The Kings entered the game hot, while the Preds entered luke warm at best. By the end of the night one of these teams would be sitting with 8 pts on Sunday, and ahead of the other in the standings.
The Preds held an early lead again, but this time they made sure to keep ahead on the scoreboard. Despite a 3-0 lead Nashville wins a close one, 5-4.
Felder’s Fickle Five: Even though it was a win there was a mix of good and bad, thus I’m fickle.
1. Grinder Goals – Smithson and Tootoo put this game barely out of reach with their 3rd period goals. Smithson and Ward are not only strong defensively, but have created on offense as well. Tootoo gets a goal for his 2nd straight game and this one should be on the highlight reel were it not for zero TV coverage. Hopefully the Preds TV will have captured this one and put it up for viewing pleasure tomorrow. Smithers finished the night with 1 goal, a +1 rating, had 1 shot on goal (efficient), 3 hits, and went 4 of 8 in the faceoff circle. Jordin Tootoo had 1 goal, a +1 rating, 1 shot on goal (also efficient), and 1 takeaway.
2. 3-0 Does NOT Mean Cruise Control – Another game, another 3-0 lead, and another team that storms back. I don’t know what it is but this team seems to put their play in cruise control after getting that lead. Proof positive was their measly 2 shots on goal in the entire 2nd period. This is a weird but disturbing trend that this team just can’t seem to put away teams lately.
3. Man Advantage Shows Signs of Life – Thursday was terrible, tonight was a solid step in the right direction. Even though the Kings boasted a perfect PK before the game, the Preds tucked in 2 goals on the man advantage (still not saying it) as a part of that 3 minute, 3 goal explosion. Tonight they went 2-3 with 5 shots on goal.
4. 3 Goals Against? You Can Count On It – The Preds have given up at least 3 goals against for 5 consecutive games. Not a good stat to call your own. In fact, the Preds are in the bottom three of the league in goals against average per game. To win this year that has to improve. See Barry Trotz’ comments on this in the Quotes section.
5. Scratch Today, Star Tomorrow – Nice rebound game by Patric Hornqvist coming off the scratch on Thursday. Hornqvist finished with 2 assists, 5 shots on goal (which led the team in tonight’s game), and 2 takeaways. Despite not burying many pucks it is good to see that has not hurt his confidence and he is still firing away.
Other Notes:
• The scratches for tonight were Kevin Klein, Vern Fiddler, and Rich Peverley.
• 1ST PERIOD
• Some minor events in the first 10 minutes or so. A PP for the Preds with 1 shot on goal during that. On Arnott’s first shift he was met swiftly by Dustin Brown when Brown hit Jason at the King blueline. An interesting hit as it was Captain V Captain. Dumont had a beautiful scoring chance, Labarbera made the save, Dumont got the rebound but hit post.
• PP GOAL for NASHVILLE – 10:28 Who would have thought this man advantage would beat the Kings 100% kill? The Preds had traffic on net, and the rebound skipped to the side where Ryan Jones was planted. A rebound goal on the PP for the young Jones. Jones from Hornqvist and Legwand. Preds lead 1-0.
• GOAL for NASHVILLE – 9:27 remains. A weak goal against Labarbera here. J.P. Dumont came across the blueline along the right boards, fired it on net, and the puck went in along the ice as Labarbera fought to find the puck. Dumont from Hornqvist and Arnott. Preds lead 2-0.
• PP GOAL for NASHVILLE – 7:12 remains. Ryan Suter with a scorcher from the point and Erat beats Labarbera above the pad but under the glove stick side with a deflection. Nice to see Ryan shooting on the man advantage rather than passing each time. It paid off. Erat from Suter and Weber. Preds lead is up to 3-0. Hopefully they have learned their lesson about 3 goal leads and won’t take their foot off the gas pedal tonight.
• After this goal the Kings elected to pull Jason Labarbera and put Erik Ersberg in net.
• 1:00 to go and Joel Ward draws a tripping penalty. This puts the Kings on a 1:43 stretch of 5 on 3. Smithson had been called for interference earlier. The scary part is two of the Preds best penalty killers are in the box.
• END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – Preds lead 3-0. The Kings will have 43 seconds of 5 on 3 remaining to start the 2nd. The best stat other than goals would have to be the Preds out shooting the Kings 17-5. This Kings team is not the same one I saw last night as they appear to have gone with a different game plan and are not clogging the neutral zone up as much thus far.
• 2ND PERIOD
• To start the 2nd the Preds successfully killed off both penalties. That’s the PK unit we are more accustomed to seeing here in Nashville.
• 12:03 to go and the Preds call their timeout. The Preds had just been called for icing after a long shift so it has to be assumed Barry thought it better to let them get their wind back.
• GOAL for LA – 9:08 remains. Suter with a bad giveaway in his own end results in a 2 on 1 for LA. Jarret Stoll let off a shot instead of passing, and then got his own rebound for the goal. A bad pass at the blueline set this up. Stoll from O’Sullivan. Preds lead is now down to 3-1.
• 7:10 to go and Ryan Jones shows off his physical side with a hit from the side on O’Sullivan. These two had previous encounters earlier in the game. O’Sullivan went to the ice in pain and then after the refs saw the injury they called a boarding penalty. I really didn’t like that call to be honest.
• 6:42 to go and after the Jones penalty Legwand gets called for holding, which gives the Kings their 2nd 5 on 3 of the night. This time they will have 1:34 on the two man advantage.
• PP GOAL for LA – 5:31 remains. Stoll let off a slap shot from the top of circle that scorched into the net high stick side. Just a real nice shot on that one. Stoll’s 2nd goal of the night with Kopitar and O’Sullivan on the assists. Preds lead cut to 3-2. Déjà vu anyone?
• 2:23 remaining and Legwand gets called for a 4 minute high stick as Denis Jr. Gauthier went to the ice with an injury. Gauthier had to be skated to the locker room by his teammates.
• 35 seconds remains and Kopitar misses tying the game at 3 by inches. He was in position for a rebound that would have had open net to score and the puck just barely missed his stick.
• END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – Preds lead is just 3-2.The Kings have 1:37 remaining on their powerplay with Legwand in the box. This time the Preds couldn’t get shots on goal as they racked up a whopping total of 2 shots on goal the entire 2nd period. Ouch. LA went back to their game plan of a night ago and it is working. Preds are struggling to gain the offensive zone. They need to put their foot back on the gas pedal or we have a repeat of the Calgary game…
• 3RD PERIOD
• The Preds successfully kill off the penalty to start the period. Maybe this time it will give them some momentum.
• As I am sitting here watching this I can’t help but think the next goal is crucial and very well could decide which team wins the game. If LA scores their momentum continue. If Nashville scores they put some fans at ease and step on the King’s throat a little harder.
• GOAL for NASHVILLE – 9:06 remaining. The Ward-Smithson connection strikes again, this time Smithers gets the goal. Ward chipped the puck into the right slot where Smithson used a quick shot to beat Ersberg. This occurred just after the fans began to clap and get the team back into it so an imaginary assist goes to them. Smithson from Ward and Hamhuis. Preds lead now 4-2.
• GOAL for NASHVILLE – 7:17 to go. Jordin Tootoo tallies again. This was one heck of a goal and it is too bad that there was no TV coverage to record this one. Toots skated in on the goalie, made a move to the stick side then put the puck in high stick side from a backhand while flipping over Ersberg’s back. Just crazy. Tootoo from Nichol. Preds lead 5-2 and the fans get their Wendy’s Frosty’s.
• GOAL for LA – 5:17 to go. Another 3 goals against night (that’s five games in a row for those counting) as this time Dustin Brown tallies high glove on Ellis. Brown from Kopitar. A minor note to the Preds in house guys. Please give us some more replays when there is no TV coverage from both ends. We have to use your feed as the only means to watch what happened and 1 or no replay really makes it difficult. Preds lead now just 5-3.
• 3:17 remains and J.P. Dumont makes a nice little inside outside move on the Kings D and then fires off a shot in close. Dumont hit the upper 90 though despite having the goalie beat.
• GOAL for LA – 1:08 to go. Ellis made a stick save and then went out of his net to the right to try and get the puck. The Kings used this against Dan as they prevented him from getting back to the net and tallied on a rebound. There is some question as to whether or not this was goalie interference, but I don’t think it was since Dan left the crease for a second. The goal goes to Frolov, from Richardson and Armstrong. Pred lead is down to 5-4.
• 48 seconds left and the Kings have emptied the net for the extra attacker.
• The Preds survive the closing seconds and escape with a 5-4 victory. The Kings made it tough though so credit to them for never letting up.
Goalie Grade:C+ – The starting goaltender tonight was Dan Ellis. Despite the 4 goals against I think Dan is getting some bad breaks. So many rebounds and odd bounces just going into the net. Even though the Preds have given up 3 goals against in the last 5 games I actually don’t fault Dan except for maybe 4 goals total. His play has been pretty good. Yes, he could use a little better rebound control but at the same time the D has to help him out a little. Trust me, if this was a goalie issue I would have no problem saying so, and I truly believe Dan would own up to it as well.
Ref Review:C- – The crew tonight was Chris Lee, Ian Walsh, Shane Heyer, and David Brisebois. I totaled about 6 blown calls tonight. LA got robbed on at least 3 plays I thought should be penalties, whereas the Preds had 2 missed calls and 1 weak one go against them. I really walked away feeling a bit displeased with the crew.
Quotes:
Ryan Jones on the importance of getting the PP going – “Well it was huge. We had a couple 5 on 3’s we didn’t score on and we knew they had a really good penalty kill tonight so to jump on it early was pretty big.”
Jerred Smithson on why he and Ward complement each other so well – “I think just work ethic. I know what he is going to do, he works hard, and makes the right plays all the time. When you play with guys like that it’s real easy to read off them. Radek, the same thing where you know he’s always going to make the right play. Ward is a talented guy, he’s great on both ends of the ice as he’s shown, and he’s a lot of fun to play with on the ice.”
Dan Ellis on 5 consecutive games of 3 goals against – “Pucks are just hitting different things. You are seeing deflections and flukey goals. That happens at different points of the season but unfortunately it’s happening all at once right now. It’s going to stop, because your missing pucks by inches not feet so when you just correct a couple things like communication, positioning, seeing the puck, and things like that the goals are going to go away. Right now, your absolutely right, I’ve let in way too many and we’ve been real fortunate to be .500 with a goalie letting in so many goals a game.”
Ellis on whether or not he thinks goals against are up around the league – “Yeah, it does seem like goals this year are starting to come up. We were looking the other day and talking about how we lost that game, up 3 goals and we end up losing and we looked around the league and there were 2 other teams that night also that had the lead going into the 3rd period and lost it. There is no time to relax in this league anymore. You can’t clutch and hold. You can’t just shut things down and you have to play for 60 minutes. There are so many powerplays, so many opportunities for offensive flow and chances that goal scoring has got to be up this year I think.”
Barry Trotz on 5 consecutive games giving up 3 goals – “Well considering you don’t win in this league having to score 4 or 5 goals every night. We talked about that the other day. If we are going to be successful in this league, especially in the stretch coming up, we can’t give up this many goals. I think we are 28th in the league and now we might be 29th.”
Trotz on the decision to scratch tonight’s players – “2 things went into that. One was performance at this point of the season, and the other was more about the makeup of the lineup I thought we needed against the Kings. For instance Richie Peverley was more of a situational scratch tonight.”
Final Thoughts:
Before the game I really had some concerns about this matchup for the Preds. I honestly thought there was a good chance that the Preds would drop their 2nd consecutive home game. Despite almost blowing a lead the Preds did get the hometown fans a win, and some fast food treats for good measure. There are still a few things to correct (like playing for a full 60 minutes) but a win was needed to keep this team from getting real down on themselves.
The Predators next game will be this Tuesday night in Washington. This is the one game of the year I will not be able to see thanks in part to VS and their exclusivity issues. Neither team will have a TV feed available for the game, so Center Ice or not you are out of luck. Expect a less detailed post-game that night.
Till next time, take care everyone.
Don’t forget to tune into the Nashville Hockeybuzz Radio show, Monday nights from 6 to 7 pm on WNSR 560 A.M. with Paul McCann and myself discussing all things Preds! Listen in at the WNSR Website for the best new Preds radio show around!
Questions, comments, and criticisms can be sent to [email protected] if you wish to contact me personally.
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