NASHVILLE -- The Nashville Predators hope establishing a stronger forecheck will lead to more offensive zone time in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round against the Vancouver Canucks at Bridgestone Arena on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; MAX, TBS, BSSO, TVAS2, SN).
The Predators evened the best-of-7 series 1-1 with a 4-1 victory at Vancouver on Tuesday, despite being limited to 16 shots on goal. They know they’re going to have to generate more chances if they’re going to win the series, and it starts with making sure they’re getting the puck out of their defensive zone when they have the opportunity.
“Just getting the puck out on the walls,” Nashville forward Luke Evangelista said. “That’s a big thing for myself that I’m working on in my head and even in practice, just getting it out of our zone so we can spend less time in the D-zone.
"And then just get back to our forecheck. We’re a really good forecheck team. We hound really well, turn pucks over, and I don’t think we’ve quite been able to get to that level in the first couple games. I think if we get back to that, we’re going to be dangerous and spend a lot more time in the O-zone."
One adjustment the Predators will try to make in Game 3 will be dumping the puck in spots in the offensive zone more conducive to establishing the forecheck. They want to be more intentional about not allowing Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith to play the puck.
“I think we were probably dumping pucks to their goalie a little bit too much,” Predators forward Colton Sissons said. “We’ve seen that a few times, so we know to clean that up. Just really putting in spots that we can get our pressure going a little bit quicker and make it harder on those guys.”
Vancouver had an 84-36 advantage in Game 2 in shot attempts, with Nashville blocking 30 shots, a big factor that led to the Canucks finishing with only 18 shots against Predators goalie Juuse Saros.
Though Nashville will place an emphasis on spending more time in the offensive zone, it wants to continue to remain as committed to stuffing the shooting lanes defensively.
The Predators say they aren’t as concerned with the number of attempts they’re giving up as long as the majority of them aren’t getting through to Saros; the Canucks had 21 shots (on 55 shot attempts) in their 4-2 win in Game 1.
“At least in this series, it seems like [shots on goal have been] hard to come by,” Nashville forward Gustav Nyquist said. “They’ve been low-shot games. A lot of that is blocking shots for both teams. Ice is hard to come by out there. It’s a game that’s hard to get an inch out there. Everyone is giving it their all. It’s fun.”
As the home team in Game 3, the Predators will have the last change, with the opportunity to better control the matchups.
“I think they’re really deep through the middle,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think they trust all four lines, and so do we. I think it’ll be a little bit of a chess match. We’ll see. We’ll kind of dictate the flow of the game and see where it’s at.
"I like most of our lines against anybody.”
