OTTAWA, 13 April 2004 — Thomas Vokoun stopped 41 of 42 shots and Adam Hall had a goal and an assist as the Nashville Predators earned their first ever NHL postseason victory on Sunday, beating the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 at home and cutting their best-of-seven series deficit to 2-1. Vokoun, playing in the first playoff series of his career, came up especially big in the third period, as he stopped a whopping 23 shots with the Red Wings buzzing the net.
His opposite Manny Legace was nowhere near as stellar at the other end of the rink, allowing three goals on only 21 Predator shots.
Nashville’s other goals came from Scott Hartnell and David Legwand, who opened the scoring with a short-handed marker late in the first. Detroit forward Brett Hull, who managed eight shots on the night, scored the lone goal for the Wings. The Predators will get a chance to even the series on Tuesday night in game four.
In Montreal, Alexei Kovalev had two goals and captain Saku Koivu added two assists as the Montreal Canadiens hung on to beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 at the Bell Centre, giving the Habs life in their best-of-seven series, which the Bruins lead 2-1.
Going into the game, Kovalev, acquired by Montreal from the New York Rangers at the trade deadline, had been relatively non-existent for the Canadiens, managing only one empty net goal over a 14-game span. Both of his goals on Sunday came in the first period, including one on the Habs’ first shot of the game on goalie Andrew Raycroft.
Montreal netminder Jose Theodore, who stopped 21 shots for the victory, notched assists on both Kovalev goals, becoming only the third goalie in NHL history to register two points in one game.
Andrei Markov added the other tally for Montreal. Andy Hilbert scored the lone goal for the Bruins, who were playing without forward Michael Nylander who was sidelined with the flu. Nylander was dominant in Boston’s first two games, recording two goals and two assists. Game four is slated for Tuesday night in Montreal.
In Calgary, Matt Cooke scored early in the third period to break a 1-1 tie and backup goalie Johan Hedberg stopped 19 of 20 shots in replace of an injured Dan Cloutier as the Vancouver Canucks edged the Calgary Flames 2-1 in game three of their all-Canadian Western Conference quarterfinal.
The win put the Canucks in the driver’s seat in this best-of-seven series, as they now hold a 2-1 lead going into game four on Tuesday, also in Calgary. Hedberg played the final two periods for Vancouver after starting netminder Cloutier suffered an apparent knee injury while making a save at the end of the first period. Cloutier had to be helped off the ice by his teammates and did not return.
Vancouver captain Markus Naslund scored his third of series on the power play early in the second, tying the game shortly after Calgary tough guy Chris Simon beat Hedberg off a nice goal mouth feed from Jerome Iginla.
