Steven Stamkos tallied twice on the power play, and Zach L’Heureux scored his first NHL goal as the Nashville Predators defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a 5-3 final on Sunday night at Rogers Arena. The result gives the Preds points in four of their last five outings and the first win of their current roadtrip.
Roman Josi and Gustav Nyquist also found the back of the net in the win, and Juuse Saros made 24 saves for Nashville in the first meeting between the two clubs since the first round of last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs - and Sunday’s effort left a satisfying taste.
“We needed a response, for sure, especially after the last game, so it’s great to see Zach get on the board,” Stamkos said. “Obviously, your first NHL goal brings a big spark to the group, and it was nice to get out to a lead tonight. I know they tied it up, but at least we had some good momentum there. And obviously, special teams was big, and we took advantage of that.”
“It was gutsy,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of the win. “I thought the second [period], we kind of got to our game a little bit and showed a little bit how we can play. We're a little bit consistent in that area… I thought we played on our heels a little bit [in the first and third period], but we dug in in the big moments and made some big plays down the stretch to win a hockey game.”
L’Heureux opened the scoring on Sunday when he took a nifty feed from Cole Smith and deposited a shot past former Preds goaltender Kevin Lankinen for his first-career tally - the 227th player in Nashville franchise history to score a goal.
“Unreal,” L’Heureux said of scoring his first goal. “Obviously, getting the two points is the most important part, and to get both in one night is pretty special. I’ve been working a long way, and it’s been close to a month now I’ve been here and it hasn't come, so obviously happy to get it out of the way and keep going.”
“It's probably one of your favorite things of being a coach or even a player, seeing guys get their first goal,” Brunette said. “I think that's pretty special to be part of it and really happy for him… It was a big goal for us, and kind of got us going.”
Vancouver evened the score before the first period was out with a tip-in off a faceoff from Aatu Raty, and the Canucks took a 2-1 lead when Elias Petterson converted on a power play midway through the second stanza.
However, the latter half of the middle period belonged to the Preds, and Stamkos got his first of the night on the power play with a wrister from just inside the left point to even the score. Just over two minutes later, Josi took a feed from Brady Skjei and one-timed his second of the season into the twine to give Nashville the lead once more for his 700th NHL point.
Then, Stamkos went to work again and potted his second power-play goal of the night - this time a wrister from the left circle - for a two-goal Preds advantage through 40 minutes.
“We had some really good puck movement,” Stamkos said. “I really liked our retrievals and battles, and we kept a couple plays alive, and that's huge. I thought [Filip Forsberg] was really good at doing that. He seemed to be everywhere and disruptive and kept some pucks in. And for me, just trying to have a little more of a shooter's mentality out there. And it's nice to get a puck in some pretty good areas and get some quality shots.”
Former Preds forward Kiefer Sherwood brought the Canucks back to within one in the final frame, but Nyquist iced things to send the visitors out with two points.
“We didn't get down on ourselves,” L’Heureux said of holding on after Sherwood’s goal. “Obviously, we knew there wasn't much time left, but still, it was easy to maybe feel sorry for ourselves there. I think we stuck with it. There wasn't any negativity. All the guys stepped up and knew we were still in a good position to win this hockey game. Obviously, we knew they were going to have a push, and they did, but I think we weathered it pretty well and just proud of the effort tonight.”
Although Sunday marked Nashville’s first victory in four tries on their current excursion, the belief in the locker room hasn’t wavered, and they’ll look to build on this effort when they finish their trip on Wednesday in Seattle.
“We know we have the talent,” Stamkos said. “Whether it's posts or bad luck or not being in the right spots, it’s just been a combination of things that haven't gone our way so far this year, especially offensively. So, sometimes you need a game where you get four or five goals and feel good about yourselves and just build on that. Sometimes it can be frustrating, and it's easy to let that snowball. But if you can have a game like tonight where maybe things finally started to go our way a little bit, we can use that and fuel us going forward.”
Notes:
Preds forward Tommy Novak reentered the lineup on Sunday in favor of Philip Tomasino. Forward Mark Jankowski and defenseman Adam Wilsby were also scratched for Nashville on Sunday.
Roman Josi (928 GP) required the third fewest games to reach 700 points among defensemen born outside North America. The only blueliners to reach the mark in fewer contests are Erik Karlsson (871 GP) and Borje Salming (912).
Josi became the seventh European-born defenseman to reach the milestone. The others: Nicklas Lidstrom (1,142 in 1,564 GP), Erik Karlsson (828 in 1,022 GP), Sergei Gonchar (811 in 1,301 GP), Borje Salming (787 in 1,148 GP), Sergei Zubov (771 in 1,068 GP) and Victor Hedman (744 in 1,068 GP).
Steven Stamkos recorded his 218th and 219th power-play goals and surpassed Mike Gartner and Jaromir Jagr (both w/ 217) for the 11th most in NHL history.
The Predators will conclude their five-game road trip on Wednesday night in Seattle when they take on the Kraken.
