Isn’t it ironic? Dontcha think?
In last night’s 5-3 game one loss, it was apparent. The Nashville Predators can’t get an even break on an offside call. Colorado player is a mile offside, leads to game changing goal, no call. A call so egregious it drives the league to add offside to the video review process… flash forward to last night… Nashville scores first goal, goal is challenged and reversed due to an offside call that I still haven’t seen a good angle on, or at least one good enough to overturn the call on the ice… which is the standard. The angle used in the official review explanation is off. I can’t help but think that one of my X-Factors from yesterday’s blog came to fruition…
Working the Officials - … I will be curious to see what impact this has, because the Penguin’s power play is lethal… if this strategy is allowed to be successful, it’s bad news for Nashville.
So… let’s get to the Game One GBU…
The Good - The Nashville Predators dominated long stretches of the game and came back from a three goal deficit.
The Bad - The Nashville Predators dominated long stretches of the game and came back from a three goal deficit… and couldn’t close the game out.
The Ugly - Besides the officiating... Not one of Pekka Rinne’s best games… that is both bad news and good news for Pred Nation. A bad bounce off a defenseman, a 5-on-3 goal, and a goal after the Penguins went 37 minutes without a shot. Losing the game is the bad news, the good news is that Rinne bounces back very well after that type of performance.
The Predators now find themselves trailing a series for the first time in these playoffs. It is so hard to see how well this team played and just not get rewarded, but that is the way that the playoffs go. It is time to let game one go and focus on game two… if the Predators come home with a split, all things change…
Game two is tomorrow night in Pittsburgh.
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Playoff Random Notes
- There was an estimated 20,000 people downtown last night attending the Party in the Park, which overflowed so much that the team opened up Bridgestone Arena.
- You have to like the resilience of this team… they always believe they are in a game and it shows in their play.
- The Predators certainly can take some confidence out of last night’s game… the problem is… so can Pittsburgh, they played their worst game of the playoffs last night… and still found a way to win.
- Ironic that the players that was rumored to be a healthy scratch last night got the game winner.
- The Stanley Cup Final – Game Two – tomorrow night @ 7pm from Pittsburgh, coverage on NBCSN. Radio on 102.5 the Game.
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