Preds Stay Alive, Force Game Six

Just when you thought the Predators may be done in these playoffs, they put together a great road game and force the Canucks back to Nashville for Game Six after a 4-3 regulation win on Saturday night.

The Canucks went into the 1st intermission with a 2-1 lead, but three straight goals from the Predators in the 2nd and 3rd periods turned the tables on the Canucks and Vancouver was only able to draw one back to make it a 1-goal game, but not enough to make the complete comeback or force overtime.

The Predators were led in the pool by David Legwand, who scored a pair of goals in the win, while Pekka Rinne made 31 saves for the win, each picking up 2 points for their poolies.  The Canucks saw Ryan Kesler pick up another 2 points on Saturday night, adding more acclaim to his great playoff year.

Non-pool player, Joel Ward, had a big night, scoring the game-winner and picking up 3 points in the process as well.  He's quickly becoming one of those players that would have been good to see on the selection sheet this year.

The Canucks lost the services of Box 5 forward Mikael Samuelsson on Saturday night, leaving the game with an undisclosed injury and not returning. It doesn't sound like Samuelsson will be good to go for Game Six, but that will only affect four teams in the pool, as he wasn't terribly popular in the pool this year.

Game Six will go on Monday night in Nashville, a 6pm MT puck drop on CBC.