NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brock Boeser had the best playoff game of his career at the perfect moment for the Vancouver Canucks.
Boeser had his first hat trick in the playoffs, then Elias Lindholm scored 1:02 into overtime as the Canucks stunned Nashville 4-3 on Sunday night grabbing a 3-1 lead to put the Predators on the brink of elimination in their best-of-seven, first-round series.
Lindolm beat goalie Juuse Saros over his stick with a wrister from just in front of the crease off a pass from Conor Garland.
“I was wide open right in front,” Lindholm said. “So, I mean, obviously we scored a goal and got kind of relief and a lot of emotions and lost my voice a little bit. But it’s a good feeling.”
Boeser scored on Vancouver’s first shot and got the Canucks into overtime scoring twice in the final 2:49. His third came with 8 seconds left in regulation to quiet a Nashville crowd that celebrated much of the third period. Boeser said he knew time was ticking down after he hit the post and had the puck again.
“I just kind of saw an opportunity like to jam it and just try it, and it worked,” Boeser said.
J.T. Miller had three assists. The Canucks now will have a chance to advance Tuesday night in Vancouver in Game 5.
Filip Forsberg, Gustav Nyquist and Mark Jankowski all scored for Nashville, which also blew a 2-1 lead losing Game 1 giving up three goals in the third period. It was the first time the Predators lost a playoff game leading by two or more goals in the third period in franchise history.
“We just kind of broke down and lost a little composure there in the end,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said.
The Canucks won with Arturs Silovs making 27 saves in his NHL playoff debut as their third different starting goalie.
“He made some big saves for us tonight, and he’s a huge part of our win,” Boeser said.
The sixth-round pick in the 2019 draft from Riga, Latvia, replaced Casey DeSmith, who got his first postseason win Friday night in Game 2. He took over in net for All-Star Thatcher Demko who is week-to-week after winning Game 1.
The Canucks became only the second team in NHL history with three different goalies to win each of their first three games in a postseason. Vancouver also did it during the 2004 Western quarterfinals with Dan Cloutier in Game 1, Johan Hedberg in Game 3 and Alex Auld in Game 6.
Chicago in the 1972 quarterfinals was the only other team in NHL history with three different goalies to win a game at any point in a series. Tony Esposito won Game 1, Gary Smith took Game 3 and Gerry Desjardins was in net for Game 4.
This felt much more like a Smashville playoff game with Little Big Town handling the national anthem in style followed by seven catfish hitting the ice before the puck dropped.
Will Levis, quarterback of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans, also helped ramp up the home crowd. His new center Lloyd Cushenberry III snapped a catfish to Levis on the band stand, and the quarterback kissed the fish.
Boeser put Vancouver up 1-0 with a wrister just 2:55 in from the front edge of the left circle for his second goal in as many games. Jankowski got his stick on Jeremy Lauzon’s slap shot and tied it up for Nashville at 5:34 with the teams skating 4-on-4.
Nyquist put Nashville up 2-1 at 5:21 of the second, finishing off a 2-on-1 with a wrister from the right circle for his first goal in this series. Forsberg seemed to clinch the win with captain Roman Josi’s pass going off his right skate 12 seconds into the third until Vancouver’s late rally.
Josi called it a “crazy ending.” The Canucks won their first playoff game when trailing by at least two goals in the third since Game 1 of the second round in 2003 against Minnesota. They trailed 3-1 and also won that game 4-3 in overtime.
“It’s a tough ending,” Josi said. “It doesn’t happen too often, but that’s hockey.”
OUCH
Josi, who tied retired goalie Pekka Rinne with his 89th career playoff game for most in Predators’ history, took a puck off his right ear in the first period. An official sent him off the ice for stitches. Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers took a puck in the face late in the first. Both returned in the second.
UP NEXT
The Canucks can win their first playoff series since 2020 during the pandemic and first on home ice since the 2011 Western Conference final.
___
AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
