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Roberto Luongo and Vancouver shut out Nashville, take Game 1

Chris Higgins Maxim Lapierre

Vancouver Canucks’ Chris Higgins, left, celebrates his goal with teammate Maxim Lapierre against the Nashville Predators during the second period of Game 1 in their NHL Western Conference semi-final Stanley Cup playoff hockey series in Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday, April 28, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

AP

After such an entertaining and impressive set of first round games in the NHL playoffs, the bar was set high for tonight’s second round opener between Nashville and Vancvouer. What the game lacked in excitement, it was made up for in intense play and laying the groundwork for what could turn out to be a nasty series.

Vancouver got 20 saves from Roberto Luongo and a goal from Chris Higgins in the second period to seal a Game 1 victory over the Predators 1-0. The shutout for Luongo was his second of the playoffs as he also shutout Chicago in Game 1 of the first round. The entirety of the game felt like it was two prize fighters circling each other and trying to see what the other was going to do.

Ultimately the Canucks got the one break in the game they needed as Pekka Rinne was more than on top of his game for Nashville. Rinne’s only mistake came in the second period as Chris Higgins was able to roof a shot past him as he was sprawled out on the ice.

The Finnish netminder stopped 29 shots for the Predators to make sure they could hang around in the game and hopefully get a break with a bounce or with a power play. They were able to get a break late in the second period when Canucks defenseman Keith Ballard was called for clipping on what appeared to be a fantastic hip check on Preds forward Jordin Tootoo.

Vancouver was able to kill off the penalty there but Ballard wasn’t done in throwing the Predators a life line as he would be booked for tripping late in the third period. Once again, however, the Canucks stood tall on the penalty kill and prevented the potential equalizer.

For Vancouver, this start was eerily similar to Game 1 they had against Chicago in the opening round. They didn’t do much offensively thanks to the great play of Rinne and they got a shutout from Luongo in the process. The difference being that Nashville didn’t generate some of the scary chances and post shots that the Blackhawks did in the previous series.

We counted on this series being a tight one and low scoring and Game 1 tonight might prove to be the warning shot that it’ll be just like that. That said, Nashville has a lot to improve upon for Game 2. They need a better effort, they need to push the play more, and they need to make Vancouver very uncomfortable. Tonight, they didn’t put Vancouver on the edge at all.

Here are the highlights from tonight’s game.