Canucks don’t get much time to celebrate

VANCOUVER, B.C. -- Canucks captain Henrik Sedin was hoping to get a chance to celebrate Vancouver's huge win over Chicago in Game 7 Tuesday night before focusing on the Nashville Predators.

"Can it wait," he responded with a laugh when to comment on the Predators.

Not really. The next round doesn't wait for anybody, even a Sedin.

So Henrik answered the question and said he expects a low scoring, tough series against the Predators in the Western Conference Semifinals.

"They've got a solid team," Sedin told NHL.com after Vancouver's 2-1 overtime win Tuesday. "We watched a lot of their games against Anaheim and they've got three or four lines that play well. They backcheck. They forecheck. They keep it tight. It's going to be low scoring games."

The Canucks and Predators split the season series, with each winning once at home and once on the road. They last played March 29, when the Canucks went into Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and beat the Predators, 3-1. The Canucks are 15-8-1-1 all-time against the Predators at Rogers Arena and 14-10-1-0 in Nashville. They've never met in the playoffs.

"I thought it was going to end up being Nashville or Anaheim," Sedin said. "There are going to be a lot of tight games."

Even though Tuesday's win meant the Canucks had accomplished something big for their own personal psyches, they were not losing focus on the overall situation.

It was only one round.

"There's such a long way to go, but we'll regroup (Wednesday) and we'll get ready for Nashville," defenseman Kevin Bieksa said.

Coach Alain Vigneault even said he would start preparing for Nashville "in a couple of hours here."

"This is one series," Vigneault added. "We're going to enjoy it a little bit tonight and get right back to work tomorrow."

So, no Henrik, it can't wait.

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

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