Some thoughts from the NHL on TSN panel on Sunday night:
Detroit Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk was a game time decision on Sunday and you could tell that he was hurting because he didn't take a faceoff the entire game.
Playing with one hand and call it what ever you want, he was magnificent in Game 5.
No one draws a crowd like him and he's not just good off the rush, he gets the puck down low and gets his nose dirty.
It was an unbelievable effort from Datsyuk, he played 21 minutes of ice time was plus two, had three assists and willed the Red Wings back into this series.
The Canucks were their own worst enemy in Game 5
While we can debate if Vancouver's problem in the first round was the Chicago Blackhawks or the problem was the Canucks themselves, I can tell you this: the problem in Game 5 of their series against the Predators was the Canucks.
They didn't have a killer instinct and they had a proliferation of turnovers. They were on the power play on Saturday night and forwards Mikael Samuelsson and Daniel Sedin got crossed up on the blueline and the next thing you know, David Legwand shot the puck into the back of the net for a short-handed goal.
The Canucks certainly need to manage the puck better and you would think in a clinching situation, on home ice, and against a team that doesn't have a lot of offensive mobility, that they'd be really smart with the puck and exhibit that killer instinct.
But they didn't and that's on the Vancouver Canucks more than anybody else.
