The people of Nashville appeared to want out of their homes tonight as they filled the Sommet Center to its' full capacity of 17,113. Without much of an effort offensively until the 3rd period, the Predators never caught back up to the Anaheim Ducks who fly away with a 3-2 win.
Felder’s FRUSTRATED Five:
1. Slow Start - We've all seen it this season. The 1st period of effort of the Preds is usually a sign of things to come. Tonight, it was a bad sign. Not a lot of offensive scoring chances and not a lot of zip in the Nashville skates. I think Predators defenseman Kevin Klein summed it up best so go to the QUOTES section for that.
2. Failure To Slow Down The Ducks - There are some games in which you literally watch speed kill a team. For some reason, Anaheim was that much faster than Nashville tonight. Faster to pucks, faster passing, and ultimately faster to score. I think the Preds do possess the speed to keep up with Anaheim, but tonight you just have to give credit to where it is due and accept that the Ducks had more energy in the crucial 2nd period.
3. The Giveaway Game - When facing speed, you must possess the puck. I've touched on it so many times that there really is no reason to bore you with the same speech again. 14 total giveaways on the night. Marty Erat led the team with 4.
4. Shot Selection - Same story, different game. 18 attempts blocked (Anaheim really sacrificed the body) and 10 missed shots.
5. Bigger Nights Needed From Big Time Vets - This is one of those games where you expect a guy like Sullivan, Dumont, Erat, or Legwand to come out and lead the offense. Granted, Erat had a goal that Dumont assisted on, but that effort was not timely. With some of your spark plug guys missing (Toots and Smithers) and then your Captain down you have to get a better effort at the beginning of the game from those guys. Sully had just 1 SOG, while Dumont was officially credited with none. I like what I see from the younger guys, especially Hornqvist who led the team with 6 SOG, and can't help but think that if the vets get clicking, then this team would be tough to stop.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Jason Arnott, Francis Bouillon, and Joel Ward. Martin Erat did return from his injury. Jerred Smithson and Jordin Tootoo remain on IR. For Anaheim, Nick Boynton, Ryan Carter, and Evgeny Artyukhin were all scratched. Teemu Selanne returned from his injury. His last game before tonight was Dec. 3rd at Dallas. Joffrey Lupul remains on the Ducks IR list.
* 1ST PERIOD
* GOAL for ANAHEIM - 7:50 to go. A tipped goal for Teemu Selanne. Brett Festerling takes a shot from the corner to Rinne's right. Festerling had shed defenseman Shea Weber after a missed hit. Festerling tried a centering feed that ended up being a low stick side leg pad save. The rebound popped out to the top of the crease where Nokelainen fired the puck. Selanne's stick shaft caught a piece of the puck and tallied high glove side. That was Teemu's first goal since November 27th vs Chicago. Selanne (15)from Nokelainen (4) and Festerling (2). Ducks take a 1-0 lead on their fourth shot on goal.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 0 ANA: 1 Positives - Pretty tight defensively for Nashville. Leading SOG 7-5. Negatives - Couldn't clear away the rebound in the crease and paid the price. Anaheim won 54% of the faceoffs.
* 2ND PERIOD
* GOAL for ANAHEIM - 14:43 to go. What a passing clinic on this play. James Wisniewski makes a great play along the boards to keep the puck in. The puck finds Corey Perry on the outer edge of the slot to Rinne's glove side. Perry gets Peks to slide his direction and passes to Ryan Getzlaf on the back door. It doesn't end there. Rinne didn't quite cheat very far towards Perry and gets back to the stick side post with speed. Well, Getzlaf makes a great play and finds Matt Beleskey in the dead center of the slot just above the crease. The 21 year old then buries the puck in the empty glove-side half of the net and pots his 3rd goal in as many games. In Anaheim's previous two games Beleskey's goals were the game winners. Beleskey was a 4th round pick for the Ducks back in the 06 draft. This is his first full NHL season as he had played only 2 NHL games previous to the 09-10 season. Beleskey (3) from Getzlaf (30) and Perry (27). Anaheim now holds a 2-0 advantage.
* GOAL for ANAHEIM - 8:34 to go. Ben Guite tries to clear the puck out of the corner and Ryan Getzlaf brings the puck down and to his stick along the boards. A quick slap shot towards Rinne's stick side finds a way in with Beleskey screening Peks in the crease.This was Getzlaf's first goal since December 22nd at Colorado. This was his 3rd game back from an injury in which he missed four straight games. Getzlaf (11) unassisted. A commanding 3-0 lead for the Ducks now considering the play of Jonas Hiller thus far.
* 3:05 to go. Dan Hamhuis literally falls at his own blueline when he appeared to trip over his own feet trying to catch up to Corey Perry breaking in. Perry then has all day to go in one on one versus Pekka. Perry elected to test Rinne high glove and Peks made an incredible save as he jumped and gloved the puck down while falling towards his stick side. Just a wild save that must be seen.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 0 ANA: 3 Positives - Preds will start the 3rd with 1:57 of man advantage time. Still leading SOG, now 17-16. Nashville has won 53% of the faceoffs. Negatives - Some cracks in the D gave up quality scoring chances. 12 giveaways thus far.
* 3RD PERIOD
* POWER PLAY GOAL for NASHVILLE - 19:15 to go. Patric Hornqvist gets himself another goal on the PP. A one-timer from the top corner of the faceoff circle to Hiller's stick side sails past Jonas high stick side. Nice flat pass from Ryan Suter to allow full contact by Patric. This is the 3rd game in a row with a man advantage goal for Horny. That was also the 6th PP goal for Patric, which leads the team. Hornqvist (17) from Suter (19) and Sullivan (19). Anaheim's lead is now a little less with a 3-1 score.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 3:00 to go. J.P. Dumont shows the sold-out crowd just why he should shoot more. A nice flick of the wrist and the puck goes through traffic in front and in past Hiller on the glove side. Marty Erat was screening in front of Hiller in the crease and got a piece of the puck to earn himself a goal in his first game back. Some credit must go to Cal OReilly who made a nice little pass to Dumont set up the shot. Erat (15) from Dumont (21) and O'Reilly (2). The Ducks lead is now only 3-2.
* 1:17 to go and during a stoppage Rinne goes to the bench for the extra attacker.
2. Hiller - 25 saves on 27 shots against. Made some huge saves in the 2nd to keep Nashville off the board.
3. Beleskey - 1 goal, +2, 2 SOG, and 2 hits.
Goalie Grade:B+ – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. It was an up and down night for Peks. He made a few stellar saves, and let in one iffy goal. Hard to fault Rinne on the Selanne and Beleskey goals. He didn't have much of a chance on those. Overall, it will be interesting to see if this effort convinces Barry to continue riding the Peks train. Guess we'll see this time next week since the Preds next two games are back to back. Rinne finished the night with 18 saves on 21 shots against.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "Coming back from your injury how did you feel tonight?"
Martin Erat - "I felt a little strange the first two periods. It was moving really fast. After two periods it was a little bit better but I have to get going and play much better."
*
Felder - "Kevin, is it pretty safe to say that's a different looking team with guys like Selanne and Getzlaf back in the lineup as opposed to a week ago?"
Kevin Klein - "Definitely. Those guys have a lot of skill and they've got two really good lines. Those first two lines can definitely hurt you. I think we just didn't come to play in the first two periods and against a team like that you can't give them a three goal lead. We just didn't come out and play our game. We were two periods too late."
*
Felder - "Kleiner had said that he felt this was a game in which the effort was two periods too late. Do you feel like had you guys brought your 3rd period game for the full 60 it would have been a different outcome?"
Ryan Jones - "Yeah. Coach said it in the meetings, that we've done it a lot. I think he said that we've been scored on first in 7 or 8 games in a row. That's a horrible stat. We gotta find a way to show up right from the get go. There's no excuses, it's just bad on our part. We've got to pull it together and come up."
*
Felder - "Peks, it's pretty safe to say they are a different looking team with Selanne and Getzlaf back in the lineup."
Pekka Rinne - "Absolutely. Those guys are top players in this league. Tonight Getzlaf had a couple points and was a big factor for them. Same thing for Selanne, when he gets a few games under his belt he'll be back in the first two lines and even more effective. For sure those guys are top players and they probably missed them badly."
*
Felder - "Safe to say Anaheim is a different looking team with Getzlaf and Selanne back in."
Barry Trotz - "Yeah. Getzlaf is a stud of a centerman in this league. He can play it any way you want it, a high skill level, he can play a real physical game, he also has a lot of experience. He makes them go, especially up front. Teemu is the fastest 39- or 40-year-old in the world I think. He always plays well against us. They are a different team and I thought this gave them more balance, you couldn't key on one line. We didn't get going quick enough, we were a little too slow out of the blocks. It's a race and they got out of the box better than we did and in the end we got nosed out."
Felder - "Any update on Arny at this time?"
Trotz - "Talking to our staff he probably will miss the next 2 games. It's nothing major, it's just a minor thing that will take a couple of days."
Final Thoughts:
This was a game in which had the Preds shown up sooner they could have taken at least a point out of it. Anaheim clearly had more urgency in the 2nd period, and that Predator 2nd period nap cost them points in my opinion. I really felt this one could've easily been an OT game. Either way, credit to Anaheim and their recently returned stars for continuing to slowly bring the Ducks back into the Wild West picture.
The Predators next game is Monday night in Vancouver. The Preds start on a three game Western Canada roadie. The game against the Canucks will take place at 9:30 pm CST and can be seen on FS-TN.
Till the next time, take care and stay warm.
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