The AO came to Music City, but it was the 2nd liners for Washington that put away the Nashville Predators. Despite a strong effort from Dan Ellis, the Preds ended up losing 2-1 in OT in front of 16,064 at the Sommet Center.
Felder’s FICKLE Five:
1. A Little Goal Support Boys? - I don't care what Barry Trotz said in the post-game, the lack of goal scoring cost the Preds a point tonight. After the opening shift (which was brilliant) the Preds never quite fully put their feet back on the pedal the rest of the game. This was my fear. This was why I was sour about the deadline. Jason Arnott goes to the locker room at the beginning of the 3rd period with an injury, and our O looks meager the rest of the way. A total of 28 shots on goal, none on the "man advantage", and only 1 shot on goal in the OT. The Preds could have had this game. Dan Ellis played well enough to win. The offense just failed to show up for Dan again.
2. Dapper Dan Arises From the Ashes - The brightest spot out of the loss has to be that Barry Trotz know he can trust Dan Ellis to play well when put in the pipes. A little bit of a shaky start with some early rebounds, but overall a great night for Dapper Dan. Go to the Goalie Grade section for a bit more.
3. Two D Mistakes Cost a Point - Against a team like the Capitals, it really can be just two mistakes that cost you the game. Tonight, both of the Washington goals came off of the forwards slipping past the D and getting in alone on Ellis.
4. Making the Caps Pay the Price - Fighting belongs in hockey, and tonight was a good example of why. The guys policed themselves with some solid bouts in the 1st period. You'll want to see the highlights of these tussles for sure. In the end, I thought the fights did a good job of not letting Washington grab much momentum.
5. Stopping the Washington Barrage - Yes, the D made some mistakes that cost them, but they were stopping a barrage my friends. Looking at the final score sheet, the event summary shows 44 shots on goal, 25 blocked shots, and 23 missed shots. That means the Capitals poured a total of 92 pucks towards the Nashville net. Credit goes to not only Dan Ellis, but the shot blockers for Nashville tonight. Of course Greg Zanon led the way with 5 blocked shots, followed by Klein, Ward, and Weber with 3 apiece. To hold Ovechkin to 5 shots on goal is pretty good and deserves recognition.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Radek Bonk, Ryan Jones, Ville Koistinen, and Pekka Rinne.
* 1ST PERIOD
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 19:10 to go. My goodness what a start. Pressure from the first shift that gets rewarded. Weber draws the attention, slides the puck over to Suter on the left point, and Ryan lets a wrister go. The puck goes through the crowd in front and gets deposited low stick side on Jose Theodore. The first shift for the Preds was quite impressive. The 4th shot on goal produced the tally, but big credit goes to all the forwards from the starting line up (Ward, Legwand, and Erat) because they kept the puck deep by battling for it and taking the puck away a handful of times. That hard forecheck did not allow the Caps to clear the zone, giving the Preds that hard work first goal. Suter from Weber and Martin Erat. Preds take the first shift lead, 1-0.
* 7:33 to go. Wade Belak and Donald Brashear go skate to skate. This started up from a hit that Jordin Tootoo put on Brashear down in the corner. This was a whale of a bout. Belak wanted to go long range with the punches, but Brashear drew them in close. Little did Donald know that the Belak monster has a heck of a left hand. After a close encounters battle where neither guy had an edge, suddenly Belak struck with a monstrous left and rocked Brashear's chin. In fact, that was that. Fight over, with Brashear going to the box bloodied. Fight win goes to Belak.
* 7:30 to go. Tootoo and Bradley do a separate dance. This comes from a hit Bradley put on Tootoo from behind in the corner in response to the Brashear hit. These was such and even bout much like the last one just a faceoff ago, but again a Cap left a bloody mess. Tootoo started throwing murderous combinations of haymakers and left Bradley with a very bloody face and fight loss. These two were really going, just swinging away, but the Toots got the better of him. In fact, for the first time this season, the ice crew was forced to come onto the Sommet Center Ice and clean up the frozen blood. Lets just say, Bradley has a different looking mug now. Fight win goes to Tootoo, and the Capitals now realize that you do not want to drop gloves with the Preds.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – WSH: 0 NSH: 1. Positives - A dominating opening shift. Some great fights. Negatives - Preds slightly out shot 13-10. Also, the Caps have slight faceoff edge with a 59%.
* 2ND PERIOD
* 15:42 to go. After an offsides whistle John Erskine gives the Belak monster a little push from the side. Wade took exception, launched a fist attack at Erskine, and John accepted the request to dance. I was a little surprised to see another Cap drop the gloves to be honest. All in all a very solid bout, although Wade did look a little more sluggish in this bout. All told, a pretty even tilt but I give a slight edge to Wade who gets his 2nd fight win of the night.
* GOAL for WASHINGTON - 1:21 to go. A tic tac toe thing of beauty. Nicklas Backstrom sneaks in behind the D. Suter was up ice, and Ovechkin drew Shea Weber to him, setting up a feed in the low right slot that gave Backstrom all the room and time to fake glove side, and bury the puck in the open net on the stick side. The D left Elly to fend for himself on that one. Backstrom from Ovechkin and Viktor Kozlov. This game is all tied up at 1 apiece.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – WSH: 1 NSH: 1. Positives - They only gave up one goal. Negatives - The Preds are sitting back and not generating many scoring chances. Out shot still, now 23-19. Also, losing the faceoff war with only 40% faceoff wins for Nashville. Our man advantage had zero shots on goal during their two minute opportunity.
* 3RD PERIOD
* 16:50 to go. Vern Fiddler gets sent into the corner hard after a big hit from Mike Green floors him. Green put a clean hit on Vern, the problem arose when the shoulder went up and into Fiddlers head.
* 16:30 to go. Dan Ellis makes his 2nd huge save of the night. This time he stones a Cap on the back door rebound with a diving stick save to the glove side. Very impressive save on the penalty kill there. Earlier, Elly had a great glove stop on Brooks Laich with 12:52 to go in the period.
* 15:10 to go. After a great PK, the Preds let one slip in, or do they? A shot from Viktor Kozlov bounces off Dan's pad. The rebound hits Tomas Fleischmann in the skate, but there may have been a kicking motion. The play goes to video review. The officials overturn the original goal call after decreeing that there was indeed a kicking motion from the right skate of Fleischmann.
* 9:51 to go. The Preds man advantage kills off a chance to take the lead. The Caps PK stormed the Preds crease after a Dan Hamhuis turnover. From there, Hammer made it worse by taking a hooking penalty. Not a strong shift there to say the least.
* TO OT WE GO (as predicted I might add....) Nashville was 9-4 and Washington 8-6 in OT this season prior to this game.
* GOAL for WASHINGTON - Federov slips in behind Sullivan and Legwand for an open chance all alone with Ellis. A goal very similar to the one given up earlier in the game. Fedorov from Kozlov and Semin. Caps win it.
FINAL SCORE – WSH - 2 NSH - 1
My Three Stars:
1. Dan Ellis - Stopped 42 of the 44 Washington shots on goal. Made 2 brilliant saves to keep the Preds close.
2. Sergei Fedorov - Game winning OT goal, +1, 2 shots on goal, 1 hit, and won 16 of his 23 faceoffs for a 70% faceoff percentage.
3. Wade Belak - 2 great fight wins including putting Brashear out of the game after a strong left caught Donald on the chin.
Goalie Grade:A – The starting goaltender tonight was Dan Ellis. Pekka Rinne was out with the flu, giving Ellis a chance to prove he can still be the #1. The only two goals given up by Dan were entirely on his team mates. Both goals, him vs the shooter without any help. Legwand and Suter owe Danny a lunch or something. Dan played such an outstanding game and it was wasted.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "Walking away from it, were you a little surprised at the way you caught Brashear with that left?
Wade Belak - "No, I'm just lucky that I came out of there alright. He's a tough guy and I've fought him a lot in the past so you take it as they come cause you never know. You don't get too cocky after a win like that."
***
Felder - "Well obviously that's not the easiest way to come back, facing that many shots."
Dan Ellis - "No no, but it's a fun way. I mean, it was a real challenge, when you don't play for 7 or 8 games to jump back in there against the best player in the world. It was something that I looked forward to and I tried to make the most of it, enjoy the moment, and show them that I can still play."
Felder - "Any nerves in that 1st period. I would guess you gave up a few more rebounds than you would like."
Ellis - "A little bit. The thing is, when you sit out that long, you lose rhythm, and you can work hard in practice and try to feel the puck, but nothing is really like a game. When you've got to jump in there with just the feeling of wanting to play good, you know I haven't played a game in front of the home fans in two months I think it was. I think the last time I was here I got ripped out after 3 goals in 4 shots so there's a little bit of nerves and stuff like that but it's just a matter of getting your rhythm back and your feel for the puck back."
***
Felder - "Considering the outstanding effort by Ellis, is this one of those games where you are going to go back and say that lack of scoring probably cost us that extra point?"
Barry Trotz - "No. I would say that their team was better and that cost us the extra point."
***
Final Thoughts:
This loss goes down as a point missed in my book. Ellis played well enough to win, but the guys failed to give him the goal support he needed. The one point was earned and keeps the Preds in 8th, but the lack of scoring concerns are returning with two games in a row of just one Pred goal.
The Predators next game is this Thursday night vs the New York Rangers. This is not the same Ranger team as a month ago. Now with Torts at the helm coaching a player he hates (Sean Avery) things are quite interesting in Ranger land. Game time is at 7 pm CST as usual, and the pre-game from Rippy's starts at 5.
Till next time, take care everyone.
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