NASHVILLE — Their job is only half done, but the Vancouver Canucks allowed themselves a moment Monday night to savour an accomplishment that this franchise had not managed for 17 long years.

At last, the Canucks finally cleared that second-round speed bump — one that at times the past few years seemed to be a mile high — and advanced to the NHL's Western Conference final.

Led by the brilliant play of centre Ryan Kesler, the Canucks finally finished off the Nashville Predators with a 2-1 win that clinched the best-of-seven series in six games.

"It has only been about 15 minutes, but it feels pretty good," Vancouver defenceman Kevin Bieksa said of finally getting over that second-round hurdle. "I imagine (Tuesday) we'll wake up and it will feel even better. But the job is not done. We move on to bigger and better things and we await our next opponent."

That opponent will be either the San Jose Sharks or Detroit Red Wings. The Sharks lead that series 3-2 with Game 6 scheduled for Tuesday night in Detroit.

With Rogers Arena booked on Thursday and Friday nights, the Western final — just the third in Canucks franchise history and first since 1994 — won't start any earlier than Saturday night and my not begin until Sunday night.

The Canucks let the Predators off the hook in Game 5 on Saturday night in Vancouver, but they finally displayed some semblance of a killer instinct Monday night at Bridgestone Arena.

Kesler set up two first-period goals as the Canucks jumped out to a rare two-goal lead in this series and then hung on against a Predators team that just wouldn't go away.

Kesler really was the difference in the series. He has been in on 11 of the last 13 Vancouver goals and carried the Canucks on his shoulders, registering five goals and 11 points in the six-game series.

"I don't know," winger Alex Burrows said when asked to describe Kesler's play. "I am not that good in English to find a word that could say how good he was. All over the ice, both ways, defensively, offensively, PK, power play, grinding game, faceoffs, he does it all for us. Best thing is he really wants it and that's what we need from him and hopefully we keep it going."

General manager Mike Gillis had no trouble finding words for Kesler's play.

"Unbelievable," Gillis said. "His energy level is extraordinarily high, you saw how many shots they got in the third period tonight. He was still going strong when you saw their guys fading toward the end. He's just playing lights out and is dragging people along with him."

The Canucks finished off the Predators with a textbook third period that followed a miserable second period in which they managed only two shots.

"The second period felt like it was just a fire drill out there," Bieksa said. "We were in our zone an awful lot and couldn't seem to make a play and they were putting pucks around us."

But the Canucks were a much more composed team in the third, when they held the Predators to just six shots on goalie Roberto Luongo. Only a couple of them were of the semi-dangerous variety.

"We did everything we wanted to do in that period," Luongo said. "We spent most of period in their zone, we protected the puck well, I don't think we had any turnovers at all. That is the type of game we want to be playing, especially when we have the lead in the third."

Nashville coach Barry Trotz praised the Canucks, who won all three games played at Bridgestone Arena.

"We've got a long way to go," Trotz said. "This is Vancouver's 40th year and they've yet to win the Stanley Cup. It's hard to win the Stanley Cup, but you look at their organization and they're striving every year to do that and have a great chance to do that this year."

The Canucks had the lead pretty much all night. After killing off a couple of early Nashville power plays, the Canucks grabbed a 2-0 lead with goals less than two minutes apart by Mason Raymond and Daniel Sedin. Kesler helped set up both of them.

Raymond's goal came after Nashville defenceman Ryan Suter lost the puck in his skates in front of the Predator goal. Kesler retrieved it and delivered a backhand pass from the goal-line to Raymond, who in turn beat Pekka Rinne with a backhand shot at 7:45 for his first goal of the playoffs.

Sedin made it 2-0 at 9:28 on a Vancouver power play. Henrik Sedin threw the puck out of the corner toward the goal and Kesler tipped it. Rinne got a piece of that, but the puck ended up trickling through the crease to Daniel, who slapped it into an empty net. The goal came with Jordin Tootoo off serving a questionable penalty for embellishment after he was stood up by Vancouver defenceman Alex Edler at the Canucks blue-line.

"There's been way worse dives going on in this playoff series," said Nashville defenceman Shane O'Brien. "I've played against Jordin Tootoo at every level from pro — the AHL to the NHL — and he's never been known to dive. He plays hard every night and he's a warrior and for him to get called on a diving penalty . . . I don't know. It is what it is. We should have killed it off, but we didn't."

The Predators got a goal they desperately needed at 3:31 of the second and it was another one of those bad-angle shots that continue to plague Luongo.

David Legwand flipped the puck toward Luongo from the goal-line and it somehow appeared to get between Luongo and the near post. Referee Steve Kozari, positioned behind the net, signalled a goal and after a lengthy video review, the goal stood.

Although the CBC produced a replay that showed the puck over the line, Luongo wasn't convinced.

"There was no goal," he said, smiling. "I had a shutout tonight. What are you talking about . . . What can I say? There seemed to be a few of those in this series. Couldn't catch a break, but at the end of the day we won the series and that's all that matters."

It's hard to argue with that.

Vancouver Sun

bziemer@vancouversun.com