Canucks put away Preds

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — The Vancouver Canucks have had plenty of practice this postseason when given the chance to eliminate an opponent. They finally found a way to make it look easy.

Not this time: Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne stops a shot from Vancouver's Ryan Kesler in the first period of Game 6 on Monday. The Canucks beat the Predators 2-1 to win the series 4-2. AP

Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond scored first-period goals, and Roberto Luongo made 23 saves as the Canucks beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 in Game 6 to advance to the Western Conference finals on Monday night.

"Relief," Sedin's twin brother Henrik said of his emotions. "It was one of those series where they get on a roll and they win this game, and all of a sudden there is a seventh game. That's the playoffs. There were a lot of ups and downs, so we are happy."

The Canucks, who had the NHL's best record this regular season, reached the conference finals for the first time since 1994 and will face the winner of the series between the San Jose Sharks and Detroit Red Wings. San Jose leads that series 3-2, with Game 6 to be played in Detroit on Tuesday night.

Vancouver is 2-4 this year with the opportunity to advance on the line, and 6-1 in its other playoff games. The Canucks blew a 3-0 series lead against defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago in the first round before finally eliminating the Blackhawks in overtime of Game 7.

That gave the Canucks the chance to face Nashville, which reached the second round for the first time in team history.

They made themselves comfortable on the Predators' ice, winning all three games there in the series. Vancouver was just 1-2 at home in the series.

Raymond gave the Canucks the lead 7:45 into the game and Daniel Sedin made it 2-0 just 1:43 later. Luongo did the rest for the Canucks, who were outshot 24-19. Vancouver recorded only nine total shots in the first two periods.

David Legwand's goal 3:31 into the second period cut the Canucks' lead to 2-1. The goal — Legwand's sixth of the postseason — stood up to a video review, but Nashville couldn't avoid elimination again and force a Game 7.

"The first two periods I thought we played as well as we've played in the playoffs," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "The first period was a little disturbing because — according to our sources and what we track — we were out-chancing them 11 to two and we were losing 2-0. That's a hard pill to swallow."

After grabbing the early lead, Vancouver put the game away with defense. Nashville had 11 shots in the first period, but only 13 over the final 40 minutes. The Predators also failed to take advantage of four first-period penalty plays.

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said his team's early penalty kills were huge.

"You start off and take four penalties in the first, two right off the bat," he said. "Penalty kill is having players committed and great goaltending. Luongo made a couple of huge saves right off the bat that permitted us to get a goal five-on-five and then a power-play goal."

Vancouver got some help to get its offense rolling as Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter turned over the puck to Ryan Kesler right next to the net. Kesler passed to Raymond, who backhanded a shot past goalie Pekka Rinne, who finished with 17 saves.

Daniel Sedin doubled the lead while Nashville forward Jordin Tootoo served an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for diving, after he was hit by Alex Edler. Sedin connected just 36 seconds into the power play.

Martin Erat had one of the Predators' best looks at another goal on a breakaway after coming off the bench, but Jeff Tambellini caught up with him and knocked him down just before he was able to take a clean shot.

Nashville had gotten a little taste of elimination pressure during the regular season. The Predators were 11th in the West on March 10, but moved up to the fifth seed with a 14-4-3 finish to the regular season.

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