Conn Smythe Trophy watch: Leading candidates after Game 2

In some ways, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks’ most prominent Conn Smythe Trophy candidates probably haven’t changed much since we last took a look in mid-May. Yet with the field of teams down to two and Vancouver’s first two home games in the books, we can take a deeper look at which Canucks and Bruins players have the best chance to win the playoff MVP award. We’ll start with the Canucks since they’re up 2-0 in the series. Vancouver Canucks Frontrunner: Ryan Kesler –

One thing I think many potential voters overlook is the benefits Kesler receives from a matchup standpoint. He often draws easier opportunities to score since the Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara-type defensemen are usually sent at the Sedin twins. Let’s not forget that the Sedins took over the third period of Game 2 and weren’t much less dominant against the San Jose Sharks than Kesler was versus the Nashville Predators. Of course, the converse side of getting better chances to score is that he also often faces much more difficult defensive assignments than the Sedin twins. Kesler does a little of everything from scoring (19 points in 20 games), winning faceoffs (54.6 to Henrik Sedin‘s weak 45.6 percent) and killing penalties (he’s averaging 3:04 minutes of shorthanded per game, first among Vancouver forwards and second overall). He’s the do-everything forward for the Canucks and while many knew he was an impact player already, the 2011 playoffs have been a star-making experience for the American two-way forward. His big goals and assists late in many games make him a no-brainer No. 1 candidate … for now. Strong candidate 1: Roberto Luongo – For all the abuse he took in the first round, he’s been a huge difference maker in the playoffs. Despite a great performance by Tim Thomas in Game 1, Luongo stopped all 36 shots for a 1-0 shutout. He made 28 out of 30 saves to turn Boston away in Game 2 and really hasn’t had many low moments since struggling against the Chicago Blackhawks. Whether it’s skin-tight games against the Predators/Bruins or more wide-open affairs versus the Sharks and Blackhawks, he’s been the better goalie more often than not. Overall, his numbers are fantastic, with 14-6 record, .928 save percentage and 2.16 GAA. Strong candidate(s) 2 and 3: The Sedin twins – Henrik Sedin has a league-leading 21 points and Daniel Sedin has 18 himself. Kesler is the obvious frontrunner right now, but if Henrik or Daniel put together a couple more multiple point explosions like they did at times in the Sharks series, you just never know. Dark horse: Alex Burrows – The noted vegetarian might not be as steady of a threat as the other three forwards, but he’s made some huge plays in the postseason. Obviously, those two big OT goals would be the video clips of note, but he has 17 points in 20 games overall. Boston Bruins Frontrunner: Tim Thomas – The gulf between Thomas and any other Bruins contributor – even Zdeno Chara – seems pretty huge if you ask me. Thomas hasn’t always been pretty (and allowed a few bad goals, most notably that Game 2 OT tally), but the sum of his work has been astounding. If the Bruins get back into this series, it’ll probably take an astounding set of performances by Thomas, which would make his chances that much stronger. It’s been a great run either way, considering that fact that he has a .93 save percentage in the postseason, with a nice 2.27 GAA. Strong candidate: Zdeno Chara – It’s been an up-and-down playoffs at times for the Bruins big defenseman, but he’s done everything for Boston. He plays huge minutes (28:17 per game), shows a willingness to comply with wacky power play experiments and has more better days than bad ones amid a very suspect Bruins defense. Dark horse: David Krejci – The most underrated part of the Bruins’ team is their impressive top line, powered most by Krejci. He has 18 points in 20 games, including 10 goals (four game-winners). If Dan Hamhuis can’t play again, his line could create enough opportunities to turn this series around. An explosive finals round could give Krejci a solid chance to win the Smythe. *** With 2-5 games remaining, there’s still plenty of time for these (and other) players to improve their argument for one of the best trophies in hockey. Who’s your frontrunner so far?

Preds find a way, Canucks can't close

For the third year in a row, the Canucks followed up a Game 1 win in the second round by coming up short in Game 2 -- but this one had to hurt more than the losses to Chicago in each of the last two years. This time, they were actually just 67 seconds away from a 2-0 series lead, only to have Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter get the tying goal and Matt Halischuk scored the winner 14:51 into the second OT for a 2-1 win.

The Canucks nearly won Saturday's game despite being outshot 36-15 in regulation – then got 18 shots in less than two periods of overtime but couldn't get one Pekka Rinne.

"He was definitely their best player," said defenseman Kevin Bieksa, the victim of Rinne's best OT save. We had plenty of chances to win it in overtime and plenty of chances to go up 2-0, and he stood on his head."

Asked how he refocused for OT after seeing so few shots through 60 minutes, Rinne said simply, "you have no choice."

"It's sudden death and you try to be ready for every single situation, every single shot," he added. "It was easy to stay focused, especially in overtime, it seemed like they were shooting more, and it's always fun when that happens."

Rinne wasn't making life fun for Vancouver's shooters in OT. No doubt Bieksa left Rogers Arena wondering what happened to his game-winning goal.

Daniel Sedin put a perfect pass onto Bieksa's stick as he came in backdoor late in the first overtime. Bieksa one-timed it perfectly and was ready to celebrate – only to see the puck disappear into Rinne, who dived across to stop the shot and smother the rebound.

"Obviously, I was a little bit fortunate," Rinne said. "Sedin made a nice pass to Bieksa and I was able to get my blocker and my stick over there."

With only two goals in two games, and just 18 in nine playoff games, the Canucks need to start finding the back of the net -- quickly.

"You want to score more goals, that's the bottom line," said Henrik Sedin, who had one shot in 31:25 of ice time. "We have to bear down on the chances we get, in overtime too we had a lot of chances to finish it off. That's something we need to take a look at."

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said his team needs more from the Sedins.

"They're our top players and obviously we need them to perform like top players," he said. "I know they're working real hard, sometimes you've got to give the opposition some credit."

The Predators got a break on the tying goal – Suter's passout from the end boards hit goalie Roberto Luongo's skate and went into the net. But Nashville looked much more like the team that beat Anaheim in the first round, rather than the one that was dominated for almost all of Game 1.

"Obviously they were disappointed about their first game. We knew they were going to come out hard," Vigneault said. "At the end of the day though, I'm more disappointed about how we played. Obviously I'm giving them credit, but I know we can play better than we did tonight."

With the series now headed to Nashville for Games 3 and 4, the Canucks had better step up their game. With the Predators in the second round for the first time in franchise history, Bridgestone Arena will be rocking like never before on Tuesday night – especially after the Preds' got a split in Vancouver.

"We can build off of that goal in overtime, go home and use our crowd," captain Shea Weber said. "That's a very good team over there and it's not going to be a short series by any means. It's going to be a marathon, not a sprint."

Halischuk, who was playing in just his eighth NHL playoff game, knows the importance of the Game 2 win.

"Game 1 was a wakeup call, we came out hard today and had a good 60 minutes to get us to overtime and just kind of went from there," he said. "I think we'll try to take the momentum back home, for sure."