Canucks 4, Predators 2
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Bo Horvat's 11th goal of the season held up as the winner as the Canucks beat the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.
Vancouver left winger Daniel Sedin added an empty-net goal with 48 seconds to play.
Horvat, a center, bulled his way to the front of the net and had a shot by Vancouver defenseman Yannick Weber bounce off his shin pad and past Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne at 10:35 of the second period for a 3-1 Canucks' lead.
Nashville center Colton Sissons made it 3-2 before the second period ended.
But the Canucks, the worst team in the lead at protecting a lead heading into the third period (15-4-7), held on through a barrage of third-period Nashville shots.
Nashville managed just one shot in the game's opening 15 minutes, but came out firing pucks in the second and into the third, outshooting Vancouver 27-10 over a 25-minute span.
Nashville got on the scoreboard after Vancouver twice failed to clear pucks out of its zone, allowing Nashville to control play for 2:42 before defenseman Roman Josi took advantage of a dead-tired Canucks defense to feed center Mike Fisher in front.
Fisher beat Vancouver goalie Ryan Miller with a tap-in to make it 2-1 Vancouver.
Horvat's hustle made it a two-goal lead again when Weber's rebound bounced off Horvat's shin pad and past Rinne to make it 3-1 at 10:35 of the second period.
But Josi fed center Sissons on a 2-on-1 at 16:20 of the second to pull Nashville within a goal again.
Vancouver left winger Sven Baertschi opened scoring in the first period, fighting off Nashville defenseman Shea Weber to get to a rebound of a shot by defenseman Ben Hutton at 17:44 of the first period.
For Hutton, it was his 22nd assist, fifth-best among all rookies in the NHL and more than any Canucks rookie defenseman has picked up since 1997-98.
Fourth-line right winger Derek Dorsett scored with a quick low shot off a nice set-up from Horvat to make it 2-0 at 19:01 of the first period with his first goal in 30 games.
Nineteen-year-old Canucks rookie Jake Virtanen, playing right wing with the Sedins for the first time, wasted no time making an impact.
He rocked Nashville centre Mike Ribeiro hard into the boards a minute into the game, then pummelled Predators left winger Filip Forsberg after the Predator dropped his gloves.
They each got fighting majors, with Virtanen picking up a boarding minor and Forsberg a roughing minor.
Nashville managed just one shot in the game's opening 15 minutes and were outshot by Vancouver 13-4 in the first period.
Pekka finished with 24 saves, Miller with 35.
NOTES: The Predators had a franchise-record 14 straight games (9-0-5) with at least one point. ... The last Nashville loss in regulation was Feb. 9. Since then, the Predators kept opponents to two or fewer goals nine times and had three shutouts. ... Led by Shea Weber's 17 goals, Nashville has the high-scoring defensemen in the NHL (45-122-167). ... Nashville C Paul Gausted (upper body) and D Barret Jackman (healthy scratch) did not play. ... Canucks C Henrik Sedin (upper body) returned to the lineup after missing two games. The captain started the game on a line with 19-year-old rookie RW Jake Virtanen, a move that coach Willie Desjardins called "an experiment." ... Canucks C Brendan Gaunce was a healthy scratch. ... Canucks D Chris Tanev (upper body) took the optional morning skate but is not close to returning, Desjardins said. Saturday's game was the third that Tanev missed. ... Rookie Canucks D Nikita Tramkin, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound defenseman who just arrived from the KHL, skated in the warmup but did not play.