Last night’s 5-4 win over Edmonton capped off a wild weekend of hockey at Bridgestone Arena that saw the Nashville Predators finish a four game home stand, capturing seven of a potential eight points that took full advantage of St. Louis’ bye week. Did I say wild? Oh yeah… Last night’s game saw a goal waived off and restored, with the bonus of a penalty called during the time played between the waive off and the whistle. A subsequent power play goal scored from that penalty, a second goal to tie the game and a coach’s challenge for the game winner being an offside play.
And that happened in about a five minutes of game play… leaving a fairly confused and outraged Pred Nation at the end of the second period.
Craziness aside, this was a game won in two areas… special teams and the face off dot. Nashville posting three power play goals was big, but their dominance in the faceoff circle may have been even bigger. Mike Fisher went 8-12, Vern Fiddler went 10-15 and Ryan Johansen went 15-20.
Gotta give Nashville full marks for the performance last night on the back end of a back-to-back. And even though the Oilers managed to crack Pekka Rinne for four goals last night, he did enough to maintain his win streak over Edmonton, which now stands at nine. The Predators have swept the season series from the Oil for the third consecutive season.
Let’s get to the good, the bad and the ugly from last night…
The Good - James Neal’s 3 apples, Johansen’s aforementioned 75% face off win rate (and kick in another assist to boot,) and a couple of apples for PK Subban as well. Offensively, the defense is woke!
The Bad - It is being covered by offensive output, but Nashville’s defense does need to lock down the giveaways… 12 of them last night, three of the four goals were caused by or preceded by a giveaway.
The Ugly - Not one of Pekka Rinne’s best performances, but the blueline isn’t helping him much (save Ryan Ellis’ outstanding block in the final scramble.)
The Predators hit the road today, heading to Buffalo and Montreal before returning to Bridgestone Arena for a Saturday showdown with Chicago.
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ICYMI - Here is yesterday's Sunday Shots… with a twist… check it out! All photos and video compilation courtesy Denise McCann Photography
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Random Notes
- Where We Stand – After yesterday’s play, the Nashville Predators have 71 points in 62 games played and remain 3rd in the Central Division, leading St. Louis by four points. The Blues have a game in hand on Nashville. Per sportsclubstats.com, the Predators playoff chances are at 89.9%
- Four games, eight goals, back-to-back hatties… just Filip doing Forsberg things.
- For the first time, Pred Nation got a first hand look at the speed and skill of Connor McDavid on his game tying goal in the first period, he certainly lived up to the hype.
- Glad to see Vern Fiddler get his first since returning to Nashville. Fiddler put the Preds up 3-1 with a nice little blast 7:29 into the second period.
- James Neal’s passes were simply sick last night, especially his no-look setup of Forsberg.
- The Blues lost to Chicago last night in their first game back from their bye… they play Edmonton in St. Louis tomorrow night.
- Trade deadline season got started in earnest yesterday… scratching my head over the Ben Bishop to LA trade and really thinking that Minnesota waaaaay overpaid for Martin Hanzal.
- Three games in the NHL tonight, all times CST – 6pm – MTL @ NJD. 6:30pm – OTT @ TBL. 7pm – LAK @ MIN.
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