Heading into last night's game against the Dallas Stars, the Nashville Predators' power play was mired in a dreadful drought. Over the previous nine games, the team connected just once in 21 opportunities. Last night, the Nashville power play awakened and ended up swinging the game in the Predators favor.
The Stars took a 1-0 lead in the final two minutes of the first period, as Erik Cole lifted a shot over Carter Hutton (33 saves, including 12 in the opening frame) after Alex Chiasson created the scoring opportunity. Immediately thereafter, the Stars got themselves into penalty trouble, and paid dearly for it.
Shawn Horcoff went off for high sticking with 1:15 left in the first period. Seven seconds later, Brenden Dillon accidentally flipped the puck over the glass from the defensive zone, automatically incurring a delay of game penalty. The Preds cashed in both the 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 portions of the power play.
First, at the 19:03 mark, Patric Hörnqvist converted a David Legwand feed at point blank range to tie the game at 1-1. Twenty-eight seconds later, a blocked Roman Josi shot bounced directly to Legwand, who quickly stashed the puck past Kari Lehtonen (27 saves) to give Nashville a 2-1 lead. Shea Weber earned secondary assists on both Preds goals.
For good measure, Jamie Benn took a slashing penalty just seven seconds after the ensuing center ice faceoff. The Stars had to spend the rest of the first period and the early portion of the second stanza killing off the penalty. They succeeded on this one -- and it was the final time the Stars were officially penalized in the entire game -- but the damage had already been done. The hole would grown deeper later in the second period.
At the 9:14 mark of the middle period, the Predators collected their third goal of the game. This one came on a delayed penalty against the Stars. With Hutton on the bench for a 6-on-5 rush, Paul Gaustad forged a 3-1 lead. Colin Wilson and Gabriel Bourque earned the assists. On the play, Lehtonen committed himself too early and got out of position. Gaustad waited it out and tucked the puck into a wide-open net.
Dallas was unable to solve Hutton a second time to trim the two-goal deficit. The Nashville netminder made 21 saves over the final 40 minutes to nail down the win. Additionally, the team in front of him blocked 23 Stars shot attempts (paced by five blocks by forward Mike Fisher and four by defenseman Josi). Dallas missed the net on another dozen attempts.
The Stars have now lost two in a row in regulation following the second period explosion that turned around last Saturday's home game against Philadelphia. Dallas will try to get back on the winning track on Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg.
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