It may have been the fastest 60 minutes of regulation I've ever seen first hand, but it was certainly the longest shootout. 10 rounds in and finally the Phoenix Coyotes emerged the winners 1-0 over the Nashville Predators. 14,196 nervously watched at the Sommet Center as both goaltenders pitched a shutout, and then took things beyond OT.
Felder’s FICKLE Five:
1. Pass First, Ask Questions Later - That's the motto right? Well, it appears to be most times. Pretty passes are all well and good as long as they produce points as the end of the play. Tonight, a handful of Preds were guilty of passing up a great scoring chance. This has become an all too familiar sight during the 09-10 season and tonight it appeared to cost the Preds a point. Some traffic on net and then more shots on goal early in the game could've been a real difference maker.
2. An ImPEKKAble Night, Despite the OTL - Next to the Preds 64th point in the standing should be an asterisk. It would stand for the point that Pekka Rinne earned. He was stellar throughout the game, despite his first shootout loss on the year (3-1). Head to the Goalie Grade for a bit more.
3. Solving the Stick of Bryzgalov - It's interesting to me that the Preds knew before the shootout how active Phoenix goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov's stick would be. With that knowledge, you think they would've not been poke checked as many times as they were. Looking back at my notes I marked three of the first five Nashville shooters being stopped by the poke check at the top of the crease. All that said, give full credit to Bryz for using it while he could .
4. D Steps Up With Franson Injury - Preds D-man Cody Franson had just 1 shift of 36 seconds tonight before he left the game with an "upper body injury". Considering the speed and possession skills the Yotes forwards possess, it should be noted what a solid effort the D-corp did tonight. Increased minutes for all of course, but none more than the 28:37 that Shea Weber logged. Also, the D-men combined for 9 of 15 blocked shots. Lastly, as noted by Buddy Oakes of PredsOnTheGlass.com during an intermission, the D did a very solid job of clearing the crease promptly tonight.
5. Missed Shots - A total of 15 in this category tonight. Missed shots are missed opportunities and in as close a game as this was that speaks for itself.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratch was Wade Belak. For the Phoenix Coyotes, Anders Eriksson and Mikkel Boedker found themselves on the scratch list. Currently on IR for the Yotes is former Pred Scottie Upshall and Kurt Sauer.
* 1ST PERIOD
* There were only a couple of scoring chances per side. This one started with the expected goaltending so no score.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 0 PHX: 0Positives - Peks looks pretty stout in net so far. Negatives - Out shot 7-5. D-men have the majority of the giveaways for the Preds that period. That has to be cut out completely or it will cost a goal.
* 2ND PERIOD
* This game does not lack pace, but it does lack goal scoring. The Coyotes have missed out on some glorious chances, while Pekka Rinne has stopped a couple of those as well.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 0 PHX: 0Positives - Rinne keeping the Preds in this game that period. Winning 59% of the faceoffs. Negatives - Out shot 16-11 so far this game. Preds just aren't generating the traffic in front of Bryzgalov needed to put one past him.
* 3RD PERIOD
* 7:56 to go. Hit of the night goes to Paul Bissonnette for rocking the world of Cal O'Reilly. The question will come of whether or not he left his feet, but at the time of the hit I felt it was a clean hit. I'll have to give it another look when they show it on NHL On the Fly later.
* TO OT WE GO - After 60 minutes, 24 Phoenix and 22 Nashville shots on goal, we still have no winner and no goals. Phoenix has gone 7-3 in OT games this year, while the Predators have gone 10-5. Both solid records on the line here.
* TO THE SHOOTOUT WE GO - Bryzgalov is 3-3 in the shootout this year while Pekka is putting his shootout perfection on the line. He's 3-0 this year.
* I normally go through all the saves and goals, but this thing went 10 rounds, which is a franchise record. Here is the gist of it though, Bryzgalov uses the poke check very effectively in a shootout. Legwand kept the Preds alive by scoring at the end of the 3rd round. Adrian Aucoin was a patient D-man and got the puck high glove with Rinne in the butterfly. Trotz sent Shea Web out to keep the game going but the Beast missed the net and the Yotes skated away the victor.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 0 PHX - 1.
My Three Stars:
1. Bryzgalov - 25 saves on 25 shots against. Turned away 9 of the 10 Preds shootout attempts.
2. Rinne - 26 saves on 26 shots against. Stopped 8 of 10 shootout attempts.
3. Aucoin - Game winning shootout goal, 3 SOG, 2 hits, and 1 blocked shot.
Goalie Grade:A+ – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. Technically, it was an ImPEKKAble night as Rinne does earn his 3rd shutout of the season and 10th SO in his NHL career. Honestly, were it not for his amazing effort in the 2nd period this game would've ended after 60 minutes. Instead, Peks returned to form and stopped all 26 shots on goal. You have to wonder if the prospects of starting on a routine basis have Peks mentally back where he needs to be.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "I know the coaches always prep you guys before games on the shootout. Did you guys know ahead of time how often Bryzgalov implements that poke check at the top of the crease?"
Joel Ward - "Yeah. It was just one of those days where he had our number. We had chances to end it and we failed to capitalize. Again, hats off to them and their goaltender, he played well."
*
Felder - "Considering you are so smiler to Chara as far as the slap shot goes, any thoughts of doing what he has done in a shootout before, just going out there and booming it?"
Shea Weber - "(laughs) I don't know if I'll ever get in the shootout again after that so we'll just have to see. Yeah, I've thought about it before but it's kind of tough to work on in practice because it's not really fair to our goalies, but yeah, we'll see if that opportunity ever comes."
*
Felder - "This was the first shootout loss for you this year. When you get to those 6th, 7th, 8th rounds, does it get a little taxing on the mind trying to figure out what each shooter is going to do?"
Pekka Rinne - "Yeah. It gets a little bit like practice where you face 20 shootout shots and you just try to do your best but it's a tough thing to know what they are going to do. You just read and react and you have to know when it is their D-men and stuff like that. Probably 80% of the time they are going to shoot the puck (first) so you just try to stay patient. He had a good shot, Aucoin, it went off the post and in. I was reading him a little higher and it just went under my glove."
Felder - "Is this one of the longer shootout you've ever been in?"
Rinne - "Yeah. We had a few long ones in Milwaukee. But this was… actually, I had one long one in the minors against Elly (teammate Dan Ellis) that was probably like 13 or 14 rounds. It was fun but we ended up losing the game. I think the score was 2-1 after 14 shooters or something like that."
Felder - "Elly didn't remind you of this after the game did he?"
Rinne - " (laughs) No, actually he didn't. I don't even know if he remembers that."
*
Felder - "Tootoo has had a few games under his belt now. Is he progressing back to where you want him at?"
Barry Trotz - "Slowly yeah. I thought Toots first couple games there wasn't much happening. He's slowly getting back there, and same with Marcel but he came back pretty well. We are going to need everybody. Every night is going to be a tough tough game. There is so much at stake and everyone is clawing for every point you can get. As I said, you look at the standings and you just roll your eyes."
Final Thoughts:
You have to love watching the rare even of two goaltender's getting a shutout in the same game. It's also always good to get at least one point out of a game, so Pred fans can thank Pekka for that one. Beyond that, the game was… well, mediocre. Sure, the goaltending was fantastic, but the Preds didn't exactly put forth a stellar offensive effort until the 3rd period. Should we chalk it up to yet another slow start? I'm led to believe no in this case. I put more blame on the pass first mentality than anything. Beyond that, let's not forget that Phoenix is a really quality team. Prucha, Lepisto, Hanzal, and Mueller all really stood out to me in this one. Their forwards had sustained pressure, their D didn't allow much traffic in front of Bryzgalov, and then you have stellar goaltending which tonight, just could not be beat. A very solid road game from Phoenix and you can see just why they are in the position they are in the Western Conference.
The Predators next game is Thursday night vs the Colorado Avalanche. That should be quite the game considering the goaltending expected from both hockey clubs. Normal faceoff of 7 pm here at the Sommet Center. Should be a lovely evening of hockey so don't miss it.
Till the next time, take care friends.
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