270.The Canucks are one win away from advancing to their first conference final since 1994
VANCOUVER - The Nashville Predators will be the opponent when the Vancouver Canucks are forced to play a game they hoped to avoid. jerseys china
But the team the Canucks dont want beating them Monday night in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal (CBC, 8 p.m. ET) is themselves.
Vancouver mistakes, turnovers and bad bounces helped give the Predators a 4-3 victory Saturday that allowed Nashville to stay alive in the playoffs. The Canucks lead the series 3-2, but know they must reduce their errors to avoid a Game 7 back in Vancouver Wednesday.
Kesler lost a tooth and needed stitches to close a gash on his chin after being hit in the face with a puck Saturday. He returned to score his second goal of the night in a losing cause.
The gritty centre has been the best Canuck in the playoffs. Hes scored five goals in the last three games and been a dominating physical force. china nfl jerseys
Coach Alain Vigneault said he needs more of his players to share the Superman role with Kesler.
The Predators return home believing they can still advance to the next round of the playoffs.
The Canucks, who finished the regular season with the best record in the NHL, have dominated the Predators for most of the series. Vancouver has been more physical, fired more shots at Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne, and shut down most of the Predators scoring chances.
But the Predators, who finished fifth in the West, are a team that keeps hanging around. They have taken advantage of Canuck mistakes to score goals.
Two of Nashvilles goals Saturday came off breakdowns in the Canucks end. A turnover on the power play led to a short-handed goal.
The Predators also got lucky when a shot from behind the net deflected off a Canuck defenceman and past a surprised goaltender Roberto Luongo.
Luongo said the Canucks lost, but they were not beaten.
The Canucks are one win away from advancing to their first conference final since 1994. But a loss against Nashville forces another Game 7 in a series Vancouver easily could have wrapped up earlier.
Vancouver courted disaster in the opening round of the playoffs. The Canucks leaped into a 3-0 lead against the Chicago Blackhawks, then needed an overtime goal in Game 7 to finally finish off the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Daniel Sedin won the regular-season scoring title with 104 points, including a career-high 41 goals, and is a finalist for league MVP. Yet he has gone six playoff games without a goal.
Twin brother Henrik, last years scoring champion and league MVP, has just one goal in the playoffs and that was into an empty net. The Canuck captain has two assists in the last six games, and they both came in one night.
There has been speculation that Henrik Sedin is playing with an injury. On Sunday Henrik again said hes healthy.
The Canucks wont have forward Mikael Samuelsson in the lineup for Game 6. He looked to hurt his knee after being tangled up with Nick Spaling on Saturday night and didnt make the trip to Nashville.
