• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

LaBarbera wins debut, leads Canucks over Predators

Jan 2, 2009 - 5:09 AM By Jim Diamond PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Jason Jaffray scored the go-ahead goal with 4:06 remaining and Jason LaBarbera made 31 saves in his debut to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

The win was Vancouver's sixth straight over Nashville, which has lost three in a row and four of its last five.

Just three seconds after a penalty to Nashville defenseman Greg de Vries expired, Willie Mitchell fired a slap shot from the left point that Jaffray tipped by Predator goaltender Pekka Rinne on the stick side and put Vancouver ahead, 2-1.

The goal was the second of the season for Jaffray, with both serving as game-winners.

"It was the tail end of the power play, and I just shot it," Mitchell said. "I wasn't sure what it hit, and I thought it might have hit Jaffray, but we will take it though."

"I didn't really see it," Rinne said. "It is a tough way to lose a game."

LaBarbera appeared in his first game as a Canuck. He was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings two days ago as a result of injuries to goaltenders Roberto Luongo and Curtis Sanford.

"I wanted to establish my position because I've had tough luck against Nashville in the past so it was good for me to get that win against them," said LaBarbera, a native of the Vancouver suburb of Burnaby. "When the buzzer went off at the end of the game, it was pretty amazing for me."

"He's a big goalie," Mitchell said of LaBarbera. "No one is Roberto Luongo, but he sure looked big like him in the net."

After attempting just five shots in the first period, the Predators put 17 on LaBarbera in the second. The 28-year old stopped all but one attempt in the session, allowing an even strength goal to Rich Peverley at the 7:53 mark to tie the game, 1-1.

As time expired on Kevin Bieksa's interference penalty, Nashville defenseman Dan Hamhuis sent a pass from the left point to Radek Bonk in front of LaBarbera. Bonk slipped a backwards pass between his legs to Peverley, where he had an easy wrist shot into the vacated net for his second goal of the season.

"It was a play that we worked on a little bit as a back-door play," Peverley said. "It was a great play to me by Bonk to know it was just going to be there, and I had a wide open net."

"We are scoring a goal a game, and it is hard to win because there isn't much of a margin for error," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We had a lot of chances and got some pucks behind them, but we have got to score."

Mattias Ohlund scored the game's first goal at 7:19 of the opening period, beating Rinne between the pads on a wrist shot from the left boards.

"When you shoot the puck at the net, good things happen," Ohlund said.

Rinne redeemed himself at the 5:15 mark of the second period when he denied Henrik Sedin with a diving stick save at the conclusion of a 2-on-1 with Pavol Demitra.

"We had some quality opportunities in the second where we just didn't execute," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "That was a really positive first outing for Jason tonight because your goaltender is capable of keeping you in the game, and that is what he did tonight."