from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

When Pius Suter signed with the Vancouver Canucks six weeks into free agency last summer, cut adrift by the Detroit Red Wings, a lot of friends back home in Switzerland thought he was nuts.

“They said, ‘You're going to another team that's not going to make the playoffs,’” Suter recalled late Friday. “I was like, 'No, this team is better than you think. We have guys that are top-five guys in the league at every position.’ It's huge for us to win this series. But we know what people say. Not many believed in us before this season. Probably even less next series.”

Suter, who came to the Canucks with a lot of skills in his tool box but was never regarded as tough, was one of the best Vancouver players against the Nashville Predators. He took a beating in the hard areas all series, won more battles than he lost, never shied from the fight and played the last two games with a mouthful of stitches.

And on Friday, having never logged a National Hockey League playoff game until two weeks ago, Suter scored the franchise’s biggest goal since the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.

After smashing his stick in frustration at missed opportunities earlier in the game, the 27-year-old from Zurich used its replacement to direct Brock Boeser’s centring pass past Nashville goalie Juuse Saros with 1:39 remaining as the Canucks beat the Predators 1-0 to win the first-round series in six games. They advance to a dream Stanley Cup quarterfinal matchup against the Edmonton Oilers that starts Tuesday at Rogers Arena.

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Watch the only goal in the game below.

Game highlights are here.