*Update on Monday night's events. The radio show has an added guest as Dan Ellis has agreed to join us for an interview around 6:20 pm. Dan is one of the most honest and interesting interviews you can get from this team so you won't want to miss it. Also, as noted by Paul both he and I will join Eric Yutzy on tonight's Sportsline. You will want to make sure you catch this one as we have the first ever round table for Hockey Monday... So your night of Preds hockey is filled and I hope you will all enjoy it.*
Well this was almost a perfect effort from Nashville today. Take away the extensive amount of penalties and goals against and then you would have a 100% solid effort. The Preds used a powerful 2nd period effort to blow by the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2.
Felder’s FANTASTIC Five:
1. Hello Hockey World, Here Are Our All-Star Nominees – Weber and Arnott lead the charge today. Considering this is one of two games on the NHL docket today it was a great chance for the rest of the league to see why Weber and Arnott were nominated for the All-Star game. Weber finished the game with 2 goals, 1 assist, a +3 rating, 6 shots on goal, 4 hits, and 1 blocked shot. Arnott finished with 2 goals, a +2 rating, 3 shots on goal, 1 hit, 1 takeaway, and went 5 of 10 in the faceoff dot.
2. Penalty Killers Strong All Day – Considering the amount of penalties being thrown both ways in this game you have to give big credit to the Preds pk unit for standing tall all day. The Canes went 0-8 on the advantage with 12:46 of powerplay time. Leading the shorthanded time for the Preds were Zanon (7:34), Hamhuis (6:14), and Nichol (5:56).
3. Keeping the Canes On Their Heels With Hits – It may not have appeared to be that physical a game, but the Preds registered 30 hits against Carolina. I firmly believe this kept Carolina cautious the first 2 periods of the game. The Preds stepped up the hitting after the goals for which was solid strategy and opposite the game plan I saw vs San Jose.
4. The “Energizer” Keeps It Going – I’m going to make that nickname catch on somehow. Ellis may have let in two 3rd period goals, but his play in the 1st two periods propelled this team to a win. Ellis stopped 24 of 26 shots against, including all 7 of the Canes powerplay shots on goal. Another strong performance from Mr. Ellis has helped the team snap a losing streak.
5. The Man Advantage Gets On the Scoresheet – The man advantage finally got a goal in this game, snapping a lengthy streak of missed opportunities. Weber got the only official powerplay goal, but his 2nd goal was just after a Cane got out of the box so that half-way counts in my book. Hopefully the specials teams can keep it up on Tuesday.
Other Notes:
• Today’s scratch was Kevin Klein.
• 1ST PERIOD
• 18:24 to go and the Preds get their first quality scoring chance. Radek Bonk had a mini breakaway from 10 feet out. He did have a Carolina Hurricane right on his back, so Bonk let off a quick backhander that was easily stopped with the left leg pad of Cam Ward.
• 16:53 remains and the Canes are unable to convert on multiple rebound chances in the crease. It was one of those all too familiar scrambles in front of Ellis, but somehow the Preds D located the puck and cleared it out.
• 15:15 to go and Greg Zanon flubs a pass out his end. The puck ends up being taken away at the blueline and the Canes streaked in for a 2v1. Thankfully, Ellis was well aware of the goings on and made the necessary save.
• 13:16 and the Canes will have 1:14 of 5 on3 thanks to penalties by Erat and Hamhuis. Hammer got caught with a cross check while on the PK. Bad penalty to take there.
• 11:15 to go. Nice penalty kill by the Preds. Nice to see them refuse to give up an early lead thus far.
• 7:55 to go. So many penalties in this game at the moment. The Weber cross check is a little weak, but considering how tight the crew is calling the game I could see that.
• 7:30 to go and Dan Ellis catches a huge break. He got drawn all the way out of the net to his left side, got deked, sprawled. Ray Whitney held onto the puck, took it around behind the net, tried to center, but Dan Hamhuis tied his guy up in the crease and Jerred Smithson found the puck in the slot and cleared it out. Huge break right there as Ellis left his net wide open for a couple of seconds.
• GOAL for NASHVILLE – 6:01 to go. Right after the penalty kill gets their job done we find Dumont and Arnott on a 2v1 break. Dumont made a beautiful pass thru the blue paint in front of Cam Ward and Arnott backhands the easy goal into the open net. This was all set up by a nice clear from Greg DeVries that sprung J.P. for the rush. Also noted by Terry Crisp on the broadcast was the play of Joel Ward along the boards to assist the clear. Arnott from Dumont and DeVries. Preds lead 1-0.
• 4:11 to go and not to break a trend the Preds go back into the box again. This time a tripping call on David Legwand. Just the 5th penalty taken by the Preds this period. No problem, nothing to see here.
• END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 1 CAR: 0. Positives – The Preds scored once during what little 5 on 5 they had. The penalty kill has performed well. 53% faceoff win. 5 blocked shots. Negatives – 5 shots on goal. 5 penalties taken in that period. Preds MUST stay out of the box in order to maintain the lead.
• 2ND PERIOD
• 17:52 to go and Dan Ellis makes the biggest save thus far. Scott Walker fed Joni
Pitkanen back door but Dan anticipated the chance and made an amazing save. The fans had even begun to cheer thinking it was automatic goal time, but the “Energizer” said no with a huge save.
• GOAL for NASHVILLE – 17:15 to go. Scott Nichol came across the blue line, along the right boards and wired a slap shot mid level stick side and buries his chance. A weak goal against Cam Ward but a smart play by Nichol to just put one on net. As they say, just get it on net and you never know what will happen. Nichol from Zanon. Preds lead 2-0 now.
• PP GOAL for NASHVILLE – 11:18 to go. Shea the “Beast” Weber strikes again. This time a slapper from the top of the faceoff circle to Cam Ward’s right. Shea let the cannon off and blazed the puck high stick side past Ward. Weber from Suter and Legwand. Preds lead extended to 3-0.
• GOAL for NASHVILLE – 5:48 to go. Shea Weber lets off a slapper, Arnott finds the rebound, tries to put the puck on net but was actually missing. The fortunate part is the puck went off of Pitkanen’s skate, in behind Cam, and into the net for a goal. Very lucky bounce for Nashville and bad luck for Cam Ward. Arnott from Weber and Erat. Preds continue to lead, now 4-0.
• END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 4 CAR: 0. Positives – 3 goals, including one on the man advantage. 12 shots on goal in this period. Penalty kill continues to be on point. Negatives – Still took 3 penalties that period. Now down to 49% faceoff wins. Erat, Peverley, and Dumont have yet to register a shot on goal.
• 3RD PERIOD
• GOAL for CAROLINA – 19:28 to go. The Canes waste no time to start the 3rd. Dumont, while in the neutral zone, fails to clear the puck up along the boards, causing a turnover at the blueline. Bayda dekes by Dumont, makes a pass to Cullen who fakes another pass to keep Zanon at bay, then wrists one high glove side right by Ellis. Shutout over for Dan. Cullen from Ryan Bayda. Preds lead is cut by one, now down to 4-1.
• GOAL for CAROLINA – 13:34 to go. Ville Koistinen can not muscle up and get Chad Larose out of the slot. Because of this as they are fighting to get the puck, Larose finds it and quickly slips it through VK’s legs, and then under the leg pads of Dan Ellis. That’ll be a goal Dan wishes he had back. Weak 5-hole goal but you have to place equal blame on Koistinen for not properly getting his man tangled up enough to not shoot. Larose from Cullen and Melichar. Preds lead is down to 4-2.
• 10:50 to go and the Canes are sending the house. Consistent effort in the Preds end from the Canes forwards. They are making things interesting and making this a fight to the end.
• 9:30 to go and Dumont misses a glorious scoring chance. He was fed on a breakaway,
had Ward all to himself, but the shot went high and hit the end boards. You just can’t fail to put the puck on net in this situation.
• GOAL for NASHVILLE – 7:18 remains. Another Shea Web blast finds a home in the net. High stick side again. Erat just slides the puck up to Weber at the top of the point and with no traffic in front the Beast deposits another one. Weber from Erat and Bonk. Preds reclaim a 3 goal lead as they now lead 5-2.
• FINAL SCORE – NSH- 5 CAR- 2.
My Three Stars:
1. Shea Weber
2. Jason Arnott
3. Dan Ellis
Goalie Grade:A – The starting goaltender today was Dan Ellis. The “Energizer” just kept going and going with save after save. The 1st goal against was a laser high glove. Not necessarily weak, but more a 50/50. The 2nd goal against was a soft one. 5-hole goals never feel good and I'm sure Dan would love to get that one back. Ellis made a handful of big saves early in the game to keep the Canes off the board and the Preds in it despite the many penalties the team took.
Ref Review:B – The crew today was Tim Peel, Ian Walsh, Andy McElman, and Brad Lazarowich. This crew likes special teams. They like to call penalties. The grade they receive is based upon the fact that they do call a sizeable amount of penalties. Considering they would call players for sneezing in their general direction this crew called both sides pretty evenly, although they both were called for some iffy ones as well.
Final Thoughts:
A pretty solid effort from the Preds. I’d give them a B+ overall. If this team can find some consistency they will continue to compete with the middle of the Western pack. They have to cut down on penalties but other than that this was the type of game that can consistently get you 2 points.
The Predators next game will be on VS and have an early start time. This Tuesday the Preds will welcome Chris Mason back to the Sommet Center for the 1st time. Game time has been moved to 6 pm to accommodate the national coverage for the VS network.
Till next time, take care friends.
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! The podcasting for the Nashville Hockeybuzz Radio show can be found at the following: Nashville Hockeybuzz Radio Podcast. Enjoy!
Questions, comments, and criticisms can be sent to [email protected] if you wish to contact me personally.
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