Yes… yes it did. Last night’s 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning saw dominant performances from Pekka Rinne and PK Subban and a tired, frustrated Lightning team close out a five game road trip with its only loss. The tight game got nasty in the third period as questionable hits and retaliations led to 35 minutes in penalties including a major and two misconducts.
Last night was a perfect example of a game getting out of control and the final five minutes were the proof when tempers boiled over, leading to a Lightning power play that Tyler Johnson converted with just :50 seconds remaining, spoiling Rinne’s shoutout.
Oh yeah, about that… Pekka Rinne had another outstanding performance in net, stopping 23 of 24 and posting his 7th win of the season, lowering his GAA to 2.04 and taking his Save Percentage to .933 on the year pulling both stats into the top ten in the NHL.
PK Subban got back on the scoring track, scoring two goals including one on the power play, his first multi-goal game in over two years. Led by Subban, the Predators blueline contributed six points including a simply outstanding performance from Ryan Ellis who posted assists on every Predator goal. The defense has been struggling a bit to get their performance together, but you are seeing what it can be capable of when the chemistry comes together.
A very solid win over a very good Tampa Bay team certainly keeps this team on the November track it has been on, with an opportunity in the next three games to put a move on two of the teams they are chasing in the Central. Wednesday against Dallas, then a home-and-home series against Winnipeg. It is a golden opportunity with two of these at home.
Tomorrow’s game starts at 7pm, some tickets remain, but a sellout if expected so get ‘em today if you want to be there.
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Random Notes
- Lots of chatter about JT Brown’s hit on Roman Josi late in the game. It did appear to be head contact, but a lot of this one depends on what color glasses you look at it through. I do not expect the league to even look at the hit.
- Subban’s two goals puts him tied for the lead in points on Nashville with Filip Forsberg.
- Anthony Bitetto is now in Milwaukee on a conditioning assignment. It will be interesting to see what happens when he returns as Yannick Weber and Matt Irwin seemed to have meshed well as the third D pair.
- Nice to see the commissioner in Smashville last night, and to see the warm welcome he received. Look… nobody’s perfect but this guy has done a pretty good job as the first commissioner of the NHL. I know… I know… what about the lockouts, etc… so what? No Gary Bettman, no team in Nashville, or Winnipeg, or Edmonton or about ten other markets that he fought for and helped remain in place when things got rough. It’s as simple as that.
- The name and logo of the 31st NHL team will finally be revealed today in Las Vegas.
- Five games in the NHL today, all times central – 6pm – STL @ BOS, CAR @ TOR. 6:30pm – OTT @ MTL, PHI @ FLA. 9pm NYI @ SJS.
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