Two of this year’s pleasant surprises in the NHL have been the Nashville Predators and the Vancouver Canucks. Both are playing entertaining, offensive hockey — yeah, I know, Nashville?!?!?!? and they’ve both gotten far more out of the first ten to fifteen games of the season than most prognosticated. But to be honest it’s not as shocking as you might think. Canucks and Preds rosters are trying to impress new regimes behind their respective bench, and any player with the slightest bit of a nose for the net has to prefer Willie Desjardins and Peter Laviolette to John “No Plan” Tortorella and Barry “No Neck” Trotz.
Canucks 1, Preds 0: Alex Edler from Henrik Sedin and Radim Vrbata (PP), 11:10 of the first period.
Man it’s fun to see the top line throw the puck around again. Last year was such a wash, and sooooo many people called for the twins to just hang ’em up or get out of town — I am loving that Sedinery so far is making those people shut the front door on their way out. Edler gets lucky on this one, as he banks a snooker shot off the post, Rinne’s back and the back of the net. What is it they say? “Good to be lucky, lucky to score on Pekka Rinne”?
Canucks 1, Preds 1: Filip Forsberg from James Neal and Matt Cullen (PP), 1:38 of the second period.
Eddie Lack hasn’t been good or lucky this year. After a solid first period, his d-men combine to bloop one past him for the tying goal. Chris Tanev bats a pass out of the crease, but it goes straight to Filip Forsberg. The man they call “No Relation” sweeps a pass creasewards, and it looks to be going wide — until Dan Hamhuis plays brain cramp and tips it into his own net. Oh well, we didn’t want the lead that badly anyway.
Canucks 1, Preds 2: Filip Forsberg from James Neal and Mike Ribeiro, 6:42 of the third period.
Alex, Alex, Alex… James Neal goes around Edler like he’s Alex Edler or something, forcing Lack down into the butterfly on the power move. Forsbeg collects his second garbage goal of the game when Neal loses the handle, punching the puck into the open side of the net. Maybe Eddie should punch Edler instead — just awful defending on this play.
Canucks 1, Preds 3: Colin Wilson from Filip Forsberg and Mattias Ekholm, 18:27 of the third period.
Okay, this one gives the goat horns to our boy Eddie Lack. He goes down and lets Wilson’s sharp angle snap shot whistle past his arm into the short side. It’s a decent shot, sure, but not a perfect one like we’ll see in a week’s time — in LA, Ryan Miller will let in a sublime top cheese score against the Kings. This is not a sniper who picks corners with regularity, it’s Colin Wilson, he of the career high of 16 goals four years ago. Down one with a buck and change left in the game, Lack simply needs to stop this shot. I like you, Eddie, but so far this season you just haven’t been good enough, or lucky enough, to warrant that spot on the roster.
