NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet won’t deny being one of the NHL’s final eight teams still alive means a lot.

An all-Canadian showdown against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round?

Even better.

“We know the next series will be tough,” Tocchet said Friday night after his Canucks advanced by downing Nashville 1-0 in Game 6.

The Jack Adams finalist for NHL coach of the year took the Canucks from a team that missed the postseason a year ago by finishing 11th in the Western Conference to placing third in the West this season. They won the Pacific Division with 109 points, winning all four games with Edmonton.

The Canucks survived a low-shooting series with Nashville, with each of the final four games decided by one goal.

Pius Suter ended a scoreless tie with his second goal this postseason with 1:39 left for the latest winning goal in a Canucks’ series-clinching game. That topped Daniel Sedin’s goal with 2:03 left in Game 6 of the 2010 conference quarterfinal.