Anyone who denies saying “here we go again…… with 10 minutes to go in last night’s 4-3 Predators win over Columbus could be forgiven. They had seen this movie before, just two days earlier. They could be forgiven to think it again with three minutes to go in the game as well, but the ending was indeed different.
Let’s start by saying that Columbus is a very good hockey team… this franchise seems to have turned a corner from the “little engine that could… to a real contender. They played hard, had some very good looks and dictated the pace of play for long periods of this game. That being said… you have to hand it to the Predators. After giving up the first goal, they buckled down and methodically went about exposing one of the better goaltenders in the game.
Oh… and there has been a Craig Smith sighting. That is probably not fair to Smith, since being a healthy scratch a few games ago, he has been ramping up his game and last night was the just reward for that hard work, finally finding the back of the net for two goals in the third period. His first was off a rebound of Mattias Ekholm’s wraparound, a good garbage goal. The second was a nasty wrister from the left circle that was (as Pete Weber likes to say) a Linda Ronstadt special… Columbus netminder Sergei Bobrovski is still looking for that one.
The notable part of the second Smith goal… it was in response to the second Blue Jackets goal that closed the gap to one goal after the Preds appeared to go into a more “prevent defense.… That response didn’t happen on Tuesday night…
So, Nashville goes into the All Star Break on a 7-1-1 run, a scenario that looks very familiar to fans of the fang. At this time last season, the team was on a four game win streak heading into the break, but was slotted 5th in the division. The key now for Nashville is to get a little rest and gear up for the February / March sprint.
OK… let’s get to the good the bad and the ugly from last night…
The Good – This one is obvious, Craig Smith had an outstanding game,finally getting rewarded for all of the hard work he has been putting in.
The Bad - This one has got to go to Cam Atkinson, when you’re the leading scorer for your team and you have the looks you had last night… you gotta bury at least one of ‘em.
The Ugly - Another late third period, try not to lose stretch from Nashville that bit ‘em, not as hard as Tuesday night and they still got two points but you gotta keep the pedal to the metal, especially with a two goal lead.
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Random Notes
- Where We Stand – Heading into the All-Star Break, the Nashville Predators have 56 points in 49 games played and stand 3rd in the Central Division. Nashville trails the division leading Minnesota Wild by 13 points (-1 GIH) and 2nd place Chicago by 9 points with two games in hand. Nashville leads 4th place St. Louis by three points, the Blues are in the first Wild Card slot, Calgary is in the second slot, tied with the Blues in points, St. Louis has three games in hand over the Flames.
- Harry Z! Harry Zolnierczyk potted his first in Predator Gold last night, putting the team in the lead on a greasy, grimly goal from the paint. Z plays with a lot of heart and earned that one.
- The defense activated quite nicely last night, generating three assists.
- Open mics can be rough… last night one of the referees was caught on a live mic using a some rather salty language before announcing a penalty.
- Columbus head coach John Tortorella left Bridgestone Arena yesterday afternoon and was unable to coach the team last night due to a family emergency. He will not coach the Metro All-Stars in LA either. We wish him and his family all the best and are keeping them in our prayers.
- Full marks for former Nashville Predator Seth Jones… he had a quietly outstanding game last night… his game has grown significantly in the last year, resulting in a much deserved All Star nod.
- Zero games in the NHL tonight, all times CST –
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