The Nashville Predators blew a two goal lead in Minnesota, but rallied back to be the first team to defeat the Wild in Xcel Energy Center this season.
After taking a 2-0 lead into the 1st intermission, the Wild rallied off three straight goals in a minutes and forty-seven seconds to start the 2nd period, which is a team record for the Wild when playing at home. By the time 2:18 had passed in the 2nd period it was Wild 3, Preds 2. Yes, again the Preds blew a lead. This time, they fought back and took the win in regulation. 6:44 in to the 2nd period Joel Ward fired off a low wrister through traffic and the puck glanced off Mike Santorelli's skate and in past Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom. That was Santorelli's first career goal.
The hero of the night took center stage half-way through the 3rd period. While on the PK, Jerred Smithson used a poor keep in by the Wild to speed down the ice. Smithers then showed a flash of sniper instead of grinder as he took the puck towards the middle of the ice, drew Wild D-man Brent Burns in, and then fired off the perfect wrister to fool Backstrom. That's right. The shorthanded goal by Smithers was the game winner.
Here are a few of my thoughts before I dive into the preview for tonight vs Chicago.
- After the 3 quick goals, Dan Ellis was pulled in favor of Pekka Rinne. Rinne played shutout hockey the rest of the game. It's always interesting to me to see whether a coach is going to pull the goalie or call a timeout. Ellis let in a really soft goal when Cal Clutterbuck scored, but the other two given up were forgivable. That said, Preds head coach Barry Trotz has to play his cards carefully in these situations. Getting pulled is a fragile thing (as I've seen in the past season). Last night, the final result spoke for itself though.
- Who led the time on ice last night? Would you guess that the player with 24:05 of TOI was Kevin Klein? Not sure why Klein got so many shifts but he did end the night with a +1, 1 shot on goal, and 3 blocked shots.
- The hero Jerred Smithson finished the night with 1 goal, a +1, had just 1 shot on goal (but boy did he make it count), 1 hit, 1 blocked shot, and won 3 of 6 faceoffs taken.
- Another poor outing for Legwand and especially Erat on the offensive side of things. Legwand finished the game with 1 assist, a +1 rating, 1 SOG, 1 missed shot, and won 7 of 17 faceoffs taken for a 41% winning percentage in the faceoff dot. Now Erat, he finished the game with no points, a -1, no shots on goal, had two shot attempts blocked, 1 missed shot, 1 hit, 1 giveaway, 1 blocked shot, and won the only faceoff he took. I will give him credit on one scoring chance in which he absolutely looked like a sniper. The problem was that even with picking the perfect corner to shoot on the puck hit the post and bounced away. Erat had Backstrom beat high glove but just didn't finish.
- There are some things I just don't understand. I think everyone who has watched him play has been fairly pleased with Marcel Goc. I personally have yet to see a game in which I felt he didn't show up. That said, each game I look at player's TOI and Goc has seen his decreasing each night. In his 10 games played, Goc has averaged 12:11 of TOI. I looked at his game-by-game stats and found some real inconsistencies. Take a look here at his totals:
Oct. 3rd @ Dallas - 14:57 TOI, 72.7% FO, and 1 shot on goal
Oct. 8th v Colorado - 15:30 TOI, 36.4% FO, and 3 shots on goal
Oct. 10th v Buffalo - 16:43 TOI, 85.7% FO, and 1 shot on goal
Oct. 12th v Edmonton - 8:03 TOI, 33.3% FO, and no shots on goal
Oct. 15th v Chicago - 9:48 TOI, 40% FO, and 3 shots on goal
Oct. 17th @ Washington - 16:15 TOI, 50% FO, and 1 shot on goal
Oct. 21st @ Boston - 8:12 TOI, 50% FO, and 1 shot on goal
Oct. 22nd @ Ottawa - 12:05 TOI, 58.3% FO, and 1 shot on goal
Oct. 24th @ Chicago - 9:41 TOI, 71.4% FO, and 2 shots on goal
Oct. 28th @ Minnesota - 10:45 TOI, 50% FO, and no shots on goal
The only thing I can figure is that Goc isn't producing enough offense to warrant minutes, but by that same token, then why is Erat averaging 18:31 of TOI. Erat has 21 shots on goal this season while Goc has 13. I'm not trying to pick on Erat, I'm just trying to figure out why Goc has seen his minutes decrease so drastically. Should he log less than 10 minutes tonight, I guess I'll just have to ask Barry in the post-game.
***
Enough about last night, now it's time to preview the game at hand. The Chicago Blackhawks bring their Central Division leading 7-3-1 record to the Sommet Center for a 7 pm CST faceoff. This is the third time the Preds and Hawks will play this young season. So far the Hawks have won both games. The first time these teams tangled the Hawks won 3-1 in Nashville, and then a week ago the Preds fell to Chicago 2-0 at the United Center.
One thing that jumps out at me when I look at the teams is that the Hawks have scored 36 goals this season, while the Preds have given up that same amount.
Here are the real stats to take a look at before you head to the rink:
Goals per Game = Chicago averages 3.18 (13th in the NHL). Nashville averages a league worst 1.91
Goals Against per Game = Chicago gives up just 2.36 GA/G which is 5th best in the NHL. Nashville gives up 3.18 GA/G which ranks them 20th in the NHL
5 on 5 Goals For/Against Ratio = Chicago averages 1.39 which is 6th in the NHL. Nashville average 0.65 which is 26th in the league.
Powerplay = Chicago checks in at 17th in the NHL with a 19.5%. With a man advantage goal last night, Nashville now has double digits, a 10.3%, but still remains last in the NHL.
Penalty Kill = Chicago's PK unit ranks 7th with a 83.7%. Nashville's unit is ranked 27th with a 73%.
Shots per Game Avg = The Hawks have the 3rd best average with 34.2 S/G. The Preds are ranked 22nd with 28.3 S/G.
Shots Against per Game Avg = The Chicago Blackhawks have a league best 22.3 SA/G. The Preds rank 18th with 30.2 SA/G.
Faceoff Percentage = This is a pretty even category. The Hawks are 5th in the league with a 53.2% while the Predators are 11th with a 50.9%.
Average PIM's per Game = Here is where these teams best match up. The Preds are the league best with just 8.8 PIM/G while the Hawks are right behind in 2nd place with just 9.9 PIM/G. So don't expect a lot of special teams play tonight.
While last night's close win over the Western Conference's last place team was nice, tonight is a real test of just what the Preds team is made of. I always use games against teams that made the playoffs last year as measuring sticks.
Tonight the Blackhawks are clearly the favorite. According to the GoaliePost website tonight will feature Cristobal Huet in net for the Hawks, and Pekka Rinne is scheduled to start tonight despite relieving Ellis last night.
Even though the stats clearly favorite Chicago, you never know what the joys of winning can bring. The Preds could easily use the momentum from last night and the relief of finally having a home game after 5 straight away and upset the Hawks.
You'll have to just watch to find out. I'll see you at the Sommet.
Till tonight's post-game, take care.
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