Canucks rally in 3rd, defeat Predators in Game 1

VANCOUVER -- Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua scored 12 seconds apart in the third period, and the Vancouver Canucks rallied for a 4-2 win against the Nashville Predators in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at Rogers Arena on Sunday.

Suter tied it 2-2 at 8:59 by deflecting Quinn Hughes' point shot under the glove of goalie Juuse Saros. Joshua then put Vancouver in front 3-2 at 9:11, scoring blocker side from the edge of the crease after Elias Lindholm and Conor Garland won a battle behind the net.

“It’s a special moment. I’ll never forget it,” Joshua said of the reaction after his goal. “And it makes you want to keep doing it.”

Joshua, who also had an assist, did just that. He scored his second goal into an empty net with 1:28 left to make it 4-2, securing a win in the Canucks' first home playoff game since 2015.

“The building was crazy,” Joshua said. “You think you know what to expect until you get out there and you don't. The fans were behind us all night and it was nice to pull through for them.”

Lindholm also scored, and Thatcher Demko made 20 saves for the Canucks, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division.

“Goose bumps for sure,” Lindholm said. “Just in the warmups, people are standing up, you’re kind of fired up, kind of have to control your emotions a little bit during the warmup. ... It’s great to have playoff hockey. Obviously, it’s a lot of fun.”

Ryan O'Reilly and Jason Zucker scored, and Saros made 17 saves for the Predators, who are the first wild card from the West.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 series will be here on Tuesday.

“It probably wasn't my favorite game we played,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “We were a little sloppy with the puck, but I thought we handled the emotion, we handled the crowd, we handled the heavy forecheck, we handled the physicality. I thought we were starting to take over the game and we fall asleep on a shift in the offensive zone, lose assignments, don't block a shot and it's 2-2.”

Zucker put Nashville ahead 1-0 at 16:15 of the first period, scoring short side with a wrist shot from the top of the right face-off circle that caught Demko pushing to his right behind traffic.

Lindholm scored 47 seconds into the second period to tie it 1-1, beating Saros under his blocker with a wrist shot from above the left circle on a rush.

“It’s always nice to score, especially in front of the fans here,” Lindholm said. “Right now, it doesn’t matter who scores, but I’m glad I could help a little bit.”

O’Reilly converted on the Predators' first power play to put them back in front 2-1 at 10:46. He shot over Demko’s glove from the left face-off dot with Luke Evangelista driving to the net.

Nashville had two more power plays later in the second period but couldn't score to extend the lead.

“(It) felt like we played a little slow there in the other power plays,” Predators captain Roman Josi said. “Couldn't get much going, so that's definitely something that needs to be better.”

Suter tied it less than three minutes after the Canucks killed the Predators' final power play in the third period.

“We score that second goal to tie and it looked like everybody breathed a little bit, even the fans, like OK, we have that goal, but I have to credit that next shift,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "We didn't rest on it. We got the puck in deep and obviously got the [third] goal there. So, that's the sort of stuff, in playoff hockey you build on momentum, you get the crowd going, you try to build that momentum."

Nashville was 32-4-1 when leading after two periods during the regular season while Vancouver was 3-14-2 when trailing after 40 minutes.

“It's uncharacteristic for us the last 40 games or so,” Brunette said. “It was a little bit of a theme early in the year where the shift after a goal is so important and we just didn't execute. There was a breakdown and a breakdown on the goal before, too, so a little disappointing. We haven't done that in a long time.”

NOTE: Vancouver's two goals in 12 seconds were the fastest in its history.