behind the Predator defense and took an outlet pass from Kyle Wellwood that set up a one on one against Rinne who stopped the initial shot but let in a shot off the rebound. The odd man situation was created by J. P. Dumont and Denis Grebeshkov that took both out of the play.
Vancouver got an empty net goal from Henrik Sedin with four seconds left to put the icing on the cake.
Storylines From The Game...
A Couple of Unfortunate Goals Allowed by Pekka Rinne...
The game was not one that Pekka wants to remember very long. The first goal was one where he was completely screened by Denis Grebeshkov. The second goal was a soft one that he would love to have back and the third goal was one that he stopped, but failed to control the the rebound.
Rinne was obviously upset with himself in the locker room after the game. "I gave up the lead," Pekka said. "I don't know what else to say."
On the second goal he explained, "It went off may arm and went in. It was a weak goal, I don't know." On the game winner by Hanson, "I thought I had the goal in by belly but I didn't. He picked up the rebound and put it in."
Jason Arnott was forgiving saying, "We're not going to lay the blame on Peks. We sat back in the third and let them come at us."
To his credit, Rinne was having an outstanding game other than the two shots that he would love to have back at a critical time in the game.
Losing the Lead in the Third Period...
At this time of the year, in the midst of a race for a playoff position, the Predators cannot afford to lose a game late in the third period as they did on Sunday.
"Any time you have a lead on a team, you should at least be able to hold on to it, " stated Cody Franson. "We needed to keep the pressure on them and not sit on our heels for the rest of the period. That is the way that one went."
Jason Arnott had similar thoughts, "When we have a lead going into the third we have to keep forcing them and keep playing the way we are and try not to sit back. You know it costs us. We sat back a little too much, then it was too late."
One Final Olympic Quote...
Last Sunday, Ryan Suter was facing Roerto Luongo in the USA-Canada gold medal game in Vancouver and he faced him a week later to the minute with the Canucks in Nashville. When asked about the two games, Suter said, "They were both big games and I guess he's got the better of me on Sundays."
Up Next...
The loss, combined with Detroit's win over Chicago left the Predators with a one point lead over eighth place Detroit 75-74 as the head out of town on a four game road trip.
The Predators will go to Atlanta for a game on Tuesday night and then make a quick trip to the West coast for three games in four nights against San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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