A sold out crowd at the Sommet Center witnessed a second period surge by the home team. A four goal output in that frame propelled the Nashville Predators to a 5-3 win over the visiting Colorado Avalanche. This win helps the Preds keep up the pace in the ultra-tight Western Conference playoff race.
Felder’s FANTASTIC Five:
1. How About That… Man Advantage GOALS - Give it up for the 29th ranked PP unit in the league. They came to play tonight and took advantage at key moments. 3 goals on 6 shots with 2 markers by Hornqvist and the 3rd by Steve Sullivan. A solid night for the special teams that deserves to be recognized. Let's see them continue this into the Olympic break.
2. Time To Give It Up For Patric Hornqvist - This guy is absolutely fearless. Each and every chance he has, Horny is taking his body to the front of the net and working for the goals. Well, his work has been paying off this season and tonight was yet another testament to it as he tallied his 22nd and 23rd goals of the season. By the way, tonight just cemented the fact that Hornqvist is THE goal producer on the Preds man advantage. Head to my Three Stars to see the full stats for Hornqvist on a night in which he 17:38 of TOI. Hopefully this effort will earn him an extra minute or two out there.
3. Shots On Goal Produce the Desire Result - It gets preached and preached in hockey circles, but the pucks on net adage always seems to live up to its' billing. What I liked best about the 36 shots the Preds put on goal was the variety from where these shots came from. Only 4 Predators not wearing goalie gear did not register a shot on goal. Seven total Preds with 3 or more shots on goal. That kind of depth in terms of SOG really helps and tonight's game proved that point.
4. A Solid Night For That Certain D-Pair - Much like the man advantage I'm giving props where it is due even if in the past I've criticized. A very solid night for the Hamhuis/Klein pairing. It wasn't perfect (Hamhuis on the last Colorado goal) but the overall effort was exactly what was needed. This carried over from a pretty solid game versus Phoenix. Stats for the pair that stood out was Hammer's game leading 4 hits and his 3 blocked shots. Add a pair of blocked shots to Klein's total as well. This performance was what I now come to expect of the pairing since they've had two solid games in a row now.
5. Seizing the Momentum - I felt the Preds controlled the momentum very well in the final two periods. They had a quick strike goal to take the lead and also responded to the Colorado PP goal quickly to retake the lead. Those kinds of details are important in the framework of a game and tonight the Preds did a very good job of keeping the momentum on their side.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Wade Belak and Cody Franson. Scratched for the Avs were Brett Clark and David Koci. On Colorado's injured reserve list are Matt Hendricks, Milan Hejduk, Ruslan Salei, Ryan Stoa, and David Jones.
* 1ST PERIOD
* 9:10 left and we have a stoppage in the game due to linesman Steve Barton taking a hit along the boards. Darcy Tucker checked the puck carrier Francis Bouillon right at the blueline and this sandwiched Barton against the glass. Just an unfortunate thing here as Barton was helped to the locker room, looked very dazed, and did appear injured due to the fall to the ice he took. The rest of the game there was only one linesman used. Mark Shewchyk certainly got a workout tonight.
* GOAL for COLORADO - 3:21 to go. Bouillon loses a foot race along the boards with Chris Stewart after a failed keep in at the Preds blue line. This leaves Alex Sulzer as the lone man back for a 2 on 1. Stewart gets the puck over to Cody McLeod despite Sulzer's best attempt to block the pass, and the Avs cash in on the odd man rush. Stewart flew up the ice for that one and it's the first time I can recall the Cube getting beat in a chase like that. McLeod (7) from Stewart (19) and Ryan Wilson (10). The Avs take a late 1-0 lead.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 0 COL: 1Positives - Out shot the Avs 14-8. Had some sustained offensive pressure at time. Winning 58% of the faceoffs. Negatives - Starting to look like another game where the Preds aren't able to convert their early chances and play from behind the rest of the way. Can't solve Anderson thus far.
* 2ND PERIOD
* 14:33 to go and the Preds will now have 1:12 of 5 on 3 man advantage time. This is due to a delay of game penalty on the Avs star Paul Stastny. Already in the box was Kyle Quincey for holding Marcel Goc. The 29th ranked PP unit in the league is now in a must score situation.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 13:14 to go. Just as Quincey returns to the ice from his penalty the Preds Captain Jason Arnott hammers a slap shot from the right point. With Patric Hornqvist screening in front, the puck elevates and beats Craig Anderson high glove. Hornqvist with a deflection adds another goal to his totals. That goal has to be a sense of relief in a few ways. Hornqvist (22) from Arnott (17) and Dumont (25). This game is tied up at 1.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 12:11 to go. Jerred Smithson takes the puck off the boards and gets a quick slapper on Anderson stick side. Craig makes the initial save and the puck flutters up in the air. Joel Ward backhands it in mid-air towards the net and the puck arcs in. A true grinding effort and goal. Ward (10) from Smithson (3) and David Legwand (20). Preds take a quick 2-1 lead in just 63 seconds.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for COLORADO - 6:01 to go. A broken play where a shot gets deflected to the end boards, then a centering pass gets broken up, but the puck deflects to the top of the crease where Matt Duchene just wires the puck gig stick side before Rinne even could know that the shot was coming. Beautiful execution on the limited time and space of that broken play by the young yet dynamic Duchene. Duchene (18) from Kyle Cumiskey (6) and John-Michael Liles (20). We are tied up at 2 per side.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 5:38 to go. Preds respond right away with Sullivan and Arnott teaming up down low to torment Craig Anderson. Sully got a pass through the crease for a tap-in goal low glove side. This is one of those plays that usually sees the puck get deflected or a pass broken up. Arnott (14) from Sullivan (24) and Hornqvist (13). Preds regain the lead quickly with the score now 3-2 Nashville in front.
* 4 on 3 POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 40.5 seconds to go. Arnott hammers another slap shot, this time from the left point. Hornqvist again in front and this time deflects the puck in on Anderson five hole. One problem, fans start throwing their hats on the ice thinking Arnott has gotten a hat trick. Hope those fans don't mind losing a hat for nothing (at least nothing yet). Pretty funny to watch though from this vantage point. Hornqvist (23) from Arnott (18) and Weber (22). Preds will take a 4-2 lead into the 2nd intermission.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 4 COL: 2Positives - The Predator scoring finally woke up. Dominating shots on goal 29-16. Winning 60% of faceoffs now. Negatives - Not a great PK effort on the Legwand penalty.
* 3RD PERIOD
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 9:29 to go. The man advantage takes advantage for the third time this evening. This goal was all Sully as he took the puck and let go a perfectly placed slap shot from the faceoff dot to Anderson's glove side. A wired shot for the high glove that had speed to kill. Sullivan (11) from Weber (23) and Arnott (19). Preds have this one firmly in control 5-2.
* GOAL for COLORADO - 1:18 to go. Here's a play where Chris Durno drives to the net hard, draws both defenders to him, and then Durno makes the nice pass to his teammate breaking in on the back side. Justin Mercier buries his chance in the open net high stick side. Well executed by Durno there. Mercier (1) from Durno (4). A meaningless goal but the score is now 5-3.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 5 COL - 3.
My Three Stars:
1. Hornqvist - 2 goals, 1 assist, +1, 4 shots on goal, 1 hit, and 1 takeaway.
2. Arnott - 1 goal, 3 assists, +1, 4 SOG, 1 hit, 1 takeaway, and won 11 of 21 faceoffs taken.
3. Weber - 2 assists, +1, and a team leading 5 shots on goal.
Goalie Grade:A- – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. A really solid effort from Peks despite the goals against. 2 of the 3 goals were odd man rushes he really had no chance on. The power play goal against was so fast off of that broken play that I can't fault him much there either. Rinne finished the night with 23 saves on 26 shots against. Considering his performances of late, I'll be shocked if he doesn't start in all but one of the Preds final five games before the Olympic break.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "You guys had another start where you outshot the opponent but they lead."
Patric Hornqvist - "Yeah, but actually I thought we were better than Colorado in the 1st. We came out pretty good and they got the lead there but we were solid. We talked about in here to keep shooting the puck on the net, keep going to the net, and keep moving your feet. We did that the whole game and it was a great feeling to get flowing in the 2nd period, which was one of the best periods from us this whole year."
*
Felder - "It was a pretty good night for you guys to find your offense considering you guys have a high scoring team coming to this building on Saturday."
Jerred Smithson - "Yeah. It's always nice to put the puck in the net but we still have a lot of things we need to work on in our own zone. We tend to get scrambling a bit sometimes and maybe that's lack of communication but I'm not quite sure. It's something we've gotta figure out. San Jose is a great test, they've got great players, and they have a lot of fire power so we are definitely going to have to bring our "A" game."
*
Felder - "Getting into a rhythm with getting consecutive starts seems to really have helped your game. Is that something that is kind of important for you mentally?"
Pekka Rinne - "Yeah I think so. It's easier to get things going when you can compare your game to the night before and stuff like that. You can look back and see what you did right and wrong and you get a chance to recover right away. I think that's the biggest thing, and obviously when you win games your confidence gets a lot higher. It helps because you just feel more comfortable playing with your team and those kinds of things."
*
Felder - "What adjustments did you guys make on special teams that was so effective?"
Barry Trotz - "They've been trying really hard. They worked every day. They review and they go through the stuff that we work on at practice. Today we were able to get some pucks through, we had traffic, and all those type of things. To me more than anything was that some of the chances we had in other games, the difference was that these chances went in. That's the biggest thing. We aren't trying to adjust too much but staying to the real basic stuff we have to do to be successful. Colorado hasn't given up a power play goal since I think January 22nd and that was against us. Give a lot of credit to our our top players that are on the special teams. Also, Peter Horachek works with the power play and Brent Peterson works with the penalty kill. Both came up with really big efforts and timely efforts. We gave up a goal on their power play and we had a couple big kills in the third when the game was still a little bit in doubt."
Felder - "Hornqvist has developed almost a fearless attitude of going to the net. How important is that for him?"
Trotz - "Well for him it's really important because he recognizes that's his bread and butter. That's like telling a Thomas Holmstrom hey, don't worry about going to the front of the net anymore because you've scored a lot of goals. That's part of what he is. That's why he scores goals. Going to the net and being able to screen goaltenders and find pucks in the feet and all that, that's an art. That takes courage, a lot of dedication to do it, and a big commitment. If you are willing to do that you are going to score a lot of goal. Holmstrom has. If you talk to Patric he'll probably tell you that Holmstrom is someone he looks up to and says that he can patent his game to some areas around the net like he does. I've given him shifts of Holmstrom to watch and he's a really good learner. He's a good player and we asked him to do certain things to really repair his game and he did it in the summer and it's just growing now."
Final Thoughts:
Here is a game in which the Preds outworked an opponent, and took advantage on special teams like they should. Just a really solid effort in the 2nd period against a quality team in the Avs. Very few complaints to have about this game.
The Predators next game, and last HOME game before the Olympic break, is this Saturday night. One of the most hated teams in Nashville, the San Jose Sharks will pay a visit as they continue their personal quest for another President's trophy. Faceoff will be the normal 7 pm time. This is a rivalry game that is always fun to watch so be sure to come to the game.
Till then, take care.
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