Canucks 3, Predators 2 (OT)
Ryan Kesler scored his second goal of the night at 10:45 of overtime, giving the top-seeded Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 road triumph over the fifth-seeded Nashville Predators in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Tuesday.
With Norris Trophy finalist Shea Weber in the penalty box for hooking, Vancouver took advantage of the questionable call to take a 2-1 lead in the series. Mikael Samuelsson unleashed a shot from the left point that Kesler redirected past Vezina Trophy candidate Pekka Rinne for the game-winner.
Chris Higgins also tallied, defenseman Christian Ehrhoff notched two assists and Roberto Luongo made 28 saves for the Canucks, who went 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
David Legwand and Joel Ward scored while Rinne stopped 44 shots for Nashville, which hosts Game 4 on Thursday.
Nashville got the crowd at Bridgestone Arena rocking midway through the first period as Legwand opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal. Moments after stealing the puck behind Vancouver's net and drawing a delayed penalty, Legwand received a pass from defenseman Ryan Suter and buried a shot from the low slot at 10:18 for his third tally of the playoffs.
The Canucks forged a tie exactly one minute into the second as Ehrhoff made a pass from below the end line to Kesler, who tapped the puck into a vacant net from the top of the crease for his first goal this postseason.
Higgins put Vancouver ahead at 3:03 of the third, firing the puck into the net from the right faceoff circle with Rinne unsuccessfully scrambling to get into position. But Ward picked up a loose puck at the right side of Luongo and skated around the net before banking it off a defender's skate and in with 6:42 remaining to knot it at 2-2.