Nashville Predators 2, Vancouver Canucks 1: Preds survive

The Preds entered a must-win game tonight and won it in dramatic comeback fashion.

The teams traded chances early, with a good Nashville shift followed by a better Vancouver one, and the pattern repeating as the period went on. JT Miller, Brock Boeser, and Pius Suter regularly wreaked havoc in the Preds’ zone, while the Canucks were able to keep the Preds’ top line from generating the same kind of pressure.

Late in the period, Miller hooked Alex Carrier, giving the Preds the first power play of the game. Again the Canucks’ penalty kill was prepared, easily clearing the zone and preventing the Preds from getting set up again. Tyler Myers got the puck in shorthanded and put a shot on Saros, but…