Spectacular goaltending by -Pekka Rinne and two goals each from David Legwand and Joel Ward gave Nashville a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday and staved off elimination from the Western Conference semi-final series.
Vancouver lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for today in Nashville.
Rinne finished with 31 and kept the Predators from being blown away in the first period, when Vancouver had the upper hand, but had to settle for just a 2-1.
Legwand opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal early in the first period before Vancouver’s Raffi Torres and Ryan Kesler put the home team ahead.
With less than a minute played in the second, Legwand grabbed his second of the game to tie the score, flipping the puck over the net and off Vancouver defenseman Alexander Edler for a lucky goal.
Ward scored twice early in the third period to give the Predators a 4-2 lead before Kesler pulled one back for the Canucks with 3:42 left to play.
Vancouver pressed for the tying goal, but were stymied by Nashville goaltender Rinne.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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