You can tell just by the first game, this is going to be a nasty season series. The Nashville Predators won their first divisional game last night, sending the Minnesota Wild to their first home loss of the season 3-2. The game was not without controversy… and despite what you heard from the Minnesota locker room in their post-game comments, the controversy went both ways.
First controversy came barely a minute into the game on a play that resulted in Zach Parise’s injury. It’s what I always like to call a “fan colored glasses… play. Pred Nation just shrugged and called it “awkward.… Wild fans compare it to the Lindberg kidnapping. Parise tried to play through it, coming back to the ice for another five shifts before he was pulled after consultations with the Wild’s trainer and orthopedic surgeon.
As the game progressed, the officiating crew slowly, methodically, lost control of the game, making ticky-tack calls surrounded by incidents of swallowing the whistle for egregious offenses. It resulted in a choppy game with no flow to it at all… a game that remained scoreless until 16:06 into the second period when Shea Weber connected on a bomb of a pass from the defensive zone, hitting a streaking Mike Fisher who took it in and beat Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk for a 1-0 lead.
That lead would only last for :90 seconds as the Wild scored on a power play resulting from a rather curious penalty call on Ryan Ellis. The power play seems to be the only thing that is working offensively for the Wild. Converting at a healthy 30% clip at home, the Wild went 2-6 last night. But those are the breaks, sometimes you get the calls and sometimes you don’t.
The third period saw Devan Dubnyk give up a bad goal to Roman Josi just :12 seconds in to put the Predators back in the lead before another couple of penalty calls that put the Wild on the two man advantage. In all, the Predators spent 5 of the first ten minutes killing penalties. Matt Dumba got the power play goal about seven minutes in to tie the game again, then the play that had Wild fans turning their "Doooob" into "Boooooo."
Cody Hodgson picked up the puck on his own blueline, picked up some speed and tossed what looked like a harmless shot from the top of the circle that Dubnyk initially stopped, but seemed to struggle to control, Hodgson followed his shot, saw the puck between Dubnyk’s legs and poked it home for the game winner. A perfect example of two fundamentals that hockey players have heard since they were mites… follow your shot and play to the whistle… Hodgson did, Dubnyk didn’t and the Predators took the lead for the third time in the game.
But that wasn’t the final controversy of the night… once again the officials made a call that had heads scratching all over Pred Nation. Wild defenseman Ryan Suter slashes Colin Wilson behind the net and explodes his own stick on the play… and Wilson gets the penalty. Giving the Wild a power play with 1:39 left in the game. The Preds managed to kill the penalty and preserve the win, but really??? Final penalty count? Nashville Predators - 7 Minnesota Chior Boys... errr Wild - 2.
But let’s get back to reality… Complaining about the officials is kinda like complaining about the weather… it doesn’t seem to have an impact. The Preds finished the CMA Roadie with a 2-1-1 record and get to sleep in their own beds for the next twelve days. Next game is tomorrow night's Hockey Fights Cancer Night against the St. Louis Blues.
Here are the highlights from nhl.com...
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Here is SlapShot Radio’s latest podcast…
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Random Notes
- James Neal was certainly a disruptor last night. He is always most effective when he plays on the edge… he may have gone over it a bit though.
- Nice to see Cody Hodgson finally get on the board. The look of relief on his face after scoring the game winner was evident.
- With 18 points in 12 games the Preds have tied the franchise record for best start in team history.
- Underreported was the injury to the Wild’s Nate Prosser last night… Minnesota missed him in the third period.
- Classy move by the Wild last night to honor Phil Housley pre-game… nicely done!
- Great video from Greg Wyshynski about five players that make their former fanbases weep with regret… Click here… Filip Forsberg is listed (natch)
- I know hockey fans in Vegas and Quebec City were hoping for a vote in December but word is breaking that a vote on expansion is unlikely at that time.
- Boston must see Braden Holtby in their nightmares, the Caps goaltender has only given up one goal in the last four games against the Bruins.
- Columbus was held without a shot in the second period last night in their win over Los Angeles.
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