NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - The Vancouver Canucks took an early 2-0 lead and held on to beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Monday and advance to the NHL's Western Conference Finals. Vancouver reaches the Western Conference finals by beating Nashville in six games. NASHVILLE -- Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond scored first-period goals, and Roberto Luongo made 23 saves as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Nashville Predators, 2-1, in Game 6 to advance to the Western Conference finals on Monday night. The Nashville Predators are reminding the Vancouver Canucks that it's never over till it's really over. The Vancouver Canucks led Nashville 3-1 only to see the Predators win their first elimination game in six tries Saturday to extend the Western Conference semifinal to Game 6 Monday (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 8 p.m. ET, 5 p.m. PT). Nashville needs to beat the Canucks for the second straight time to force a Game 7 back in Vancouver on Wednesday. The Canucks are 1-4 in potential closeout games in the playoffs Nashville Predators Coach Barry Trotz isn't a licensed meteorologist, but he knows from heat and its effect on ice conditions. "This morning, [they were] good, because it's still not 89 degrees, which is what it's going to... The Canucks say they only need to replace one forward, Mikael Samuelsson, even though Chris Higgins left early during the morning skate for tonight's Game 6 against the Nashville Predators. Joel Ward stepped up just in time to keep Nashville alive for at least one more game. Ward scored two goals less than five minutes apart early in the third period and the Predators avoided elimination for the first time... Vancouver must return to Nashville to try to close out the series in six games. VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Joel Ward scored two goals less than five minutes apart early in the third period and the Nashville Predators stayed alive against the Vancouver Canucks with a 4-3 win on Saturday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinal series. Joel Ward scored two goals less than five minutes apart early in the third period and the Nashville Predators stayed alive against the Vancouver Canucks with a 4-3 win on Saturday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinal series. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 7 (UPI) -- Joel Ward's two scores early in the third period gave Nashville a two-goal lead Saturday and the Predators stayed alive with a 4-3 playoff win over Vancouver. VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Joel Ward scored two goals less than five minutes apart early in the third period and the Nashville Predators stayed alive against the Vancouver Canucks with a 4-3 win on Saturday night in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinal series. The Vancouver Canucks claim they have learned a hard lesson from their mini two-game slump in the first round and that has them zeroed in on finishing off the Nashville Predators on Saturday. On their sixth try, the Predators finally broke through and made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but the Canucks are bidding to make their stay in the conference semifinals a short one. Previously on Outside the Boxscore, we featured the rather interesting antics of two Vancouver Canucks fans who dress up in green spandex body suits.Last night, the green men were in Nashville for game four of the Canucks/Predators series and made their way up to a suite that featured Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban, both of which seemed pleased to meet them:(Courtesy of ... Nicole Kidman and her husband, country crooner Keith Urban, cheer on the Nashville Predators hockey team as they face off against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (May 5) in Nashville, Tenn. The happy couple laughed and happily posed for pics with the Canucks Green Men, the team's unofficial mascot. You can follow the green-suited men [...] Enjoying an evening of sporting action, Carrie Underwood was spotted at the Nashville Predators' hockey game last night (May 5). The "American Idol" alum cheered for her husband Mike Fisher and the home team, however, in the end the Vancouver Canucks emerged victorious with a final score of 4-2. Carrie looked super cute in a yellow Predators hoodie as she watched from the stands, though at several points during the game the paparazzi caught her yawning. Over the weekend, Ms. Underwood was on the West Coast performing at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Getting in some all-important quality time together, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban were spotted at the Nashville Predators' hockey game last night (May 5). The "Moulin Rouge" actress and the "I Wanna Kiss a Girl" crooner took to the Bridgestone Arena to cheer on the home team. Unfortunately, Nicole and Keith's fan support was not able to help the Predators, who lost to the Vancouver Canucks with a final score of 4-2. Nicole had flown in from San Francisco where she's been working on a new film as of late. They left daughters Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret home with a nanny.
Key Words: nashville predators
References:
http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/sportsNews/~3/3dDRN9w5Px8/us-nhl-playoffs-idUSTRE74805Z20110510
http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/sports/~3/WZ5kcJAOqAQ/la-sp-nhl-20110510,0,143317.story
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/gameflash/2011/05/09/28230_preview.html?xid=si_topstories
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/stanleycup/story/2011/05/09/sp-canucks-predators-preview.html?ref=rss
http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=3039461&src=rss
http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=3040296&src=rss
http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=3040174&src=rss
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/08/SP8D1JD0EF.DTL&feed=rss.sports
http://feeds1.nytimes.com/~r/nyt/rss/Sports/~3/MYmdrfVZqKc/08nhl.html
http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168401&44=121454284&32=3796&7=195227&40=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fsports%2Fflyers%2F20110508_Predators_survive_with_a_4-3_victory.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=310507022&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
http://pheed.upi.com/click.phdo?i=6abe9cd7c5d7aa121613cdc6651b84e1
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/gameflash/2011/05/07/28229_recap.html?xid=si_topstories
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/stanleycup2011/blog/2011/05/canucks-applying-lessons-learned.html?ref=rss
http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=3036897&src=rss
http://rd.sportsblogs.org/viewEntry.php?id=3036210&src=rss
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2011/05/06/nicole-kidman-canucks-green-men-keith-urban/
http://celebrity-gossip.net/carrie-underwood/carrie-underwoods-nashville-predators-night-503031
http://celebrity-gossip.net/nicole-kidman/nicole-kidman-keith-urbans-hockey-date-night-503007
http://pixelhat.net/