Vokoun Stops Red Wings, 3-1

Tomas Vokoun made the Nashville Predators’ first home playoff game in their six-year history a memory to savor.

Vokoun came up with 22 of his 41 saves in the third period and the Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1, on Sunday for their first playoff victory, pulling within 2-1 in the first-round Western Conference series.

David Legwand scored a short-handed goal, Adam Hall had a goal and an assist and Scott Hartnell padded the lead with a goal as the Predators finally made some postseason history they can enjoy.

“Obviously, this is an important game,” Nashville Coach Barry Trotz said. “Detroit is a veteran team, and they wanted to put a nail in the coffin today, and we didn’t let them. Hopefully, we can continue to make this a series.”

The Red Wings came out ready to play as they outshot the Predators, 15-1, in the first 15 minutes.

But Vokoun, the only reason why the Predators have stayed close in the best-of-seven series, more than atoned for the winning goal bouncing in off his skate in Detroit’s 2-1 victory Saturday.

Vokoun was at his best in protecting Nashville’s lead in the third period. Brett Hull scored his first goal this postseason at 5:21 of the third to avoid the shutout.

Vokoun stopped Hull twice at the net early in the period, and he had a kick save off Mathieu Schneider, who got credit for Saturday’s winning goal.

Greg Johnson made the biggest save with Nashville leading 2-1 when he cleared the puck from the crease after it slipped through Vokoun’s legs on a shot by Jiri Fischer from the blue line.

Vancouver 2, Calgary 1 -- Matt Cooke’s third-period goal gave the Canucks the victory at Calgary behind backup goaltender Johan Hedberg.

Vancouver played the final two periods with Hedberg after Dan Cloutier sustained an apparent knee injury with less than a minute left in the first period. The victory gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead in the first-round Western Conference series.

Late in the scoreless opening period, Cloutier stopped a shot by Calgary’s Oleg Saprykin. But as the puck rebounded out front, Cloutier appeared to wrench his knee scrambling to reach it.

Cloutier’s condition was termed a “lower body injury” by the team. But he was helped off the ice and did not return.

Montreal 3, Boston 2 -- Alex Kovalev scored two first-period goals at Montreal, both assisted by goalie Jose Theodore, and the Canadiens got back into their first-round Eastern Conference series with the Bruins. They had scored only once while losing the first two games in Boston.

Theodore set up the rushes that led to the goals and became only the third goaltender to record two assists in an NHL playoff game.