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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Mark Messier used a familiar move to
give the Vancouver Canucks a much-needed victory.
|  | | Nashville's Sebastien Bordeleau, top, sends Vancouver's Harry York for a tumble. |
With 1:31 left in overtime, Messier skated into the right circle
and fired a wrist shot past Nashville goalie Mike Dunham to give
the Canucks a 4-3 victory Thursday night. It was just Vancouver's
fourth win in the last 22 games.
"We needed some big goals from the first line," Canucks winger Donald Brashear said. "That's definitely a big one from the captain."
The goal was the 616th of Messier's career, but his first since
Nov. 5. He missed 15 games with a knee injury.
"I'm starting to feel better. It's been tough coming back after
an injury, which it usually is," said Messier, who recently became
the sixth player in NHL history to play in four different decades.
"(Messier went) off-wing, shooting across the grain,"
Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "Pretty average shot."
Canucks goalie Garth Snow made 48 saves after being briefly
benched in the first period. Snow had given up two goals on seven
shots when coach Marc Crawford replaced him for 17 seconds with
Felix Potvin.
"He didn't get pulled," Messier said. "It was a way of getting a timeout without using our timeout."
Nashville rookie center David Legwand broke his left foot in the
third period, and will likely be out three to six weeks.
"That line was terrific tonight," Trotz said of the trio of
Legwand, Cliff Ronning, and Patric Kjellberg. "So we'll miss him.
I'll have to plug someone else in." The loss ended Nashville's club-record home unbeaten streak at six.
Brashear tied it 3-3 at 5:42 of the third from the right circle.
The Predators missed a good scoring chance when Snow robbed Ville Peltonen with a glove save with 6:37 left in regulation.
Nashville's Vitali Yachmenev put the Predators ahead 3-2 at
14:55 of the second. He fired a wrist shot through Snow's pads from the left circle.
Nashville jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Kjellberg scored from the right circle at 1:34, and Sebastien Bordeleau put Nashville up 2-0
on the rebound of Scott Walker's shot at 5:25.
Vancouver's Trent Klatt scored a power-play goal off Messier's
drop pass to make it 2-1 at 15:09. Peter Schaefer tied it at 19:10,
beating Dunham with a high shot.
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NHL Scoreboard
Vancouver Clubhouse
Nashville Clubhouse
RECAPS
Buffalo 0
Boston 0
Chicago 5
Detroit 3
Tampa Bay 4
NY Islanders 2
Vancouver 4
Nashville 3
Colorado 4
Pittsburgh 3
St. Louis 3
Los Angeles 2
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