Canucks snap skid with win vs. Predators
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Henrik Sedin's goal at 12:28 of the third period gave the Vancouver Canucks a 1-0 victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
Sedin broke a scoreless drought as he put in Luca Sbisa's rebound off the boards. With the goal, Sedin moved within a point of 1,000 for his career. He had gone eight games without a goal.
The Canucks (21-19-6) ended their losing streak at four games while avenging a loss to the Predators in the dying seconds of overtime in Nashville last week. The Predators (20-17-7 or 20-16-8) suffered their first loss in four games.
Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller posted 30 saves for his second shutout of the season, while Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne stopped 25 of 26 shots.
Due to a disallowed Nashville goal, the game was scoreless after 40 minutes although both teams generated a reasonable number of shots -- 20 apiece. The Predators kept Miller busy early, but the game started with little emotion considering that the teams had waged a tight battle recently.
Nashville had a goal disallowed following a lengthy video review involving the league's situation room at 15:10 of the first period. Derek Grant, an Abbotsford, B.C., native, was denied his first NHL goal after officials determined that a referee had intended to blow the whistle before the puck crossed the goal line. Grant had jammed the puck inside the post during a scramble as Miller attempted to freeze the disc with his blocker.
The referee in question put the whistle to his lips but did not blow it before signaling a goal. According to NHL rule 78.5, apparent goals shall be disallowed "when the referee deems the play has been stopped, even if he had not physically had the opportunity to stop play by blowing his whistle."
Midway through the second period, Rinne got his blocker on an Alex Edler shot off a Vancouver rush. Later in the middle frame, the Predators goaltender got lucky as Daniel Sedin fired the puck over the net on a two-on-one with his twin brother Henrik.
Late in the second, Rinne foiled Loui Eriksson as the Canuck attempted a deke while going in on net alone. Rinne also made saves on Daniel Sedin and Brendan Gaunce, and fortune was on the Nashville goaltender's side again as both Troy Stecher and Markus Granlund missed the net on dangerous chances.
NOTES: Vancouver D Ben Hutton will miss 3-to-6 weeks with a broken bone in his hand. Hutton was hurt in a game against the Calgary Flames on Jan. 6. ... Predators D P.K. Subban missed his 15th straight game because of an upper-body injury despite taking part in the team's morning skate. ... The Canucks also announced that LW Anton Rodin will be out indefinitely as he rests and rehabilitates a troublesome knee. Rodin played only three games this season. He had surgery to repair a lacerated knee tendon suffered while playing in Sweden last spring. He fell on the knee in the same game against Calgary in which Hutton was hurt ... Former Predators RW Reid Boucher suited up for his first game as a Canuck. Boucher played for three NHL teams this season -- Nashville, New Jersey and Vancouver. He also toiled for Nashville's AHL farm club in Milwaukee.