Nashville levels playoff series with 4-1 victory over Canucks

Filip Forsberg scored and had an assist, and the Nashville Predators earned a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series Tuesday.

Anthony Beauvillier — a former Canuck — added a goal and a helper for the Preds, who levelled the best-of-seven series at 1-1.

Colton Sissons and Kiefer Sherwood also found the back of the net for Nashville, while Juuse Saros made 17 saves. 

Bruising defenceman Nikita Zadorov replied for a Vancouver side that struggled to get shots on net and experienced a series of unlucky bounces.

The Canucks were playing without all-star goalie Thatcher Demko, who was ruled out with an undisclosed injury earlier on Tuesday.

Casey DeSmith took over in net and stopped 12 of 15 shots. 

The enthusiastic crowd at Rogers Arena erupted with chants of "Let's go Case-y!" moments after the puck dropped. 

They were quickly quieted. 

Forsberg sent a long shot flying from inside the blue line and Beauvillier, stationed above the hash marks, deflected it in past an out-of-position DeSmith to put the Predators up 1-0 just 1:14 into the game. 

Beauvillier started the season in Vancouver before the Canucks dealt him to the Blackhawks to shed salary in November. Chicago then sent the left-winger to Nashville in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick ahead of the NHL trade deadline in March. 

The Canucks saw three power plays across the first period Tuesday but struggled to get shots on net. 

Elias Pettersson came painfully close to levelling the score on a man advantage in the dying seconds of the opening frame. 

Saros slid over to stop Quinn Hughes as he powered toward the net, but the defenceman sliced a pass to Pettersson and the Swedish centre blasted a shot at the empty net, only to