What a battle at Bridgestone Arena last night as the Nashville Predators remained unbeaten in regulation with a pulse-pounding 3-2 win over division rival Chicago. The win extends the Predators Central Division lead to 3 points over the Blackhawks. The star of this game, and star of the night in the NHL was James Neal on the strength of his natural hat trick.
The acquisition of James Neal caused a bit of a stir in Pred Nation, giving up a couple of well-loved players in Patric Hornqvist and Nick Spaling drove a bit of consternation among fans of the Fang… but I bet you have a hard time finding one of those this morning. The top line combination of Neal with Mike Ribeiro and Filip Forsberg has found its mojo and is heating up, posting 10 points in the last three games.
But the difference maker last night came between the pipes. There were some fans at the arena last night flying flags that stated “Keep Calm, We Have Pekka.” Never was that more true then last night. The big goaltender made 30 of 32 saves, but really earned his keep a Chicago tried to come back in the third period when the Hawks threw everything include the kitchen sink at him… a 17 shot barrage that had the Vezina candidate showing his Gumby-like flexibility in stopping 16 of them.
The Blackhawks lost their first game of the season that they scored first in as Nashville kept their come-from-behind tendencies sharp and established their status as the lone unbeaten in regulation team left in the NHL. The Preds are back in action tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Saturday night is the last home game before the long CMA road trip which will see the team play six consecutive on the road.
Here are the highlights…
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Random Notes
- I have to give the crowd credit… last night’s visitors from Chicago were well-behaved and mostly good natured… not that’s how to represent your team and your city… good on ya guys.
- Neal’s Hattie was the first one at Bridgestone Arena since SK74 did it in January of 2012.
-Ironically, that was the 5th hat trick in Predators history against the Blackhawks… by far the leader in hat tricks surrendered to the Preds.
-Check out the Predators web series “Beneath the Ice” which makes it’s debut on Nashville Predators.com today.
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