The Canucks came out hotter than Nashville hot chicken to knock off the Predators 5-2, improving to 2-0-1 on their current four-game road trip.
Pius Suter and Elias Pettersson paced the way with a goal and an assist each, Ilya Mikheyev rounding out their line with two assists of his own. Suter said his line had success sticking to the system and being consistent with their process throughout the game.
“Just the same minds, we know what the system was and we just try to get pucks back and the open man in the middle and it kind of worked well today,” he said.
There were five different scorers in the contest against the Predators and contributions game from every line. Head Coach Rick Tocchet said he overheard his team talking amongst themselves during a coffee run about needing to have better starts and he was pleased with the way they started out of the gate.
“I just like the way they play defence. They’re protecting the middle, if we’ve got to give a shot we give the outside shot,” Tocchet said. “That’s what I really like about this team is that they really – whether they enjoy it or they buy into it – they just love the way we defend the puck and against this team here, they have a lot of offence, they can go, and I think we defended them really well tonight.”
Tocchet pointed to Suter’s hockey IQ for reading the play on his own goal but mentioned he was equally as impressed with Suter’s assist.
“He made a hell of a play behind the net, right to Petey too, he knows where he is. They’re getting some instant chemistry right now,” Tocchet said.
With the win, Casey DeSmith is 6-2-2 on the season, stopping 26 shots he faced.
Game Recap
In the first, Elias Pettersson felt the scoring bug on the rush and netted the first goal of the game for Vancouver.
Nils Åman snapped it in point blank after Sam Lafferty and Phil Di Giuseppe did work in the left corner on the forecheck, sending Vancouver into the first break up 2-0.
Nashville defenceman Jeremy Lauzon scored for the Predators, bringing them within one goal.
Vancouver was quick to answer, Nils Höglander redirecting a point-shot from Quinn Hughes, who with the assist became the first defenceman to hit 40 points this season.
