Canucks 5, Predators 4 (SO)
Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata scored in the first two rounds of the shootout as Vancouver won its fifth straight road game.
The Canucks killed off a major penalty on Alex Burrows that stretched into overtime before making short work of Nashville in the bonus format. After Eddie Lack (34 saves) denied Mike Santorelli to begin the shootout, Bonino chipped the puck over the right pad of Pekka Rinne in the first round and Vrbata sealed the win by backhanding a shot inside the left post.
Burrows scored a short-handed goal and added an assist while Chris Higgins converted on the power play for Vancouver, which has won nine of its last 13 games and prevented idle Anaheim from clinching the Pacific Division title. Linden Vey and Jannik Hansen scored two minutes apart in the second period while defenseman Dan Hamhuis and Bonino each recorded two assists as the Canucks opened a four-point lead on third-place Calgary in the Pacific Division.
Mike Fisher and blue-liner Cody Franson each scored a power-play goal for the Predators, who moved four points ahead of second-place St. Louis in the Central Division. Taylor Beck and Viktor Stalberg also tallied, Fisher added an assist and Rinne turned aside 21 shots in the loss.
Stalberg's sharp wrist shot from the right faceoff circle beat Lack with 30 seconds remaining in the second period to give Nashville a 3-2 lead. Burrows scored on a breakaway 83 seconds into the third to forge a tie and set up Higgins' tally at 5:48, but Bonino's clearing attempt caromed off Fisher and into the net with 5:03 left to knot the game.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Burrows received five minutes for interference and a game misconduct for his hit to the head of Nashville C Paul Gaustad. Vancouver D Kevin Bieksa was handed a 10-minute misconduct for apparently verbally abusing the Predator while he was on the ice. ... Rinne was named the Predators' nominee for the 2015 Bill Masterton Trophy, an award presented to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. ... Nashville captain Shea Weber missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury while LW James Neal sat out his ninth consecutive contest due to an upper-body ailment.