It appeared as though the Nashville Predators left most of their energy in Chicago last night. The Minnesota Wild had plenty left over in their tanks and used a 2nd period surge to put away the Preds 5-3 in front of 13,145 at the Sommet Center tonight.
Felder’s FRUSTRATED Five:
1. Who Played Last Night? - The Preds certainly looked tired in this one. Minnesota was flying around, winning the battles, creating traffic, breaking up passes, and just playing sound hockey. The answer to the question though is BOTH teams played last night. Minnesota had a 5-4 win over the Ducks in the Xcel Energy Center. They must have had plenty of rest on the airplane ride home because they were buzzing. To me, once again, we had a home game in which the Preds showed little to no energy.
2. Limiting Chances - It seemed as though the Wild were able to fire at will from the 2nd period on. The Preds were unable to break up many passes, block all that many shots, and generally weren't able to disrupt the Minnesota attack. The Pred goaltenders were peppered in this one, and Ellis was hung out to dry on a couple of occasions. The lack of defensive pressure, confidence, and ability to limit the Minnesota scoring chances were quite visible.
3. Punchless Power Play - This is why I call it the man advantage folks. The Predators were gifted every opportunity to put this game away in the 1st period. The did tally on their 2nd MA of the night, but then failed to do so again. The Wild took 4 penalties in the 1st period, leaving the Preds with nearly half of the period on the positive side of special teams. I firmly believe that had the Preds gone up 2-0 this game would have been different. Instead, the Wild used a late 1st Period goal from Sheppard to take the momentum and ultimately the game.
4. Fundamentals - I've preached it before and tonight it reared its' ugly head again. Lack of crisp passes, passes to where people even are, controlled breakouts, or even speed through the neutral zone was present tonight. I give quite a bit of credit to the Wild's aggressive forecheck. They caused Nashville all sorts of fits at different moments and really appeared to put a choke hold on the flow the Preds tried to create. Sometimes it's the simple things that, when not done well, really show up on the scoreboard one way or the other.
5. Tidbits To Think About - Hornqvist scratched and Belak registers 5:49 of TOI. I think I'd rather have the chance of a Hornqvist goal as opposed to another game in which Belak goes and doesn't even drop the gloves to help change momentum. In a rarity this season the Preds lost the majority of faceoffs as the Wild had a 54% winning percentage. 15 giveaways for Nashville. 0 SOG for Dumont, 1 SOG for Erat, 2 SOG for Sullivan. O'Reilly gets 9:18 of TOI while other recent call up R. Jones had 10:21.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Patric Hornqvist and Dave Scatchard. There are no Predators listed on the IR. For the Minnesota Wild, Cal Clutterbuck and John Scott were scratched. Brent Burns, Petr Sykora, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard are all on the IR at this time.
* 1ST PERIOD
* I was curious to see the reaction to Greg Zanon's return. Here is a guy who was a true warrior for the club, great team player, and willing to give it his all each night on the ice. In all honesty, there appeared to be no fan reaction. Maybe I missed it when it did happen but really I never noticed any recognition given to Z.
* 16:49 to go. Dan Ellis shows no ill effects from playing last night. A rebound chance goes to Martin Havlat on the back door glove side. Havlat, a notorious Pred killer, elevates the puck and appears to have the goal, but Elly gloves the puck down just in time. An impressive save on just the Wild's seconds shot on goal.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 10:33 to go. Marty Erat wires one ohm from the top of the faceoff circle on Josh Harding's stick side. Erat places the puck on an across the body trajectory and Harding can't quite find it as it sails in high glove side.What was interesting about this shift (or funny really to me) was that moments ago Erat lost the puck when he couldn't turn one of his circles in the low corner. He lost his balance, but the Preds regrouped. Either way, it went from can't skate to can't stop this shot. Erat (6) from Ryan Suter (11). Preds now take a 1-0 lead.
* GOAL for MINNESOTA - 1:44 to go. The Pred Killer known as Martin Havlat strikes. This time, he makes an amazing saucer pass towards the back door which Andrew Ebbett somehow finds a way to get his stick on it and deflect it past Ellis stick side. The puck was just under chest-high height and it was really a nice effort by Ebbett to get his stick up to deflect this one. Havlat gained the right slot with speed blowing by Dan Hamhuis and had the Preds D on their heels. Kevin Klein probably was shocked to see that Ebbett even got a piece of the puck. Ebbett (4) from Havlat (8) and Boogaard (2). Things are tied at 1.
* GOAL for MINNESOTA - 11.7 to go. A fluke goal right here as Ellis makes an initial save with James Sheppard crashing the net. The puck appeared to be tipped down by Sheppard and then it slowly trickled over the red line for the goal. Very painful to watch that puck slowly go in for the Nashville fans in attendance. Sheppard (1) from Nick Schultz (4) and Owen Nolan (6). Wild take the late momentum and lead with them to the locker room, 2-1 Minnesota.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 1 MIN: 2 Positives - Disciplined effort by the Preds. Negatives - Spent 7:30 on the man advantage that period and only came away with a goal. Out shot 10-7.
* 2ND PERIOD
* POWER PLAY GOAL for MINNESOTA - The Wild don't look like they are tired from the plane ride at all. A rebound goal for Andrew Brunette as he gets his stick to the puck before Ryan Suter can backhand it away. Havlat had the initial shot form the glove side, which opened up Ellis to a stick side tally. Brunette (10) from Havlat (9) and
* Both teams played yesterday, but the Preds look like their win in Chicago took a lot more energy out of them than the Wild win in Anaheim did. So far, the Wild are skating circles around Nashville with better puck possession, speed, and most importantly the drive to win the battles for the puck.
* GOAL for MINNESOTA - 2:23 to go. This one will likely put the game out of reach. A bang-bang play as the puck gets deflected back behind the net. Brunette quickly dishes the puck back out to the crease where Antti Miettinen quickly deposits the biscuit in the basket on the open stick side. Ellis had no chance considering how quickly the puck got back out in front. Miettinen (7) from Brunette (16) and Mikko Koivu (21). The Wild have surged out to a 4-1 lead.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 1 MIN: 4 Positives - The 3rd jersey still looks good. Negatives - Completely out-played that period. Gave up 18 shots on goal in that frame alone. Losing the SOG battle 28-16 at this point.
* 3RD PERIOD
* Pekka Rinne started the 3rd period in net.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for MINNESOTA - 16:33 to go. Eric Belanger hammers a laser slap shot high glove on Peks. Rinne was waving at this one by the time the puck was coming back out of the net. A Legwand turnover leads directly to this tally. With that goal, in the words of my store manager, it's "Night Night". Belanger (6) unassisted. Wild winning this one 5-1 at the moment.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 10:55 to go. The Preds captain Jason Arnott tallies with a wrap around goal. Simple enough on this one considering how much room Harding left open on the high glove side. Nice decision by Arny though to take it around behind the net and square up for the shot. Arnott (10) unassisted. Minnesota's lead is cut into, now 5-2.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 11.4 to go. Marcel Goc picks his corner and puts the puck up and in high glove on Harding. A nice looking goal that comes too late. Goc (4) from Wade Belak (1).
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 3 MIN - 5.
My Three Stars:
1. Brunette - 1 goal, 1 assist, +1, 2 shots on goal, and 1 hit.
2. Havlat - 2 primary assists, -1 rating, 5 shots on goal, and 1 takeaway.
3. Belanger - 1 goal, +1, team leading 6 shots on goal, 3 takeaways, and won 6 of 12 faceoffs.
Goalie Grades:C-/A- – The starting goaltender tonight was Dan Ellis. Danny was really a victim of poor D tonight. He had one soft goal at the end of the 1st that really let Minnesota gain some momentum, but the loss has to fall squarely on the D not giving him enough help. Peks came in to start the 3rd. He was victim of sniper shot by Belanger but stopped the rest. Pretty solid night of relief for Rinne. Ellis finished the game with 24 saves on 28 shots against. Rinne finished with 10 saves on 11 shots against.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "Elly did you feel like tonight the Wild took that late 1st period goal and ran with the momentum from it?"
Dan Ellis - "Yeah. They just outplayed us for a large majority of the game. They had a lot more sense of urgency, they were quick on loose pucks, and they did a good job low in our end. That's where they got a lot of their chances, just low cycles, and throwing pucks at the net and getting rebounds. They got on to us pretty early in the game."
*
Felder - "Kevin did you think Minnesota took that late goal in the 1st and used the momentum to carry them in the 2nd?"
Kevin Klein - "I just don't think we had enough energy. We didn't play Predator hockey. We had 4 power plays, we scored on one of them which is always good, but we shouldn't let them off the hook like that. We just weren't skating tonight."
Felder - "Talk about the difficulties the D faced tonight. It seemed like when Minnesota got deep in your end they were very quick with the puck and caused some troubles."
Kleiner - "They did. We just needed to attack more tonight. We needed to eliminate guys. I think we were just kind of mirroring them too much and not eliminating. When you eliminate them it takes the little passes away and stops the momentum in our zone. We need to do that better than we did tonight."
*
Felder - "Giveaways were a real problem tonight."
Barry Trotz - "Yeah. We didn't manage the puck again. We had the same problem we did in Minnesota. A lot of giveaways. I thought, well I won't go into names, but there were a few guys that turned the puck over on a pretty regular basis. There was too many of them to sit them all out that's for sure."
Felder - "The Wild created a lot of chances deep in your end. How hard is it to defend against those quick passes down there?"
Trotz - "It's hard. We weren't firm. When I say firm, I mean that everything comes down to a 1 on 1 battles. When we have two guys on one of their guys we should get the puck, and we weren't. They had a real good compete level and when you lose the 1 on 1 battles everything else breaks down. Everybody has to adjust to the guy who wasn't able to handle the 1 on 1. Everything breaks down and then everybody is caught in -between. When you see all those pretty plays, it's not that they're making great plays. A lot of times it's a team breaking down your coverage and then they can make those plays because everybody is caught in-between. We didn't do a good enough job."
Final Thoughts:
This is the type of game that if I were a coach, I may just tell the guys to forget it occurred, rest, and bring a top notch effort to the next one or else. Some teaching points could be made about how to prevent teams from dominating down low, but in the end, it just seemed as though the Wild wanted this one much more than the Preds.
The Predators next game is this Tuesday night vs the Vancouver Canucks. The Nucks are not the type of team you can bring a lackluster effort against right now. This one starts at 7 pm CST right back here at 501 Broadway in the Center still known as the Sommet for now. We'll see you at the rink Tuesday night.
Till then, take care.
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