Getty The Nashville Predators scored a controversial goal but the Vancouver Canucks declined to challenge the play.
The Nashville Predators dodged crashing out of the playoffs on Tuesday, April 30, as they got into Game 5 of their first-round series against the Vancouver Canucks down 1-3 but went away with a razor-thin 2-1 victory.
The game was tied 1-1 with a little over seven minutes left in regulation when Predators defenseman Alexandre Carrier scored the game-winning goal to extend the series at least into a sixth contest.
That goal, however, was not the one generating the most storylines coming out of Game 5. That would be the second goal of the game and the first one scored by the come-from-behind Predators on a highly controversial play seven minutes into the third period.
MAD SCRAMBLE IN FRONT, THE PREDS TIE IT 🤯
Following a boarding penalty called on Canucks’ Dakota Joshua, Predators captain Roman Josi rushed the puck in front of the net colliding with goalie Arturs Silovs.
Following a scramble in front of the goal, the puck crossed the goal line, and the goal, awarded to Josi, was ruled a legal one by the officials on the ice.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet could have challenged the call for potential goaltender interference but he declined to do so.
“If we’re down 2-1, then maybe [I’d challenge]. But it’s 50-50 at that point,” Tocchet told reporters after the game on April 30. “We just looked at it. I don’t know what the NHL would do on that one. I don’t. So, if I don’t know 100 percent… it’s a 1-1 game.
“We thought about it, but I thought it was 50-50, personally.”
Predators & Canucks Comment on Controversial Goal
Roman Josi was the man perpetrating the action leading up to the goal that fostered the Predators’ comeback to extend the series and keep Nashville’s hopes for a deep postseason run alive. He discussed the play after the Preds sealed the victory.
“It was a breakout, I had a lot of speed,” Josi said after the game, via Sportsnet, “I kicked it out to [Filip Forsberg] and Fil made a great play.
“I tried to go around the goalie and [the puck] just somehow laid there and I don’t know what happened after, but I just kind of saw it go in, so that’s all that mattered.”
“Definitely going to be happy on the plane.”
Roman Josi talks with @sportsnetmurph moments after the Preds forced a Game 6.
Canucks’ J.T. Miller sounded disappointed about the loss and not being able to wrap up the first-round series at home while punching a ticket for the second round of the playoffs.
“It just sucks. We had a chance to close them out at home with a lead,” Miller told reporters in his post-game press conference on April 30. “Our penalty kill did a great job until that goal on that weird play.”
“The margins are obviously close and every little mistake is going to cost you this time of year. It is what it is. It’s going to be a hard-fought series.”
Series Back to Nashville for Game 6
The win by the Predators helped them stave off elimination in a critical Game 5 but it will also allow Nashville to host the Canucks for Game 6 in their home arena.
That might not have much impact in other series, but Vancouver’s distance to Nashville is the largest among all four first-round matchups, making it quite a daunting and taxing trip.
Josi and Alexandre Carrier were the goalscorers for Nashville in Game 5 with Forsberg assisting both goals. Juuse Saros, starting on the Predators net, stopped 19 saves while allowing just 1 goal to Vancouver on a low-shooting affair in which his counterpart, Silovs, stopped just 20-of-22 shots.
“Proud of [the Predators players], the resiliency they showed,” Preds head coach Andrew Brunnette told reporters in his postgame press conference on April 30. “It was tough. It’s been a tough series to create a whole lot, they’re offensive guys.
“But they stuck with it, and the message was ‘It might take forever to get it, but keep pounding on the door.’ I thought they did a really good job just staying true to themselves.”
Game 6 is scheduled for Thursday, May 2, with the Canucks leading the first-round series 3-2 over the Predators.