Call it puck luck, call it evening things out, most definitely call it a win as the Nashville Predators got a couple of quick goals in the first and hung on for a hard fought 3-2 victory in front of a sold out Amalie Arena last night. The Preds handed the Tampa Bay Lightning their first loss of their six game home stand and only their 8th regulation loss of the season at home. It wasn’t the prettiest game in the world, that is for sure, the only thing pretty was Pekka Rinne’s goaltending.
Rinne, named first star last night, was definitely on his game, stopping 28 of 30 shots and coming up huge in the third period as the Bolts were swarming, looking for the tie-breaker. He covered a couple of defensive miscues and preserved a critical two points for Nashville in stopping all 11 shots he faced in the third period. .
I referred to this game as “not the prettiest… in the first paragraph. That is probably an understatement. The power play was ugly on both sides, partially because of solid penalty killing, but both teams couldn’t get anything going with the man advantage going scoreless in 10 power play opportunities.
With the victory, their third straight, the Predators take over first in the Central. They are back in action tomorrow for an 11:30am CDT faceoff against the Washington Capitals at the Phone Booth in DC.
Here are your highlights from nhl.com
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Random Notes
- Standings update after play on 3/26 – Nashville slides back into the Central Division lead with 100 points, St. Louis trails by one point with 99. Anaheim reclaimed the top spot in the Western Conference with 101 points. Chicago is six points behind the Preds. The Blackhawks have two games in hand over Nashville, St. Louis has one game in hand over the Preds.
- The Western Wild Card – Minnesota (74 games played) owns the first wild card slot with 91 points, the Winnipeg Jets (75) are in the second slot with 90 points. The LA Kings (74) took over the third slot in the Pacific Division tied leading the Calgary Flames (74) by a single point. The Flames are three points behind the Jets and has a game in hand on Winnipeg.
- Who Should Pred Nation Root for Tonight? – Columbus… they play in Chicago tonight and this is a game in hand for the Hawks over the Preds. The Blackhawks need this game to keep their hopes of winning the division alive. It also wouldn’t be an entirely bad thing if Minnesota wins tonight to put even more pressure on Chicago.
- Helluva skill move from Paul Gaustad last night, batting a rebound out of midair for his 4th of the season.
- Nice to finally see Mike Santorelli’s hard work pay off in his second first goal as a Nashville Predator… putting in his own rebound for the game winner.
- This is the fifth time in franchise history that the team has hit the 100 point mark and the first time since 11/12.
- I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to be a Buffalo Sabre these days… First Niagara Center exploded last night when Arizona won the game in OT last night. The postgame quotes reflected the confusion and hurt that caused with the home team.
- The Boston Bruins… WTF?
- Trouble between the pipes in Detroit? Both goaltenders looked really shaky in their loss to San Jose last night. Detroit is 3-6-1 in their last ten, and Ottawa is closing in rapidly.
- The New York Rangers clinched their playoff spot last night, the first team in the NHL to do so.
- Speaking of the Rangers, they sure caught the “Hamburglar… last night, chasing Sens sensation Andrew Hammond and hanging his first regulation NHL loss on the young netminder.
- Three games in the NHL tonight – Calgary @ Minnesota, Columbus @ Chicago, Dallas @ Edmonton.
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