Instant Reaction: Canucks advance to second round as Arturs Silovs posts shutout in 1-0 win over Nashville

The Canucks started this game with a very mediocre first period. The Predators did a great job of blocking shots — as we have come to expect from them — but unlike previous games, the Canucks didn’t dominate the first period from a territorial perspective.

Their best chance of the first period came from a tic-tac-toe between Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes, with the Canucks captain putting the puck through the far side.

Nashville generated some good looks against Silovs as well, but the young Latvian netminder certainly showed right from puck drop why it was a good idea for Rick Tocchet and his coaching staff to turn to him over Casey DeSmith.

The Canucks came out in the second period with a little bit more urgency, but this was quickly turning into another low-event affair between these two teams, which meant we could be heading for yet another coin-flip result.

A big moment came for the Canucks in the second period when they killed off a Brock Boeser double minor for high sticking. The Canucks’ penalty killers looked phenomenal during this stretch, which of course, was absolutely massive in a game tied at zero.

There was a four-on-four sequence shortly thereafter, but all that led to was more nice saves from Arturs Silovs.

Through two periods, it was a goaltending battle through and through.

Early in the third, Pius Suter had his second glorious chance of the night and, subsequently, his second miss of the night. The Canucks came out pressing in the third period, outshooting the Preds 7-1 through the first eight minutes of the third.

Arturs Silovs stood tall in the Vancouver goal crease, giving the Canucks some more time to score the first goal of this game. Brock Boeser found himself in all alone on Juuse Saros but was robbed by the blocker of the Nashville goaltender.

 

This was quickly becoming one of the most frustrating games of hockey to watch. Not even just if you’re a Canucks fan, either. Everything felt like a broken play, and players from both sides were just unable to finish on their chances.

The goaltenders were both excellent in this one, but they can only really both be excellent if all the players shooting on them are the opposite of excellent. Is there a better way to say that? Yeah, probably, but I’m nearly 400 words into this Instant Reaction and we’ve yet to see a goal!

Pius Suter, who has been Ilya Mikheyev-levels of snakebitten lately, changed all of that with just over a minute to go when he opened the scoring.

Immediately after the goal, the Predators pulled their goalie with their season in the balance and less than a minute to go. As he did all game long, Silovs stood tall. This clearly infuriated the referees, because they called an incredibly soft cross check on Elias Lindholm.

For the record, this was NOT a penalty earlier in the game.

The Canucks’ penalty killers came through once again, and the Canucks have officially punched their ticket to round two.

Be sure to tune into Rink Wide LIVE with Jeff Paterson moments after the final horn! You can interact with the hosts in the YouTube live chat and get your postseason fix!