The Canucks had a strong start to game five, but the Predators clamped down in a must-win game to win 2-1.
Head Coach Rick Tocchet said he liked the way the team played in the first period and had opportunities to score but weren’t able to finish their looks.
“I thought we should have come up with something, but we didn't. But, you know, 1-0 and obviously an unfortunate penalty, they were opportunistic in the third,” Tocchet said.
On special teams, Vancouver was 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play.
“The execution wasn't good. We’ve got to make a play under pressure and then sometimes just take what's given. I don't know what we’re doing, we’re throwing the puck the middle and we chipped it to a guy a couple of times, when they got possession. Learning lessons in playoffs when under pressure and you’ve got to be able to make those plays,” Tocchet said.
Nikita Zadorov scored the Canucks’ goal in the game. He felt the Canucks generated good looks offensively, despite just putting up one goal on the night.
“We had a lot of zone time, we run low and high, we had a lot of shots, backdoor tips [too] we had some chances from that, so [we] could have buried them but it's playoff hockey like 2-1, 1-0 games to win the series. It’s hard to close in this league, Nashville’s a good team, they push back, they stick with it. We stole last game in their building and I think they stole this game here, so it's on us to go up there and play our best hockey and try to shut it down,” Zadorov said.
Insider Extra
We caught up with Nils Höglander following the game and began by asking him about his line playing more physical early on.
“It feels like when you play that physical game, you come into the game more and are more ready to play,” said Höglander. “We talked about it before and just need to keep playing like this. I think we stepped it up a little bit today and had some chances to score. It sucked that we lost. I think we played a little bit better than the other games, especially more physical.”
“I think we played better today than in the past games, but we still need to step up a little bit and keep playing physical. This is what we work for the whole year.”
Höglander knows Artūrs Šilovs well from their time in Abbotsford together and he is confident in the young goaltender.
“Arty had been really good,” said Höglander. “These two games, he has been unreal. It’s fun that he got a chance to play here and he’s doing really good for us.”
Game Summary
Through both the first and second periods the Canucks and Predators played tight defence, neither side giving up a goal.
In the third, Zadorov lasered a shot from the left side just above the goal line, finding the top corner pocket.
