Is it the playoffs yet? The Detroit Red Wings 1-0 shootout win over the Nashville Predators certainly had all the feelings of a playoff game… except when the OT ended and the 17,113 in a sold out Bridgestone Arena were treated to a franchise record setting 11 shootout rounds. Pekka Rinne makes 9 saves compared to Jimmy Howard's 10 and that gave the Wings a 1-0 win in Music City.
Felder’s Five Thoughts: There wasn't a ton to be upset about in this one if you are a Nashville fan so here are 5 quick thoughts.
1. Needed: An Early Goal - With 13 shots on goal in the 1st period the Preds had the start they wanted, minus a puck finding twine. On numerous occasions this year the Preds have started strong, but not scored, and it costs them almost each time. That should be a focus heading into playoffs.
2. He's Just ImPEKKAble - Rinne with another fantastic effort. He has put anyone's doubts about him to bed. If Ellis gets the start on Monday in Florida (and I think he should) then it is likely his last this season barring an unforeseen injury. Rinne has been phenomenal these past few weeks and it's a big reason why the Preds are looking at practically a guaranteed playoff spot now.
3. Jekyll and Hyde Special Teams - Very solid effort by the penalty killing unit tonight. They killed both Detroit power plays in the 2nd period and Rinne came up with a HUGE save on Kronwall during one of those. On the other side of things, the Predator man advantage had 3 penalties to work with tonight. In their 6 minutes of work they managed just 4 shots on goal. The problem is that on one of their three opportunities they again registered 0 SOG's. This has been a real problem of late. Weber and Hornqvist lead the team in PP points and are both on the top unit. My question is when is the last time the 2nd unit made an impact?
4. Heavy Hitters - One thing is certain and it's that the Preds were hitting every Wing within their reach. 31 hits on the night compared to Detroit's 17. Preds were led by Hamhuis and Smithson who both registered 5.
5. Puck Possession… Or Not? - The Wings won 54% of the faceoffs. Here's the interesting thing from this game though. Detroit is known for strong puck possession, yet they had 15 giveaways on the night. The Predators had 16 of their own. Head to the takeaway stat and Detroit had just 8 where the Preds bested them by one with 9. Uncharacteristic for Detroit in this one.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Jason Arnott, Wade Belak, Denis Grebeshkov, and Joel Ward. For the Wings, Dan Cleary was a scratch after re-aggravating a groin injury in the 1st period of the Wings 6-2 win over Minnesota last night. Also, Brett Lebda was the other Red Wing scratch. After numerous injuries this season, the Detroit IR list is now down to one name, Kirk Maltby.
* 1ST PERIOD
* 11:52 to go. The Red Wings have put their first shot on goal for the game up. They've had 3 shots blocked thus far and 2 missed the net. Credit to the Preds D for keeping them at bay for so long.
* 51.2 seconds to go. Mart Erat is down along the boards after tangling with Tomas Holmstrom for a puck. Holmstrom was going for the takeaway and in the process both players fell to the ice. The concern here is that Holmstrom's leg fell on Marty's and caused his right ankle to twist in an ugly fashion on the way down. That looked bad but we'll see if Marty returns in the 2nd period. He did leave the ice for the trainers room once getting up.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 0 DET: 0 Positives - Strong first ten minutes for Nashville who had 11 shots by that point. Outshot the Wings 13-10 that frame. Negatives - Not a very strong second half to the period in which the Wings woke up and started getting pucks on net finally. Wings winning 61% of faceoffs.
* 2ND PERIOD
* Marty Erat does return and actually took the opening faceoff for the period. Glad to see he wasn't bad off because that replay was not very pretty.
* 9:16 to go. Francis Bouillon going to the box for the second time this period. This time it's for holding. Todd Bertuzzi was driving the net on a power move when the penalty occurred. Give a save to Marcel Goc though because in the scrum the puck trickled onto the red line and likely would have rolled to the opposite post and in BUT, Goc did get his stick in behind Rinne and clear away the possible goal. Close one for Nashville there.
* 8:32 to go and Pekka Rinne comes up with a brilliant back door save on Kronwall. As he kicks his pads over to cover up the low glove side he also manages to snag the puck from the air. That's what you call a serious save my friends. Absolute robbery and a critical stop at this point in the game.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 0 DET: 0 Positives - A couple of nice penalty kill efforts that period. Bending but not breaking on D so not many odd man rushes given up. Negatives - Wings out shoot Preds 16-7 that period and now take a game lead of 26-20. 13 giveaways so far. We'll see if that number goes up and comes back to bite Nashville in the butt.
* 3RD PERIOD
* 4:39 to go and Jimmy Howard comes up with his HUGE save so far. Just an absolute show stopper as he batted down Legwand's wrister from the slot. It looked like sure-fire goal until Howard made the ungodly save.
* TO OT WE GO
* Both goalies gets a shutout and we go to the SHOOTOUT.
* Bertuzzi and Sullivan score in the 5th round. Bert went slow as can be, deked, and then backhanded the puck high glove. Sullivan had to answer to keep the game going and did so in a flashy way. He deked to the stick side, got Howard to commit that way and then wrapped around him on the glove side for the tally. Then we go even deeper all the way to round 11 where Niklas Kronwall tallies by keeping Peks from dropping and slipping the puck thru 5-hole. Nashville had already used forwards O'Reilly, Erat, Legwand, Goc, Sullivan, Hornqvist, Dumont, Boyd, and Wilson by this time. That left just Spaling, Tootoo, and Smithson as forwards who had not taken a shot. Barry Trotz then surprisingly used Francis Bouillon at this point. Howard makes the glove side pad save on the D-man and wins the game for Detroit.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 0 DET - 1.
My Three Stars:
1. Jimmy Howard - 33 saves. Stopped 10 of 11 in the shootout. One HUGE save on Legwand near the end of the 3rd period.
2. Pekka Rinne - 38 saves. Stopped 9 of 11 in the shootout. One HUGE save on Kronwall in regulation.
Goalie Grade:A+ – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne for a season high of 9 consecutive games. Peks did everything in his power to give the Preds this game. He was absolutely stellar, as was Jimmy Howard. I can't fault him for the shootout since at that point it's a skills competition and the guy did stop 9 of 11 shooters faced. At the end of the night Rinne does get a shutout and is credited with 38 saves on the evening.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "Considering the effort even before the shootout it has to be kind of hard to take some negatives from that game because it was a solid effort throughout."
Pekka Rinne - "Well it was two good hockey teams and both teams were well prepared. Both teams came out playing really well and I think we started the game flying and then they got into the game after awhile. But it was a good game and I expect it will be like that till the end (of the season) now."
Felder - "You had a larcenous save on Kronwall earlier in the game. Talk about how big that was at that moment."
Rinne - "Yeah I guess it was. We've been struggling a little bit on the PK this year. Tonight we came out strong on the PK and that one save at that point of the game was pretty big."
*
Felder - "Sutes, Team USA partner or not it looked like you and Rafalski had a little bit of a rivalry going late in the game."
Ryan Suter - "Yeah. *laughs*. We're friends and it's always good to beat your friends. It's fun to play against guys you were teammates with."
Felder - "Do you feel like you may have the book on him now?"
Suter - "Yeah, I kinda know some of his tricks. I try to tell some of the guys but he's a good player and everyone knows that."
*
Felder - "Talk about how big your penalty kills were in the 2nd period."
Barry Trotz - "That was really huge. We started getting some momentum back after we killed a couple of penalties in the 2nd. We got caught on a change one time which I thought was a little bit sloppy on our end. Overall I thought we defended pretty well, we skated pretty well. I thought Howard made a huge save on Leggy with about five minutes to go in the game so that's just good goaltending performances and two teams that weren't going to give an inch."
Final Thoughts:
That was a great hockey game, and one that you hate to see end in a shootout. Had that been a playoff game we may have been here for a couple more hours. This is the type of game that makes you almost wish for a playoff matchup to see just which team is better. Solid efforts from both clubs however you have to think the Preds again would've like to see one of their early chances get buried. From then on was a dog fight to the finish and it was quite fun to cover.
The Predators next game is Monday night in Florida. They will face the Panthers at 6:30 pm CST. This game will not be broadcast on FS-TN or Center Ice so you'll have to listen to the radio. This is THE definition of a trap game so we'll see how the Preds respond as they try to improve their placement in the 5-8 spots in the Western Conference playoffs.
Till the next time, take care friends.
Questions, comments, and criticisms can be sent to [email protected] if you wish to contact me personally.
Join the Discussion:
»