Nashville Predators center Michael McCarron was fined for goalie interference Saturday, a day after his team's 2-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Game 3 of the NHL playoffs series.

McCarron's wallet is $2,000 lighter with the league-imposed fine for interference against Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith 12 minutes, 28 seconds into the first period.

DeSmith was playing the puck behind the net when McCarron raced around Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes and right into DeSmith, McCarron's left shoulder knocking the goalie to the ice. This was about seven minutes after Canucks center Dakota Joshua knocked Predators defenseman Spencer Stastney out of the game by boarding him. Stastney is week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

"It's a tough penalty," McCarron said after the game. "I'm trying to go stick on puck. Obviously not trying to hit the goalie, but that's what ended up happening.

"It wasn't like I lost my cool or anything. It was just an unfortunate play. Stunk them scoring on the power play."

Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek cared not whether it was intentional. He immediately grabbed McCarron from behind and put the 6-foot-6, 232-pounder in a headlock.

Less than a minute into the ensuing power play, J.T. Miller gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead and the first of their two power-play goals in the game.

DeSmith, who got up and smiled after the collision, is playing in place of starter Thatcher Demko. Demko has missed the past two games and is week-to-week with what is reportedly a knee injury.

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DeSmith stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced Friday.

The teams meet again Sunday at Bridgestone Arena for Game 4 of the series, which Vancouver leads 2-1.

Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Predators' Michael McCarron for hit on Canucks goalie in NHL playoff