Canucks beat Predators to reach finals

Chris Higgins against Kevin Klein of the Nashville Predators Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond scored in the first period and Roberto Luongo made 23 saves for Vancouver as the Canucks beat Nashville 2-1 to reach the NHL\'s Western Conference finals. Vancouver, who boasted the best record in the NHL\'s regular season, won the best-of-seven series four-games-to-two and reached the conference finals for the first time since 1994.
\"Relief,\" Sedin\'s twin brother, Henrik, said of his emotion at the victory. \"It was one of those series where they get on a roll and they win this game, and all of a sudden there is a seventh game.\"

The Canucks had already been through that scenario in the first round, when they took a 3-0 series lead over defending Stanley Cup champions Chicago but needed the maximum seven games to oust the Blackhawks.
They\'ll face either the San Jose Sharks or Detroit in the conference finals for a chance to battle a team from the East in the Stanley Cup finals.
San Jose leads their series 3-2 with Detroit hosting game six on Tuesday.
Raymond gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 7:45 into the game and Sedin made it 2-0 less than two minutes later.
Ryan Kesler assisted on both goals, giving him a role in 11 of the Canucks\' 14 goals in the series.
Luongo made sure the lead stood up, even though Vancouver were out-shot 24-19.
David Legwand pulled one back for the Predators with a goal 3:31 into the second period, putting the puck through Luongo\'s legs.

Nashville were in the second round for the first time in the club\'s history.
\"The first two periods I thought we played as well as we\'ve played in the playoffs,\" Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. \"The first period was a little disturbing because - according to our sources and what we track - we were out-chancing them 11 to two and we were losing 2-0. That\'s a hard pill to swallow.\"