Well that was fun.
The Nashville Predators pulled out an improbable shootout win over the Tampa Bay Lightning last night in front of a rowdy, sold out Bridgestone Arena, upping their record to 5-1-0 with a pulse pounding 5-4 decision. The Predators had to come from behind three times in the contest after giving up an early 1-0 lead established by Mike Fisher’s late first period goal.
The Lightning came out strong in the second period, determined to exert their will on the Predators, and for the first ten minutes of the period, they did exactly that. Steven Stamkos scored his fifth of the season on the power play just 3:25 in on a tough angle goal, then Nikita Kucherov put the Lighting up 2-1 picking up the garbage on the initial shot by Ondrej Palat. The Predators threw their first counter punch about a minute and a half later as Shea Weber uncorked a bullet from the point to tie things up at 2 on a textbook one-timer… excellent pass from Mike Ribiero to a perfectly timed slapper.
Tampa once again took then fight back to Nashville… tilting the ice back in their favor, dominating on possession (if not shots) and resulting in Ryan Callahan’s goal to give the Lightning back the lead 3-2. That was a lead that would only stand for 1:14 as the Fisher/Neal/Forsberg line would strike again as Filip Forsberg showed his playmaking ability, putting the puck right on James Neal’s stick in the slot and Neal continued his hot streak, burying the tying goal, giving Goo Goo’s to the 17,113 present.
The third period saw the teams trade chances until Erik Condra buried the go ahead goal about 5 minutes in… frankly… most in the arena thought the game was over… the Lightning were just too skilled and Smashville wasn’t sure that their boys had another comeback in them… but that was not to be the case as Nashville’s resilience showed once again. The tying goal came from a familiar source, about nine minutes later. Filip Forsberg again showed his ice sense, his passing ability and his vision, after winning a 50/50 puck, the young forward spotted James Neal on the opposite wing and placed a perfect pass on Neal’s stick that he buried to tie the game and increase Smashville’s blood sugar even more as that goal gave the sold out crowd Frostys to go with their Goo Goo’s.
The 3 on 3 overtime was interesting to watch as the teams traded chances, looking for the break to end the game but both Ben Bishop and Pekka Rinne were solid, keeping the score knotted so it was off to the shootout where Filip Forsberg again came up huge in the first slot, beating Bishop top shelf for the eventual game winner.
Sometimes you look at a 5-4 score and wonder where the goalies were… this one was well played by both netminders with very few if any “should’ve had that one… moments. Pekka Rinne was especially good late in the third period and in overtime. The Fisher line was in on three of the four goals, generating seven points and were dangerous every time they were on the ice.
Next up for the Predators is the Anaheim Ducks tomorrow night… some tickets remain for the 7pm faceoff. This game is the third in an eight game stretch of Central Division foes for the Ducks and is the start of a five game roadie.
Here’s the highlights from NHL.com…
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Random Notes
- With Mike Fisher’s goal last night, he has tied Kimmo Timonen for 12th on the all-time franchise goal scoring list, his two points puts him one point behind Marek Zidlicky for 15th of the all-time franchise point list.
- So much for the “Columbus hasn’t spoken to John Tortorella… crap… He’s the new head coach of the Blue Jackets. Todd Richards let go after an 0-7 start…
- Best Twitter quote thus far on the Tortorella hiring…
The last time John Tortorella walked into a new dressing room for the first time, he wasn’t well received. Of course, that was the Flames.
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) October 21, 2015-------------------------------------
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