The Columbus Blue Jackets led for most of the game, but as they have so often learned, their leads are never safe in the Sommet Center. 10,703 watched as some of the Preds top stars rallied off two straight goals in the final four minutes for a 3-2 win.
Felder’s FANTASTIC Five:
1. Never Doubt Nashville When Playing Against Columbus At the Sommet Center - It's one of those unexplained mysteries. Why Columbus can never seem to hang on to a lead in the Sommet is beyond me. Every time it looks like they have the game, somehow, the Preds roar back. Pre-season or not, tonight was no different. With more than 10 minutes left in the game and down 2-1, I turned to Jeremy K. Gover from the Section 303.com website and said, "Don't worry. It's a home game against Columbus. Somehow the Preds will tie the game and then win the game with less than 10 minutes to go. They always do." With the help of the top line and a Weber cannon shot, the Preds did just that. I wish I could explain, but I just can't.
2. The Beast's BOMB Wins It - Shea Weber at no point tonight played like it was pre-season. He was chippy, hitting people, firing off slappers, and just being his normal regular season self. Well for the 2nd straight game in a row in which Weber has played he tallied a goal. This one just happened to be a power play game winner with a mere 29 seconds to go. Look out NHL. Shea's coming for a return to the All-Star game and trying to bring his team with him.
3. Shots On Goal and Plenty Of Them - Got to appreciate a 40 shots on goal effort. Up until the last 2 goals, I was worried the shots would go to waste. Regardless of it being pre-season, it is encouraging to see the Preds getting pucks to the net and attacking rebounds. That's the stuff they will need each game to match offensive totals. The Preds were led by Weber with 7 shots on goal, Arnott with 5 SOG, Joel Ward with 5 SOG, and Nick Spaling with 4 SOG.
4. PK Still Looking Pretty Good - The Jackets only had 2 power play's this evening, but neither of them mustered a very good scoring chance. The PK unit continued it's stellar play from the last home game by limiting the Blue Jackets to just 1 shot on goal while on the PP. Tonight's shorthanded ice time leaders were Weber with 2:17, Suter with 2:08, Hamhuis with 1:38, and Tootoo with 1:34.
5. The Competition for Spots Is Shaping Up Nicely - I have to say that the competition for those last 2 D-spots (if you carry 7) and the wingers position is really shaping up to be a tough decision so far. Out of the D I'd have to say that Laakso and Blum lead the way for me. In terms of forwards, I really like what I've seen from Wilson and Santorelli. That said, no one has really put themselves way and above one another just yet.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratch was Colin Wilson who is battling thru a groin injury according to Barry Trotz.
* 1ST PERIOD
* 18:12 to go and things are gritty and choppy early. We have Shea Weber blowing up R.J. Umberger along the boards, Tootoo causing his havoc, etc. Just good stuff and a normal feeling for a CBJ v NSH game.
* 5:42 to go. Triston Grant tries to make a very questionable hit at center ice. The hit was a dangerous one so of course Columbus rightly responds. The problem was that the player Grant hit goes after Grant, but then Michael Blunden comes in from behind the play and mobs Grant from the flank. Grant receives the proper kneeing penalty and Blunden gets an unsportsmanlike for essentially being a third man in on the fight that was going to occur. Grant made a dangerous play and got the proper penalty. Blunden had no right to come in from behind however. So all this just adds to the physical play so far.
* 3:00 to go and I've noticed that Joel Ward is skating with Arnott and Dumont. After scanning the bench it appears Steve Sullivan is not on the bench.
* 20.4 to go. Jordin Tootoo and Tommy Sestitio go at it. Sestito has the early lead but Toots roars back after taking a handful. Jordin gets in a few real good shots and as they are falling to the ice Tommy Sestito hits his head on the ice. This severely dampens the fight win. Very scary as Sestito looked unconscious on the ice. Medical staffs from both teams came to his aid. The teams went to the locker rooms for the intermission early and the 20 seconds remaining will be added on to the front of the 2nd period.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 0CBJ: 0Positives - Try this on for size: Columbus with just 2 shots on goal. Some physical play in which the Preds lead the hits 6-5. Negatives - Columbus winning the faceoff war with a 57%. Only 8 shots on goal, but considering the defensive nature of this game so far that's not too bad.
* 2ND PERIOD
* GOAL for COLUMBUS - 13:47 to go. The puck goes through the crease on a back door attempt, but it hits Shea Weber's skate. From there it goes right back to Andrew Murray who sweeps the puck into the empty half of the net. Peks with no chance on that as he was sliding to the back door and had no way of knowing Webs skate got in the way. Murray from Derek Dorsett. The Blue Jackets take the 1-0 lead.
* GOAL for COLUMBUS - 7:44 to go. A bad play by Pekka Rinne results in a goal. Peks had made a save somewhat sideways. It appeared that he assumed Jonathon Blum had the puck off the rebound, but that was not the case at all. The puck had bounced a mere stride away in front of Rinne, but his head was turned and he didn't see it at all. In strode Antoine Vermette who puts the puck in the wide open and vacant net after a quick deke of the puck from in front of Peks and around him for an oh so easy goal. Vermette from Mathieu Roy and John Moore. The Jackets now hold the 2-0 edge.
* After the goal Dan Ellis come in to play. This had nothing to do with Peks performance, it was merely past the midway point of the 2nd period and scheduled for Danny to go in.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 1:52 to go. Ryan Jones wisely cruises into the slot and finds the puck on his stick courtesy of a very nice Tootoo pass. Jones wires the puck in glove side on Mathieu Garon. Really nice play created by Toots finding Jones breaking into the slot. Jones has looked pretty good in this game by playing physical, and now putting in a pretty shot. Jones from Tootoo. Preds cut the lead in half to 2-1.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 1CBJ: 2Positives - Nice set up and goal for Toots and Jones. 13 shots on goal that period bringing the Pred total up to 21 so far. Negatives - A bad goal given up by Rinne due to misplaying the rebound. Getting brutalized in the faceoff dot with Columbus winning 63%.
* 3RD PERIOD
* Have to give credit to Matheiu Garon tonight. He faced 21 shots and had 20 saves. Barring an unforeseen Pred comeback, his goaltending has stuffed the Preds offense for the first 2 periods.
* 12:56 to go and somethings to note. The man advantage is 0-4. They've managed 6 shots on gaol while on said man advantage though. The Preds have out shot the Jackets 27-12 thus far, yet are losing 2-1.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 3:59 to go. Jason Arnott and J.P. Dumont hook up for a sweet tic tac toe. Dumont was in front of the net on the top of the crease after a nice feed from Arnott. Dumont returns the favor and gives it right back to Jason who buries the puck in the top of the left corner over Lacosta's high stick side. Very aware play by J.P. who passed on the opportunity to shoot point blank knowing Lacosta would drop to cover a shot along the ice. Arnott from Dumont and Mike Santorelli. Preds tie this one up late 2-2.
* 1:30 to go and Derek Dorsett goes to the box for hooking, giving the Preds a "power play" to end regulation. Barry Trotz wisely calls his time out here to try and game plan an actual successful man advantage. Here's your chance to see if this unit can rise to the big moment.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 28.1 to go. Shea "the BEAST" Weber fires home a slapper to take the lead with under a half minute to go. J.P. Dumont feeds the Beast for the cannon shot and Webs wires it home high glove side past Lacosta. Yet another last minute comeback for the Preds vs Columbus. Pre-season or not they seem to have the Jackets number in this building.
* Well it took the whole game, but the power play did show up. So for tonight, no man advantage label.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 3CBJ - 2.
My Three Stars:
1. Jason Arnott - 1 goal, 1 assist, even +/-, 5 shots on goal, 1 takeaway, but only won 38% of his faceoffs.
2. Shea Weber - 1 game winning power play goal, a -1 rating, led the team with 7 shots on goal, 1 hit, 2 takeaways, 1 blocked shot.
3. J.P. Dumont - 2 assists, even +/-, 3 shots on goal, 1 takeaway, and 1 blocked shot.
Goalie Grades:B/A – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. Peks made 6 saves on 8 shots against. Not a great stat line, but he didn't really get much work until the 2nd period. Ellis posted another shutout effort with just 8 shots against.
Quotes:
Felder - "Well J.P., I don't know what it is about you guys here against Columbus but you always seem to come back and take it to them in the end no matter what the score. Talk about that play where you decided to pass the puck to Arny instead of taking a point blank shot."
J.P. Dumont - "Well first we just want to get back on track. We're a team that never quits and it doesn't matter if it's an exhibition game or not and we just proved it tonight. We played really hard, and they kinda had two lucky goals, but we never quit. On Arny's goal, it was just a great forecheck by our line with their D pinching. When Arny gave it to me, I noticed the goalie was cheating on me right away so I decided to give it back to him. He had a great angle and just put the puck in on a great shot inside the post. On the power play, I think we had some good scoring chances, and we were all over them. I just came in and faked a shot. It's pretty easy when you see a guy like Webby waiting on a one timer so I made sure the puck was flat when I gave it to him and it was a good result."
Felder - "You guys were 0 for 5 on the power play before that. What did Barry say to you during the time out?"
Dumont - "It was more just for us to rest a little bit. We just had a really long shift right before the penalty. He wanted to make sure we had good structure. There was a good chance for us to win the game after we tied and we moved the puck pretty well but we stayed to the outside a lot. We just had to keep working hard and good things will happen and it was a big goal."
Felder - "Through these pre-season games is there anything you are specifically working on? Obviously you've been in the NHL for years but is there anything that you are really focusing in on this season?"
Dumont - "Just making the playoffs. That's the main goal for everybody. It doesn't matter who scores the goals, and it's always been that way. It doesn't matter as long as you win games and that's what happened tonight. That was a big win. Sure it's just exhibition but we have to build from that with especially with all the young kids and new guys on the team. I know it would have been easy to shut it down in an exhibition game down 2-1 but we came back and it's a big win."
*
Felder - "On your goal there was a pretty nice set up by Toots there. Did you see that play coming?"
Ryan Jones - "Well actually Sants dumped it in and made a good change, he got caught out a little late, and the D did a great job of getting the puck in and getting off and I just came off the bench and there was a lane there. So I was yelling at Toots and he made an awesome pass, I had a little bit of room to walk in and just let the shot go."
Felder - "Is there anything that you are specifically focusing on working on during this pre-season?"
Jones - "No. I mean, I had a hard summer. I battled the injury that I had last year for most of the summer and camp is almost the first time that I've been able to get on the ice so I just want to keep getting better and contribute every time I'm out on the ice."
*
Felder - "That was a slow start there in the 1st period with only 2 shots on goal against you. Did you feel like you were out of rhythm?"
Pekka Rinne - "A little bit yeah. It was kind of weird with no shots but I felt comfortable."
Felder - "You had a couple of young D guys in front of you. What were your thoughts on them?"
Rinne - "They did really well. I think all the younger guys have. I didn't know too much about them but everybody has done a really really good job."
Felder - "Obviously the one bad moment was the 2nd goal. Kind of give me your play by play to better understand what happened there."
Rinne - "It was just a regular play where somebody flips the puck (in to the zone) and I went out to cover it up. Just a routine play for me but I just lost the puck. I though I had it and I was just waiting for the whistle but it never came and then boom it went into the net. Just an awful goal so what can I say."
*
Felder - "Ryan Jones seemed to have a little bit more grit to his game tonight. Is that what you want to see from him?"
Barry Trotz - "Jonesy's game is really in those hard areas. He's not really a smooth guy when you watch him but the puck just sort of follows him and he's really good in the crease area. Yeah I think he's trying to use that big body and be a little more physical. He wants to add that to his game. He just has to execute all the routine stuff and that's what we are working on with him. He's added a good dimension. He's a strong powerful young man. He had a big goal for us tonight."
Felder - "Mixing in Santorelli and Spaling on that top line, are you trying to see if those guys can gel in a scoring position?"
Trotz - "Well I think it's a little bit of both. To see if they can gel at that position yeah, and also seeing how they think with high end guys. Arny and J.P. are very intelligent players and execute at a high level. You just want to see their intelligence level when it comes to playing with those type of players. Also, I think it gives them some confidence and a little more experience."
Felder - "Do you expect to make some cuts after the next pre-season game?"
Trotz - "Yeah. Well, I wouldn't say after next game. We'll play Atlanta and then we are going to go to Ft. Campbell for a little team builder. We'll probably keep our roster fairly big until Ft. Campbell. Then we'll probably have another set of cuts. There's a lot of people that are going to be apart of that because I think it's a good team builder for the organization."
Final Thoughts:
A pretty nice comeback win for Nashville as they push their pre-season record to 3-0. Tonight you could only complain about burying the puck on so many shots up until those final 4 minutes. Beyond that, there are very few areas to worry about as pre-season goes along thus far. Maybe the next couple of games will bring those to light.
The Predators next game is this Wednesday night in Atlanta. Faceoff is scheduled for 6 pm in the Philips Arena. Only 3 pre-season games remaining including the game Wednesday.
Till the next time, take care.
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