The Preds Are Out, Canucks Move On

As Terry Crisp said at the end of the game last night, the most successful playoff season for the Nashville Predators has come to an end.  The Canucks took a 2-0 lead into the 2nd period and never looked back on it, not even after the Predators put one back to make it into a 2-1 game early in the middle frame.  The game finished up with that same 2-1 scoreline, as the Canucks kept the pace down for the better part of the match, even out-shooting the Predators, 10-6 in the 3rd period.

The big pool players for the Canucks in Game Six were Ryan Kesler, who had a pair of assists, Daniel Sedin, who scored the winner, and Roberto Luongo, who made 23 saves for the win.  All three players came away with 2 points in the game.

Mikael Samuelsson was the only pool player absent for the Canucks in Game Six, as his undisclosed injury was enough to keep him out of the final game of the series, as expected.  There is no word as to whether or not he will be good enough to start in the Western Conference Finals, but the date for Game One has yet to be set, since the Red Wings and Sharks still have at least another game to play.

With the Predators now being eliminated, this wasn't a very big loss to the pool, as getting out of the first round, passed the Ducks, was a big step for Nashville and it looked good on those teams that went with them through to the second round.  The Predators were not favourites this year, only having 23% of their possible selections this year, defenseman Cody Franson was the most popular player on the team with 10 selections to his name.

As he should have been, Pekka Rinne led the team in points for the Predators, finishing off his playoff run with 13 points and fortunately for one team in the pool, he was as good as the Vezina finalist nod advertised him to be.  He may not be in the pool's best possible team at the end of the playoffs, but he should get plenty of consideration for Vezina nod.  David Legwand finished with 9 points in the playoffs and Mike Fisher finished with 8 points to round out the top three on the team in scoring.

If you were looking for box leaders out of the Predators, Ryan Suter and Kevin Klein each finished a top their boxes, through Monday night's action.  Two candidates for best team possible in the pool.