Playoff shots are here as SlapShot Radio’s awesome photographer was capturing the spirit of the thing in Smashville last night… Pictures are courtesy of DM/SlapShot Radio
After a pulse-pounding, throat shredding, come-from-behind 2-1 Game Three victory in the Western Conference Final last night, the Preds take a 2-1 series lead and smash a much repeated narrative while they were at it.
The narrative smashed? The whole idea that Ryan Kesler is in Ryan Johansen’s head. Johansen played the veteran’s ego like a Stradivarius and head coach Peter Laviolette gave the young 1C a huge endorsement by matching him up with Kesler in the starting lineup. It was a brilliant move that left Kesler desperately trying to make an impact and engage Johansen, versus actually playing to win a game… and a critical one at that.
Don’t expect Kesler to make that mistake again…
A narrative continued? Nashville’s defense of Bridgestone Arena… they are now 6-0 at home this playoff season and have won 10 consecutive home playoff games. Smashville was lit from pregame… screaming, chanting, clapping… and once again, willing their team to come from behind in the third.
Nashville again seemed to struggle to get their speed game going. The first two periods had no flow, no pace… which is just what Anaheim wants... especially with a tenuous one goal lead heading into the third period. Prior to last night, Anaheim was unbeaten in these playoffs when leading heading into the third period.
The Predators began to push the play, finding their quick-up break outs early in the third period and it paid immediate dividends. Of course it begins will some silly, but typical, Anaheim after-the whistle shenanigans… only this came from the goaltender. John Gibson decided to slash Filip Forsberg after the whistle and Forsberg made him pay in the best way possible… burying a rebound to tie the game.
Then the Predators scored two more goals… and both were promptly waived off due to goaltender interference. The first one was questionable, I could see a case for … the second one was absolutely correct and drew a penalty to put the Ducks on the power play. Nashville could’ve succumbed to frustration after that… but like Paulie said in Rocky III “he ain’t getting’ killed… he’s getting’ mad!…
Wave after wave came at the Ducks until Chris Wagner took a really dumb high sticking penalty with less than four minutes remaining in regulation… and once again… the activated Nashville blueline came through.
Roman Josi slammed home the game winner about 40 seconds later, picking up a rebound at the top of the circle and unleashing a nasty wrister that Gibson had no chance at… and frankly… didn’t have a clue of where the puck was… watch his body language at the 5 second mark of the video…
A simple check of the stats reveal the keys to this Nashville victory, Possession? Check… they won the face off battles decisively, taking 56% of the draws. Hits? Check… they outhit the Ducks over the course of the game… Energy? Huge check… the Predators wore down the Ducks and you can see that Anaheim may be feeling the effects of their second round series. They simply could not handle Nashville’s pressure and speed in the third period.
Let’s get to the GBU…
The Good - Pekka Rinne and Ryan Johansen. Pekka for his bounce back and Johansen for his expert trolling of Ryan Kesler.
The Bad - No pace, no flow to last night’s game until the third period.
The Ugly - The call on Cody McLeod. Instigating on that play??? Really??? We see that situation dozens of times throughout a season… how many Instigator penalties do you see called? I can’t think of the last one I have seen called in the regular season… let alone the playoffs.
So, the Predators take a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Final. Game four is tomorrow night at Bridgestone Arena.
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Conference Final Reset/b>
Eastern Conference
PIT vs. OTT – Series tied 1-1 – Game three is tonight in Ottawa.
Western Conference
ANA vs. NSH – NSH leads 2-1 – Game four tomorrow night in Nashville.
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Playoff Random Notes
- A tip o’ the hat to Pred Nation, they brought it hard all night long and it had an impact.
- Big ups to Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans offensive line on their outstanding hype performance during pregame… the support among the Nashville teams has been wonderful.
- Annnnnd, here comes the inevitable whining from the opposing coach… Ducks coach Randy Carlyle in his post game comments began by complaining about those big bad Preds crashing the net… and he actually did it with a straight face!
- Working the refs is one thing… but complaining about the shot count??? Randy Carlyle actually complained about the shots on goal count… ummm coach? You’re down 2-1 in the series, the shot count just don’t matter.
- 38 saves for John Gibson last night (more or less… ask Randy Carlyle) … he was simply outstanding.
- Wonder if Jared Boll is still laughing…
- Harry Z. needs to put in for combat pay, he was the target of quite a few huge hits last night.
- One game in the NHL tonight – 7pm – PIT @ OTT (NBCSN)
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