The Trooper

Anyone expecting Game 1 of the series between the Vancouver Canucks and the Nashville Predators to hold the same emotional charge that Game 7 between the Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks had was bound to be in for a rude awakening. We will likely not see a series--in the first round--that had so many intertwining storylines, twists, turns, tragedies and triumphs as that series had.

But Game 1 of the second round last night offered a clean slate for a number of players. I am going to specifically highlight two of them: the men who played between the pipes.

Pekka Rinne and Roberto Luongo, expected to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in voting for the Vezina Trophy, had rough first rounds. Luongo had been pulled in two games and didn't start another; and Pekka Rinne came into this series sporting a bloated Goals Against Average in excess of 3.00, and a subpar save percentage below .888.

Both of these goaltenders needed to put the 1st round behind them and they did it in a hurry.

Pekka Rinne was easily the best Nashville Predator on the ice as his team came out somewhat timidly. The Predators had trouble completing passes, they had trouble getting in on the forecheck, and they had trouble mounting any kind of offensive attack against the Canucks finishing with only 20 shots on goal.

Rinne stood tall for the Predators, turning aside 29 of 30 shots faced. His glove hand was on full display as anything headed to the left side of the net was swallowed up with the ease of which a black hole might swallow a tennis ball. Rinne was excellent, and he needed to be. If it were not for him, the game would have been far more lopsided as the Canucks did not suffer what many were predicting would be a "letdown game".

At the other end, Roberto Luongo perhaps needed a good start just as badly as Rinne did. He didn't face many tough challenges; the biggest saves he made were a shorthanded breakaway stop on Mike Fisher early in the game, and just barely grazing a puck headed for an open net with his glove off of a Shea Weber one-timer later in the game. (similar to his glove save off Demitra in the Olympics, you need to slow this one down to realize Luongo did--in fact--get a piece of it).

In the end, Luongo stopped everything that came at him for a shutout, his second of the playoffs and first since Game 1 against Chicago. He didn't need to be a world beater on this night, but he competently turned aside all the shots he faced including the difficult ones. In a game where both the goaltenders needed to put some bad memories behind them, they were both troopers in goal and set the stage for what could be a very interesting goaltending battle in this series.

The rest of the game was somewhat lopsided; the Canucks came out hard, fast and physical. The Predators seemed somewhat taken aback, and coach Barry Trotz was not happy whatsoever with his team's effort. Neither was Captain Shea Weber, who called out his team to put forth a better performance in Game 2.

It would be prudent to expect that the Predators will do just that when the puck drops on Saturday. But for now, both teams should be pleased with the way their goaltenders have started the series and move on from there.