"We're desperate too": Canucks preparing for Predators' all-out effort
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The Vancouver Canucks are one win away from taking a commanding 3-1 lead in their first round series against the Nashville Predators.
While it wasn’t pretty, they managed to win Game 3 by a score of 2-1 last night, restoring their series lead.
“Not our prettiest game but anytime you can grind out a win in the playoffs, they just did the opposite to us a couple games ago, it doesn’t matter, a win’s a win this time of year,” said Carson Soucy today.
The Canucks had just 12 shots yet managed to escape with a narrow victory on the back of their special teams.
“We defended a little more than we would have liked but at the same time power play was good, penalty kill was good so you’ve got to look at the positives,” continued Soucy.
Now the team is looking forward to Game 4 tomorrow where they’ll have the chance to take a 3-1 lead before the series heads back to Vancouver.
They’ll be facing a desperate Predators team who will do anything to avoid making Game 5 an elimination opportunity at Rogers Arena. That prospect of facing a team with their backs against the wall doesn’t scare the Canucks.
“It’s not going to be easy next game, they’re going to be better,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said after practice as he prepares his team for the crucial matchup. “We’ve got to put the pedal to the metal here a little bit.”
The Canucks understand they’ll need to be better to match the Predators.
“We’re desperate too because we know that we have more to give. A win is a win at this time of year but we know that we’ve got more and we’ve got better,” explained Soucy.
Despite the positive result, the team is looking for performance much stronger than the one on Friday night.
“If we work a little harder, I think we have to work five yards harder to our spots, that will help our breakouts, our neutral zone forecheck. It’ll make us connect,” said head coach Rick Tocchet about what the team needs to do in the upcoming crucial Game 4.
The puck drops tomorrow at 2 pm PT as the Predators and Canucks face off in an early time slot.