Things were great in Nashville at the end of the 2nd period. However, by that sentence alone you know what is going to come next. Poor goaltending and the Nashville team sitting back in the 3rd allowed the Vancouver Canucks to come back in the game from a 2-1 deficit to steal some points and the win 4-2 in Nashville. 16,096 were on hand at the Bridgestone Arena for a rare Sunday afternoon game, but the 3rd period effort left them unsatisfied.
Felder’s FRUSTRATED Five:
1. 40 Minutes Doesn't Cut It - Yes, quite a few will blame Rinne for the 3rd period collapse, but it doesn't all come down to Peks effort. The entire team seemed to sit back a bit and never fully recover after the Samuelsson goal. Pred captain Jason Arnott admitted so after the game as you'll see in my QUOTES section. The point that the team needs to learn from this experience is that in the most critical month of the regular season you can not put in a 40 minute effort. That won't cut it and teams will steal points from you while you stand and watch.
2. Recovery - When momentum shifts it's up to the team to recover from the adversity and attack. Today it seemed it took the Preds just a little too long to recover because by the time they had, it was 3-2. Another lesson learned Nashville fans hope.
3. Turnovers - It's a simple formula for getting pucks put into your net. 16 total for the Preds tonight. I discussed it at the intermission notes below but I'll say it here as well in case you generally skip over the Other Notes section. You can not afford to give the puck up to a team that is known for solid puck possession and cycling the puck when they are on their game. Until the 3rd period the Preds did a good job of shutting that down for the most part.
4. The 2nd and 3rd Goals - I'll refer to the Goalie Grade section for more on this point but the simple fact is you have to make a save on the 2nd goal against. As for the Hansen breakaway, that's a play that you can't fault Peks for too much, but rather the D not adjusting to Dumont's tumble just before. Those things happen, but again, you have to recover quickly from them.
5. TOI Distribution - The Wilson, Boyd, Tootoo line was by far the best of the game for Nashville in my mind. That said, they didn't receive much TOI early and I think that hurt the Preds a bit since they didn't get off to a great jump again. By the end of the game Boyd had 10:49, Tootoo 11:07, and Wilson 13:07 of TOI. That just isn't enough shifts for the one line that was generating some momentum for you.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Wade Belak, Shea Weber, and Cal O'Reilly. Webs missed the game due to the injury he sustained Friday night in Detroit. After the game Predators Head Coach Barry Trotz listed Webs as "doubtful" for the game on Tuesday in Atlanta. For Vancouver, Nolan Baumgartner and former Pred Darcy Hordichuk were scratches. Currently listed on the Cancuks IR are Kevin Bieksa, Willie Mittchell, Steve Bernier, and Alexandre Bolduc.
* 1ST PERIOD
* 16:40 to go. Burrows and Hamhuis walked up the boards and had a discussion while grabbing onto each other. Finally they agreed to drop em and get a fight in. There wasn't many punches thrown in this one. Burrows had Hamhuis looked up a bit and when I look back at it I really remember one punch landed by each before Hamhuis lost his balance and Burrows fell on top. Of course that wasn't the end of it really as Burrows threw another punch with Hamhuis down and Hammer responded in kind. Not a great fight, just seemed more like the "I really don't like you" kind of fight.
* GOAL for VANCOUVER - 8:50 to go. Ryan Kesler makes a nice pass from the corner to Pekka Rinne's glove side in between Franson's legs to the back side slot for Alex Edler. Rinne has little time to square up and challenge the shot before Edler put the perfect placement on it five-hole. Maybe the real story to this goal was the pass to Kelser though. Pavol Demitra had lost his stick along the stick side boards and kicked the puck with enough force to get it thru the corner and around behind the net to Kesler. Smart play there and a well earned assist. Edler (3) from Kesler (40) and Demitra (6). Vancouver strikes first for a 1-0 lead.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 6:16 to go. Ryan Suter lays a pass over to Arnott on the right point. The Captain tees up a shot with Patric Hornqvist screening Luongo in front. The puck gets through traffic and is actually going to be wide stick side, but in playing that shot the knob end of Luongo's stick glances the puck and that redirects it down and in low stick side. The Vancouver television feed (Rogers Sportsnet) showed that this is the second game in a row that the stick use by Bobby Lou has ended up with a puck in his net. A lucky bounce and the Preds have tied it up on the man advantage. Arny now has a goal 3 of the last 4 games played. Arnott (17) from Suter (27) and Martin Erat (21). We have the scoreboard now reading 1-1.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 1 VAN: 1 Positives - A pretty even period. Shots on goal are tied at 10. Preds took advantage with the extra man. Negatives - Grebeshkov took another penalty. That means he now has a minor penalty in 3 of 4 games played as a Pred. 6 giveaways that period so that has to tighten up against a puck possession/cycling team like the Canucks in order for Nashville to win.
* 2ND PERIOD
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 12:35 to go. Jordin Tootoo and Dustin Boyd break in on an odd man rush with Vancouver's Shane O'Brien as the lone D-man back. This thanks to a really nice feed by Colin Wilson as he had sucked in Sami Salo to the boards right at the blueline. My initial reaction was that Toots should've passed to Boyd on the back door, but the shot did handcuff Luongo and he gave up a rebound right back to Tootoo's stick. Toots then made an incredible shot by arcing the puck up and over Luongo in the butterfly stance. This was the first goal for Tootoo in 4 games. Tootoo (6) from Wilson (3) and Hamhuis (16). The Preds take their first lead of the contest 2-1.
* 1:20 to go. An amazing stop by Rinne saves a shorthanded goal. Rinne played the puck behind the net and was met by Jannik Hansen for contact and Peks played the pass up the boards and push Hansen back into the boards behind him. This delayed his return to the now empty net. Ryan Johnson fired off a shot right on goal and the combination of Cody Franson and a diving Rinne stick kept the puck from going in. Be sure to find the highlight of this one for the full effect. It was quite the stop.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 2 VAN: 1 Positives - Pretty rebound goal by Tootoo. Leading shots on goal 23-17. Negatives - Vancouver winning 52% of faceoffs. Another 6 giveaways added which makes it 12 for Nashville as opposed to just 4 for the Canucks.
* 3RD PERIOD
* GOAL for VANCOUVER - 10;01 to go. Not much to describe on this one. Mikael Samuelsson simply drives down the right boards, gets a stride on Hamhuis, and then wires a pick on net just past the midpoint of the faceoff circle. The puck glance off Rinne's glove and goes up and in. Looked like it was going to be a routine glove save until the catching glove ended up deflecting that puck. Can't give those goals up boys and girls. Samuelsson (24) from Henrik Sedin (59). We have a tie game at 2 all.
* GOAL for VANCOUVER - 5:42 to go. Jannik Hansen gets sprung for a breakaway. Rinne made the initial save on Hansen, but the puck was on the ice under him and Hansen stayed aware and swept it in behind Peks. Kyle Wellwood made the excellent pass to spring Hansen as he saucered the puck over the stick of Franson. Grebeshkov got caught on this one as well letting Hansen slip in behind him to take it the other way. Hansen (7) from Wellwood (10) and Mason Raymond (24). The Canucks have come back for the 3-2 lead.
* EMPTY NET GOAL for VANCOUVER - 3.6 seconds to go and Henrik ices this one with the empty netter. Henrik (26) from Daniel (44) and Christian Ehrhoff (22). Checkmate.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 2 VAN - 4.
My Three Stars:
1. Herik Sedin - 1 goal, 1 assist, +2, 1 SOG, and won 8 of 15 faceoffs.
2. Roberto Luongo - 33 saves on 35 shots against. Kept the Nucks in it for a 3rd period push.
Goalie Grade:F – The starting goaltender today was Pekka Rinne. Things were going real well for Peks until the 3rd period. The 2nd Canuck goal is one that just can't be allowed to go in, and trust me when I say that Rinne knows that. Peks doesn't take losses very easily when it comes down to soft goals being the difference and you could tell he was very upset with himself today after the game. It's really unfortunate because thru 2 periods he had played so well with his 16 saves on 17 shots against. That said, the entire team seemed to step off the gas in the 3rd period. Rinne let in the Samuelsson goal which was a bad one, and then on the Hansen goal he just wasn't sure of where the puck was. At the end of the day Peks made 24 saves on 27 shots against. As upset as some Predator fans may be with this one, I can assure you that Peks is feeling it right now.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "At 2nd intermission it felt like Vancouver really hadn't had that offensive push yet. Were you guys expecting to see that in the 3rd?"
Pekka Rinne - "I think we just focuses on our game and tried to keep going what we had thru the 2nd period. It was just a tough loss."
Felder - "When you look back at the 3rd goal, is that just one of those plays where the rebound is in your legs and you just hope it's covered up?"
Rinne - "Yeah. I thought that I had it but I wasn't sure where it was. It was in a place I couldn't see and he got it and put it in."
*
Felder - "At the 2nd intermission it felt as though Vancouver really hadn't developed their offensive game yet in terms of their cycling and puck possession. Did you guys anticipate that would be coming in the 3rd?"
Jason Arnott - "Yeah we did. And like I said earlier we kind of sat back a little bit. They kept us in our own zone and kept us on our heels for a good portion of the 3rd and it cost us. They capitalized on their chances and then we were down. That's when we decided to turn it up again and by then it was too late. We gotta learn from that and when we lead we have to keep the foot on the pedal."
*
Felder - "At the 2nd intermission it seemed like Vancouver had not yet been able to develop their offensive game in terms of cycling and puck possession. Did you guys expect that in the 3rd?"
Barry Trotz - "Well yeah. But I thought we did a really good job of containing them. We knew that when you are down a puck, they were going to come hard in the 3rd period. We had to take away their short game, control their active D coming in late off the rush, and for the most part we did a pretty good job. They are going to get a few chances because they are a good hockey team but we have to limit their chances and I thought we were doing that till they got the 2nd goal. Then you are sort of in scramble mode a little bit and trying to gather yourself a little bit and obviously when they got the 3rd one we had to play with a lot more risk especially on the forecheck and what have you. You know, here we are sitting with a loss."
Felder - "On the positive side of things, Wilson and Tootoo continue to develop together."
Trotz - "I thought Boyd's line was really good. One thing is that Dustin hasn't played a lot so I didn't know in terms of his stamina and you can practice all you want but the game stuff is what really matters. They had some really good chemistry. Toots did a really good job on the goal. They turned it over at our blueline and we transitioned and a real good play by Willy over to Toots. Toots drove the net, put it on net, and got the rebound. It was a really good play by Wilson feeding it to him. That line was good, they were good on both sides of the puck."
Final Thoughts:
Today was a diagram of why you can't take your foot of the pedal in the 3rd. Teams will take your points and run. The Preds really should've had at least 1 point if not 2 in this one. With the Detroit wins over their last two games (one of which was against Nashville) things are suddenly very very tight at the bottom of the West. As in a single point tight. Time to step it up if you are Nashville...
The Predators next game is Tuesday night in one of my favorite cities, my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. This one will start at 6 pm CST and can be seen in glorious HD on FS-TN. Also, it should be noted that the Preds will have one of their O'Charley's Chill Out Parties at the Brentwood location starting at 5:30 pm. So if you get a chance go enjoy that.
Till next time, take care friends.
Questions, comments, and criticisms can be sent to [email protected] if you wish to contact me personally.
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