Time for today's
Sunday Shots as our intrepid photographer captured the action at last night's Flyers/Predators game.
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The Philadelphia Flyers came to Nashville looking for a third straight win, two points and their first victory in Nashville since 2000. They only got frustration as the puck just didn't bounce their way in the Predator's 4-2 win over the Flyers. These two teams have shared quite a few deals over the past few years and when Philly visits, it is almost always a welcome home to one or two early Preds. Last night was no excpetions as Music City welcomed home Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell.
Quite a few Philly fanes made the trip to Smashville, the Flyers always travel well, and their faithful enjoyed the Southern Hospitality, spending freely in the honkey-tonks and generally having a great time. The fans who travelled to Nashville seemed to have a blast, except for that pesky hockey game they came down for.
The first period was a sloppy but energetic affair. Up and down action, bad giveaways and poor defensive play from both sides. The period also featured a rather puzzling goal call reversal that stunned the sold out Bridgestone Arena crowd, including those dressed in orange and black. It was a call that could've deflated a Preds team that just went back to work. That work was paid off in the last two minutes with power play goal scored by Martin Erat... errr... Patric Hornqvist... errr make that Martin Erat :-)
Sergei Kostitsyn continued his hot streak, beating Flyer netminder Ilya Bryzgalov with a sick wrister that sniped the mercurial Russian high glove to put the Preds out in front 2-0. You knew you weren't going to keep the high powered Flyer offense off the board forever, and rookie Sean Coutourie showed the reason he is so highly touted, cleanly beating Pekka Rinne a sick little snap shot to draw the Flyers within one.
The key shift in the game may have been a late second period penalty kill. The primary PK was on the ice for almost the entire two minutes as the Flyers continued to press but the unit of Shea Weber, Ryan Suter, Matt Halischuk and Nick Spaling would not yield.
Nick Spaling would come back to be the hero in the third period as he netted the eventual game winner, 4:30 in to the period. The Spaling record remains intact, when Spaling scores, the Preds are 13-0-1. Mike Fisher iced the game and gave the fans Frosty's with his empty netter.
The Predators begin a very interesting road trip today as they leave for New York. They have a back-to-back with the New York teams, a noon tilt against the Islanders tomorrow and they take on the conference leading Rangers at MSG on Tuesday night before travelling to Columbus. This should be an interesting week of hockey. A lot of folks may have to fire up their Game Center to watch at work on Monday.
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Random Notes
- Rookie d-man Ryan Ellis had a monster hip check on Wayne Simmonds in the second period. A classic, clean hit.
- A hat tip to the Philly fans who came out to the Bridge, loud, proud and representing Philly well. I've said it before and I'll say it again, some of the best sports fans in the world live in the Delaware Valley.
- A
LOT of rookies in the lineups for both teams last night.
- The Predators are on a four game win streak, won seven of their last ten and still stand fourth in the Central Division. Why? Because St. Louis and Detroit have equal records and Chicago's 4-4-2 over the past ten have simply brought them back to the pack. The Preds are three points behind Detroit and four behind Chicago and St. Louis. The war of attrition is coming as Nashville has 38 games remaining and 13 of them are in the division, 11 of those are against the top three.
- After the New York trip, the Predators have four consecutive divisional games, two each against Columbus and Chicago.
- The story of Jaromir Jagr's comeback is becoming one of the best stories of the season. He certainly doesn't look like or play like his age, and the stories of his leadership and guidance of the younger players on this Flyer roster have burnished his image.
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