C’mon, admit it… you didn’t see that one coming.
In the dying seconds of overtime, with Nashville killing off a penalty on a ticky-tack call, after a highly questionable disallowed goal… well… you really couldn’t blame Pred Nation for being a little negative. That turned quickly when Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher snapped a wrister from the high slot that was blocked, Roman Josi gathered it in and turned the other way, flying down the ice with Calle Jarnkrok on a short-handed breakaway, waiting until just the right moment to feed Jarnkrok the puck, who promptly buried it with 1.9 seconds to go delivering a pulse pounding 2-1 win.
… and there was much rejoicing.
Winding it back a few minutes, the Predators had a goal waived off by a phantom goaltender interference call. It was, quite frankly, a ridiculous call to make at any point in a game, let alone in overtime. It was the second Predators goal waived off in the game, at least the first one was defensible. This one? Not so much. But the Predators overcame, and delivered a unicorn to Pred Nation… a win in 3-on-3 overtime.
Let’s talk about 3-on-3 for a moment… and this is not driven by the Predators overall lack of success… but ask yourself… is the 3-on-3 any fun anymore?
In what started out as up-and-down, fast paced, free-wheeling fire wagon hockey, the overtime has turned into a slowdown, cautious, puck possession game. Passes on the exterior, waiting for an opening, or waiting for a mistake. What seemed like a great idea now has become tedious, dare I say, almost boring… I know, a strange thing to say after the thrilling finish last night… but the finish was the only thing thrilling about the overtime last night, the overwhelming majority of the hockey was boring as hell.
See… this is why we can’t have nice things… you just knew that this would happen, that what was so fun would be tightened down and strangled. Sure, the All-Star Game will be fun, let’s keep the 3-on-3 for that. But it may be time to take another look at the overtime process and tweak it because this version of 3-on-3 ain’t cutting it for this observer.
Next up in Smashville, the Boston Bruins tomorrow night… game time is 7pm, limited tickets remain.
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Quite a bit of fun celebrating the Voice of the Predators, Pete Weber last night…
Some well-deserved love for Pete…
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Random Notes
- Where We Stand – After last night’s play, the Nashville Predators have played 41 games and stand 4th in the Central Division, trailing, 3rd place St. Louis by six points. Nashville is one point out of a Wild Card spot. The Predators are three points behind, with two games in hand over the first wild card team Calgary and one point behind the 2nd Wild Card team, Los Angeles.
- Austin Watson netted his third of the year last night in his 100th NHL game.
- Last night’s win snapped a six game home losing streak for Nashville.
- Another outstanding performance from Pekka Rinne last night.
- Viktor Arvidsson is a warrior… no doubt about that after his return last night, blocking a shot late in the second period that hobbled him… then he returns for the end of the period and played the rest of the game…
- Four games in the NHL tonight, all times CST – 6pm – FLA @ NYI. 6:30pm - MTL @ WPG. 7pm – PIT @ WSH. 8:30pm – SJS @ CGY.
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