The Titans may not have got it done, but the Nashville Predators took care of their business as they stifled the Chicago Blackhawks in route to a 4-1 win. The scoring slump is over as 16,802 left Nashville happy about another Preds win.
Felder’s FANTASTIC Five:
1. Bonk Line Contains Chicago - The play of Radek Bonk and his line with Jerred Smithson on the left wing and Joel Ward on the right was excellent tonight. They had the task of shutting down Chicago's top line consisting of Troy Brouwer, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane. The Preds shut down line gave little time and space to the young Blackhawks, and effectively kept them off the scoreboard. At the end of the game, Toews had ZERO shots on goal, Brouwer had one, and Kane registered 3 shots on goal. Also of note is that Kane and Toews were -3 on the night each.The cherry on top was Bonk's goal. That was the first time Radek Bonk had scored since December 9th vs Vancouver.
2. Pekka Continues His Push For #1 - It's hard to bet against Pekka Rinne right now. His play has been stellar and has given the Preds a tough decision each night as to who starts. Were it not for a bad Ville Koistinen giveaway in the crease Pekka would have had another shutout. Right now, Rinne is the starter.
3. PK Playing the Pred Way - Everyone that follows this team has expectations of a top 10 PK unit, and for now they are getting what they expect. Tonight, the Preds killed off all 6 Chicago powerplays, and have strung together a streak of 23 straight kills in 6 games. These guys are getting in done, and keeping top ranked PP units off the score sheet.
4. Dare I Call It Something Other Than the Man Advantage? - Not just yet, but it's almost that time. Two games in a row in which the man advantage unit has come through. This time it was off a Shea Weber cannon shot to put the Preds up 2-0. This unit is finally executing and went 1 for 4 tonight with 6 shots on goal.
5. Keep Legwand On the Wing - Just let him stay there because it is working. That line has gotten great chances in the last two games and Legwand now has 3 goals in 2 games. This marks the first time this season that Leggy has scored a goal in consecutive games. Before Thursday night, he had 9 games straight without a goal. So, the offense is going more smoothly with Legwand on the wing, so keep him there. I'm sure Trotz will for a little bit.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Wade Belak, Ryan Jones, and Greg de Vries.
* 1ST PERIOD
* 18:30 to go and with our first stoppage, Steve Sullivan goes over the boards and onto the ice for the first time since Feb. 22nd, 2007. A rousing applause from the fans as they welcome back Sully. Many thought it would never happen, including myself, but I am so glad it did and I'm amazed at Steve's tremendous will and determination to get back in the game.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 9:19 to go. A broken up play find David Legwand cruising towards the net in the slot. Legwand tallied off a quick one timer high glove side. Arnott was behind the net trying to feed the puck out to Erat, but the puck bounced off Marty and instead went the Preds way to Legwand's tape. Two games in a row with a goal for Leggy. Legwand from Erat and Arnott. Preds lead 1-0.
* Sully looked pretty nervous before hitting the ice. Throughout the period he had good movement, but was hesitant to go in the corners, who could blame him? Sullivan even went out on a PK shift, so the confidence is growing.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 1 CHI: 0. Positives - A 1st period lead, we all know that is a positive stat this season. 15-5 the Preds lead in shots on goal. Legwand looks real good on the wing. An amazing 77% on faceoffs. Negatives - A missed back door play by Arnott that had him frustrated. The game should be 2-0, but Jason whiffed on that one.
* 2ND PERIOD
* 14:32 to go and Steve Sullivan just danced through three Blackhawks on his way to a mini breakaway. Sully forced Cristobal Huet to make a save as he fired off a backhander just 14 feet out. The Preds were on the man advantage and Steve took the puck from being cleared by Chicago at his own blueline, then went to center ice before he slipped in down the slot. Give him a couple more game to get his hands going and I bet he scores on that one.
*13:22 to go and Mike Santorelli gets called for hooking. The Preds are playing with fire as this is the 4th power play for Chicago this game. The Blackhawks PP is ranked 4th in the league. Some better discipline is needed from Nashville.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 3:14 to go. The Beast has struck again. Shea Weber with a cannon blast from the point gets by Huet high glove side. Radek Bonk was screening Huet on the play. Just a blast from the All-Star. Weber from Dumont and Suter. Preds take a 2-0 lead.
* For once I will probably feel comfortable going into a 3rd period. The D and Rinne are playing outstanding. Chicago must be frustrated by the stingy play of the Preds D. They are forcing the Hawks to work for every shot. At this point in the game I don't see Chicago reeling off 3 goals against Pekka. Then again, this is hockey and you just never know for sure what can happen. Rinne made a series of stops to close out the period that were quite impressive.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 2 CHI: 0. Positives - A tally while on the man advantage for the 2nd game in a row. I can hardly believe it. Pekka is playing lights out. Outshooting the Hawks 27-19 Negatives - They just have to stop taking penalties.
* 3RD PERIOD
* GOAL for CHICAGO - 13:49 to go. Ville Koistinen attempts to clear the puck from the blue paint but puts it right on Adam Burish's stick. Burish quickly fires one home glove side on Rinne. Pekka did not even get a piece of this one. Put that one on VK all the way. Bursih from James Wisniewski and Ben Eager. Hawks cut the lead in half, Preds lead is now 2-1.
* 9:35 to go and we are told that Jason Arnott has a lower body injury and will not return to the game.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 7:57 to go. Radek Bonk finds the net for the first time since early December. Bonk went down the right boards and stayed strong with the puck. As he cut to the net from just below the faceoff circle to Huet's left, he quickly lifted the puck up and in high glove. A birthday goal for Radek. Huet has had glove side trouble all game. Bonk from Ward and Suter. Preds up the lead to 3-1.
* 2:42 to go and Radek Bonk gets away with a boarding call. He helped Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews find his face into the boards as he was hunched over digging the puck out of the boards. Very surprised that Radek did not get tabbed to the box on that one.
* 1:35 left and the tempers are flaring. A big scrum along the boards and you even have Martin Erat going after Duncan Keith throwing punches. Both were given a two minute minor for roughing. Frustrations are being show by both teams and this should set up for an interesting game tomorrow night. The Hawks have pulled Huet in favor of an extra attacker.
* EMPTY NET GOAL for NASHVILLE - 39 seconds to go and Legwand deposits the puck for his 2nd goal of the night and seals the game up. Legwand from Ward and Zanon. Preds close it up.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 4 CHI - 1.
My Three Stars:
1. Radek Bonk - 1 goal, +1, team leading 6 shots on goal, 2 hits, 1 takeaway, and won 9 of 13 faceoffs.
2. Shea Weber - 1 goal, +1, 1 shot, and 4 hits.
3. Pekka Rinne - 34 saves on 35 Chicago shots.
Goalie Grade:A – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. Rinne played well all game. I thought Pekka had excellent rebound control throughout the game and made a series of saves at the end of the 2nd period that kept momentum and carried the team to a victory.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "You guys had a tough assignment shutting down the Toews and Kane line. Talk about how good a job you guys did on that."
Radek Bonk - "Obviously we won the game but it's important because they are very skilled guys. They still got some chances and we tried to limit them but when they did get chances we got big saves from Peks."
*
Felder - "Did the return live up to your expectations?"
Steve Sullivan - "It did. The fans were outstanding. They waited a long time for me to come back and I appreciate it. It was definitely worth it."
Felder - "It looked like you had some butterflies there at the very beginning on the bench. You were really rocking and looked a bit nervous."
Sullivan - "I was nervous for the last three days. It's tough because it was the unexpected. You just didn't know how the body would react. There were a lot of unknowns and it was tough to get over it but after that first shift I was able to settle down a bit and play my game."
Felder - "Do you know the game plan in terms of whether you play tomorrow?"
Sullivan - "I don't think I will. Trotzy and I talked a week to ten days ago we had set that tonight was looking like the day I was going to play. We looked at the schedule and back to back is probably not a good idea. I think I can get nine games in without going back to back so that's the game plan."
*
Felder - "Two games in a row with the team scoring power play goals. Have you guys done something differently or is it just execution?"
Shea Weber - "No, you know what I think for the last little while we've been good on the power play. We've had a lot of chances we just haven't had the finish so it was kinda nice for our power play to get rewarded."
*
Felder - "The Bonk line really did a good job of shutting Chicago's top line down."
Barry Trotz - "Really excellent job. I though Radek Bonk was fantastic. His birthday was yesterday and he got a big goal. I thought he was great on draws. He did a really good job against Toews lines. I thought Radek had a lot of impact in the game in a lot of those really hard areas."
Final Thoughts:
Another solid defensive and goaltending effort that was rewarded. The offense is finding a stride and they need to keep it up. Tonight's game was a great way to continue to build off of Thursday's win. The Preds took the lead and never let it go.
The Predators next game is less than 24 hours away as they face the Blackhawks on the back end of a home and home. Tomorrow will bring the United Center as the venue and a game time of 6 pm CST. This game will not be shown on local TV, so you will need Center Ice to view it.
Till next time, take care.
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