The Nashville Predators were sporting a new look top line tonight, and the new piece was the shining star. Martin Erat tallied a hat trick and pushed the Preds to a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. As usual, a game against Vancouver featured some fireworks for the 12,565 in attendance to see, but the end result was an impressive victory.
Felder’s FANTASTIC Five:
1. Martin Erat, Welcome… To The TOP Line - Erat truly has earned top line status lately (even before the hat trick this evening). His play of late has been the exact opposite of what he looked like just a month ago. With Dumont getting the demotion (and an earned one at that) the top line had a new look and more importantly an impact. Arnott with 2 assists, Sullivan with 2 assists, and of course Erat's 3 goals. This type of performance will make it tough for J.P. to get back into that top line role.
2. Goaltending That Had To Be Seen To Be Believed - I really hope the NHL highlights online feature a number of the saves Pekka Rinne made tonight. He was simply incredible. Even though he didn't get a shutout, I truly feel he was the other big reason Nashville won. I couldn't begin to detail all the great saves, so just do yourself a favor and find the highlights on NHL.com
3. Getting Physical When It Counts - Tonight was a very entertaining game with the amount of physical play being dished out by both teams. The Canucks won the hitting stat by just one hit (16 to the Preds 15) but one of the best parts about this game was that both teams had such well timed hitting. It had an impact on the game and even caused some controversy. The leading hitters for Vancouver were Christian Ehrhoff and Sami Salo with 3 each. For Nashville, Shea "The Beast" Weber had 4 hits (including a thunderous blow to Alex Edler) and Francis Bouillon totaled 3 hits as well.
4. Special Teams Shines - Not every night the Preds can mark down 2 man advantage goals to their name. Some really solid execution from Nashville kept the Canucks on their heels. It was interesting to see Steve Sullivan on the point since Cody Franson was a scratch tonight. To be honest, the creativity and puck movement on the MA tonight was the best I've seen in some time. Maybe they should keep rolling with those looks.
5. Defensive Effort From All - One thing Vancouver seemed to be really good at was deceptively getting the puck on net. They really fired everything they had in the 2nd and 3rd periods. The defensive effort from not just the D-men but the forwards as well was noticeable to me. 15 total blocked shots with Dan Hamhuis leading the team with 3. 9 different Predators blocked a shot. 4 were D-men and 5 were forwards. Also, Peks praised the D-men for allowing him to see as many shots as he did considering the amount of traffic and point shots the Canucks employed.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Wade Belak, Cody Franson, and Dave Scatchard. For Vancouver, former Pred Darcy Hordichuk, Mathieu Schneider, and Aaron Rome were the scratches. Currently, the Canucks have Pavol Demitra and Michael Grabner on the injured reserve list.
* 1ST PERIOD
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 15:41 to go. Marty Erat gives Trotz what he is looking for on the top line. Steve Sullivan takes a shot from the point. The puck deflected off of Jason Arnott and redirected to the end boards. Martin Erat was there for the quick rebound and he placed the puck at the back of Roberto Luongo's leg pads. In doing so, the puck glanced off of Luongo's skate and into the net before the Vancouver net minder could get his pads back to the pipes to prevent such a play from occurring. Very nice idea and execution from Erat there. Erat (7) from Arnott (8) and Sullivan (11). Preds take the early 1-0 lead.
* 11:34 to go. The Beast (also known around North America as Shea Weber) decks Alex Edler along the boards right in front of Mr. Paul McCann. Edler immediately went to the bench after the hit holding on to his arm. Hope he's not injured as a result of the play but it was very nice to see Webs returning to his physical play. Looking at the replay I'd have to guess that Edler injured his shoulder on the play.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 1 VAN: 0 Positives - Nice goaltending from Peks. A solid goal from the top line. Love the physical play from both sides. Leading SOG 8-7. Negatives - Would like to see the Preds D eliminate some of the low cycles occurring. Vancouver winning 53% of the faceoffs.
* 2ND PERIOD
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 16:57 to go. Marty Erat strikes again. Steve Sullivan quickly fires the puck up ice during a Vancouver PK line change. This time, a beautiful feed at the blueline from Francis Bouillon gave Erat just enough space for a mini-breakaway. Erat barreled ahead towards Luongo, kept the Vancouver penalty killer at bay, and then showed Bobby Lou a forehand to backhand move. In the middle of this Marty slipped the puck in 5-hole on Roberto. Just a nice goal again by Erat who made the breakaway count. Erat (8) from Bouillon (4) and Sullivan (12). Preds now hold a 2-0 lead.
* 12:48 to go. What was that? Alex Burrows got clipped in a Preds game in Nashville? Well, it appeared that way. Jerred Smithson came flying into the boards and caught Alex Burrows with his head down. Burrows had almost lost control of the puck and was reaching with his stick to control it. Smithers came in full force and did hit Burrows in the head with his elbow. The hit occurred just before the Preds bench, but not quite at the stanchion.
Now. this hit will likely cause the Hockeybuzz servers to go berserk. Burrows was involved in a very questionable hit last season around this time in Nashville. (In fact, AP Writer Jim Diamond pointed out that the Burrows incident last year will be one year exactly tomorrow, the 9th). In that incident, Burrows left his feet and clobbered J.P. Dumont. In the same game, now former Pred Scott Nichol was concussed on an O'Brien hit. That hit was a clean hard hit where Scooter was caught with his head down. In tonight's game, I watched the replay multiple times, and I think the play was definitely a charging minor, but not a major. Also, the fact that Smithson received a game misconduct was a bit harsh. Burrows was not injured on the play (although he did his best to sell an injury to the referees) and clearly was slight bent with his head down at the time of the hit. I'm sure many Vancouver fans will disagree, but the fact is this hit was nowhere near as dirty as Alex hit last season. Before you jump to conclusions and call me a homer, let me state that I don't play favorites. I don't root for the Nashville Predators or any NHL team for that matter. I simply cover the games as a beat writer would (with media credentials to all home games) and call it like I see it. I'm sure the comment battle will be entertaining though so please comment away hockey friends.
* POWER PLAY GOAL for VANCOUVER - 7:48 to go. Kesler hammers home a back door play in which Pekka Rinne was sold on a Henrik Sedin shot. Just solid execution from the Canucks on this goal, leaving Peks no chance. Kesler (6) from H. Sedin (21) and D. Sedin (10). Nashville's lead is now just 2-1.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 2 VAN: 1 Positives - Marty Erat is on fire, and in a good way. Peks is playing out of his mind. Winning 57% of faceoffs now. Negatives - Allowing Vancouver to block way too many shots (16 so far).
* 3RD PERIOD
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 8:33 to go. Tic-tac-toe and in the puck goes. Marty Erat along the boards fakes a pass to Weber at the point, then rifles the puck through traffic to Arnott inside the other faceoff circle. Instead of taking a big slapper, Arny then one-times a pass back door where Patric Hornqvist leaves no doubt and pops the puck in on the empty glove side of Luongo. That my friends, looked like an actual power play. Hornqvist (6) from Arnott (9) and Erat (8). Preds now hold a 3-1 lead.
* GOAL for VANCOUVER - 3:35 to go. Burrows screens Rinne at the last second as Daniel Sedin cuts through the slot and fires on home. A stick side goal against Rinne. Unfortunate because Peks has played insane hockey. D. Sedin (3) from H. Sedin (22). This game is now just 3-2 Preds.
* 1:14 to go and Luongo hits the bench.
*EMPTY NET GOAL for NASHVILLE - MARTIN ERAT HAT TRICK. From the center ice red line, Marty wrists one all the way to the back of the net. Good defensive play breaks up a Vancouver pass and the puck goes straight to Erat. Erat (9) from Legwand (11). This game is done. Preds have the score at 4-2.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 4 VAN - 2.
My Three Stars:
1. Erat - 3 goals, 1 assist, a +2 rating, 5 shots on goal, and 1 takeaway.
2. Rinne - 34 saves on 36 shots against. Made at least 5 incredible saves on really solid scoring chances.
3. Arnott - 2 primary assists, +1, 2 SOG, 1 blocked shot, and won 10 of his 17 faceoffs taken.
Goalie Grade:A – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. I truly believe this is one of the best games I've ever seen Peks play. In fact, I was so impressed I even told him I thought it was one of his best after the game. Yes, he had 2 goals against, but neither were his fault. The fact that the Canucks only scored 2 goals considering how many of their 36 shots on goal were scoring chances is beyond me. A truly stellar effort in net that further cemented the status of Rinne as the #1 netminder in Nashville.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "Jerred, it was such a bang-bang play, but in that moment did you notice if Burrows had his head down?"
Jerred Smithson - "No. I might have came a little bit from behind him but I watched him make the pass and then I just tried to finish my check. How he went into the boards I'm not quite sure, but that kind of stuff happens I guess."
*
Felder - "Do you feel like you guys learned something from the Minnesota game because Vancouver also uses a low cycle to generate offense and it seemed like you guys were a lot better at defending that tonight."
Pekka Rinne - "Yeah. Yesterday we spent a lot of time watching videos and talking about those kinds of things, down low plays like that. Tonight was much tighter and the guys did a great job in front of me taking those passing lanes away and blocking some shots too."
Felder - "Vancouver was pretty deceptive with where their shots came from. Talk about the D-men allowing you to see those."
Rinne - "Well I think they used a lot of point shots and that's the one thing that creates a lot of traffic. Our D did a really good job letting me see the puck in the front, and the guys were boxing them out so I could see the puck. I was lucky there wasn't too many rebounds either, so that was good."
*
Felder - "What was your view on Smithson's hit on Burrows?"
Barry Trotz - "Well I have the luxury of looking at it on film. The two things that the referee's said to me was obviously the league is cracking down on hits to the head, which I am totally and 100% behind. They also thought it was a little bit of a late hit. I have the luxury of the film - that wasn't a late hit. Burrows had the puck on his stick and he tried to duck the hit. You look at Smithson's arms, they were right by his side. It was his shoulder that made the hit. Burrows sort of spun off and tried to avoid it, and he ducked it, and Smitty really, well, you know, it was a real clean hit. I have the luxury of the film and the referee's don't. They were really good and said, 'If we're wrong we'll apologize but that's how we see it at that time and place.' They've got a tough job. We just had to kill that off and I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part of killing of that 5 on 3. "
Felder - "Does the league review all the game misconducts?"
Trotz - "Yeah they'll look at it. If I'm wrong there will be something for Smitty probably, but I feel pretty confident that there won't be."
Felder - "Hornqvist seems to have gotten the message from his scratch the other night."
Trotz - "Yeah. Patric, sometimes when you get a little comfortable your game falls off and sometimes you need a little reminder of what makes you a real good asset to the hockey club and he got the message I'm sure. It was a nice play, a nice goal with that pass from Arny and it was a real well executed play."
Final Thoughts:
This was honestly one of the better games I've seen the Preds play. Sure, when they blow out a team it's considered a good game, but tonight was a nice complete effort. Solid goaltending and defense. The forwards played well in both ends. Nice special teams work. I think that Vancouver really tested the Preds in many facets of the game and Nashville withstood it. Just a solid performance from most of the Nashville players.
The Predators next game is this Thursday night, right back here in the Center currently known as the Sommet. The Columbus Blue Jackets will be back in town for a 7 pm faceoff. The Jackets have been reeling a bit as of late so expect a full force effort from them. We'll see you at the rink that night.
Till then, take care.
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