The collective 16,585 at the Bridgestone Arena were on their feet for the big finish to the only Flyers v Preds matchup this season. As earlier in the game, Pekka Rinne stole the show and shut the door to secure a 4-3 win for the Nashville Predators over the Philadelphia Flyers.
Felder’s FICKLE Five:
1. An ImPEKKAble Performance - I don't even care that he got scored on 3 times. Without the effort that Pekka Rinne put out there are no points in the Preds bank after this one. The Flyers came with all sorts of offensive pressure all game long and Rinne stymied them just enough for his club. Head down to the Goalie Grade for a bit more.
2. Timing - You can't take bad penalties late in the 3rd period. No matter what the officiating has or hasn't done you can't let yourself get caught up in the moment. Dan Hamhuis had a terrible delay of game penalty and it gave the Flyers a point essentially. Don't get me wrong, full marks go to Philly for taking advantage where given, but that man advantage should have never occurred if Hammer just kept his wits about him. The sad part is it was a pretty solid night for Dan before that. You hate to pick on a guy but in this case it was a play that must be given attention.
3. Depth Scoring - David Boclair brought up a good point in his post-game questions. There was depth scoring tonight and it was a big reason the Preds have won not only tonight but during their road trip as well. Tonight you had Sullivan, Erat, and Smithson with goals. All three had their own lines. That kind of production always leads to solid results.
4. 20 v 60 - If there is one thing Pred fans are tired of with home games it has to be the minutes of solid hockey the home team is putting forth. Tonight it could be argued that the Preds had 20 solid minutes. The rest of those minutes saw Philly dominate offensively and physically. It's been preached over and over about putting forth a full 60 minutes, but for some reason that concept has been a tough one to put on ice for this club.
5. Takeaways - Imagine my surprise when I saw that the Preds had a whopping 21 takeaways in this game. That's impressive considering the skill on the Flyer side of things. Four Preds had 3 takeaways and they were Hamhuis, Weber, Smithson, and Ward. Also, I have to find a spot to mention that Joel Ward was my unsung hero of the game. He had 5 blocked shots plus the shot that gave Smithers the rebound to put away.
Other Notes:
* Tonight’s scratches were Wade Belak, Denis Grebeshkov, and Cal O'Reilly. For Philly, the scratches were Oskars Bartulis, Riley Cote, and Ville Leino. Ray Emery is the only Flyer listed on their injured reserve list.
* 1ST PERIOD
* GOAL for PHILADELPHIA - 18:39 to go. The first shift into the Preds end and the Flyers capitalize. The play started with a stellar leg pad save to stop a Danny Briere goal low stick side. Briere regathered the puck and found Jeff Carter heading into the heart of the slot. Carter quickly hammered the puck home high glove side as former Pred Scott Hartnell screened in front while battling with Kevin Klein in the crease. The 2nd shot on goal is the first tally of the night for Philadelphia. Carter (33) from Briere (21) and Hartnell (27). Flyers take an early 1-0 lead.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 15:27 to go. Digging down in front pays off for Steve Sullivan as he deposits a puck that was sitting on the red line under Flyers goaltender (and briefly a former Pred as well) Michael Leighton. Patric Hornqvist put the puck low and under Leighton on the stick side and as Sullivan wheeled around behind the net he spotted the puck and quickly got his stick under Leighton for the easy sweep in. Sullivan (14) from Hornqvist (16) and Marcel Goc (13). Preds have tied this game up at 1.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 12:56 to go. Martin Erat makes a quick decision at the top of the crease after getting a sweet feed from the captain Jason Arnott. Arny put a backhanded pass from the faceoff dot to Leighton's stick side right to Erat's tape. Also it should be noted this play started with a really tough keep in by Dan Hamhuis who found a way to pass the puck to Arny. A quick reaction and putting the puck glove side left Leighton waving at this one as it sailed in. Erat (20) from Arnott (25) and Hamhuis (18). Preds take the lead 2-1.
* 11:10 to go and Jordin Tootoo finally drops the gloves in a game again. He squares off with a classic scrapper, Ian Laperriere. When I saw these two bout the joust I had some high hopes for this one. I guess I forgot to factor the age in for Lappy a bit. Toots had his way in this one thanks to locking down Lappy's arm with a jersey tie up. A crafty maneuver that helped Jordin win the fight. Oh, and Tootoo celebrated this one a bit as well as he put his arms up in the air with one finger pointing to the sky on each hand. Give Toots the fight win on this one.
* 10:15 to go. During this TV timeout the Flyers elected to pull Leighton not for performance reasons, but due to a possible injury. Sullivan got slightly entangled with the Flyer netminder as Leighton outstretched awkwardly to make a save a ways out of the net. It looked like his leg may have gotten caught on Sully's skate as he tried to move back to the goal and that caused a sort of trip if you will. Brian Boucher came into the net after the Flyers trainer looked over Leighton.
* GOAL for NASHVILLE - 9:55 to go. Preds waste no time to get a shot and goal in on Boucher. Jerred Smithson doing his usual down low dirty work collects a rebound and backhands it in low stick side with a diving effort. The shot from the slot came from Joel Ward who handcuffed the freshly put in goaltender. Hard work paying off for Smithers once again who now has had a career year in goals with 9 and counting. Smithson (9) from Ward (19) and David Legwand (26). My how quickly the tides and momentum shifted as the Preds now hold a 3-1 lead.
* END OF THE 1ST PERIOD – NSH: 3 PHI: 1 Positives - Nashville didn't let the first goal rattle them at all and responded quickly. Rinne has been brilliant since the first Philly tally. Negatives - Nashville was outshot 17-9 that period. Flyers winning 60% of faceoffs. Preds getting worked over physically at times.
* 2ND PERIOD
* 6:43 to go and the Preds finally register a 2nd shot on goal in the 2nd period. Leave it to a young guy like Colin Wilson to finally fling some rubber at the Flyers goalie. Just not a smart idea against a team like Philly that has so many weapons. Preds sitting back will get them in trouble if they continue. The Flyers D is playing well, but Nashville has been pretty guilty of not pulling the trigger against Boucher.
* END OF THE 2ND PERIOD – NSH: 3 PHI: 1 Positives - Peks continued to stop everything thrown his way. Negatives - Philly outshot the Preds 12-6 that period. Flyers maintain a 60% faceoff winning percentage. Preds with 0 hits that period compared to the Flyers 8.
* 3RD PERIOD
* GOAL for PHILADELPHIA - 8:46 to go. Digging in front for a rebound Simon Gagne gets his stick to it before Shea Weber can in the crease. A nice centering feed towards the crease by Matt Carle caused the havoc in front as players were crashing in behind Pekka Rinne. The controversy for this goal will be if the shift should have even occurred since Jason Arnott got tripped up at his own blueline and no call was made. Very questionable non-call there that had the Preds players and of course fans giving the refs an earful. Gagne (14) from Briere (22) and Carle (26). Flyers chip into the lead that now reads 3-2 in favor of Nashville.
* 7:17 to go. Pekka Rinne was flopping and flailing to recover after making a diving stop on Flyers player posted on the back door stick side. Peks made the stop and was scrambling to get back in position. In the midst of all this Dan Hamhuis gets rightfully called for a delay of game as he pushes his own net off the moorings. Just a brutal and boneheaded penalty to take there. If Philly scores here, don't think about the Arnott missed penalty. You can't dislodge your own net this late in a game with the momentum clearly swinging the other way.
* POWERPLAY GOAL for PHILADELPHIA - 5:42 to go. Patience again pays off for Philly as this time it's Chris Pronger finding the twine as he puts a wrister high stick-side and just over the shoulder of Rinne. Prongs had slid into the middle of the slot right in between the edges of the faceoff circles and waited for a perfect pass from Mike Richards before tying this game up. Pronger (10) from Richards (29) and former Preds captain Kimmo Timonen (31). We are knotted up at 3 boys and girls.
* TO OT WE GO
* This OT was probably most memorable for Scott Hartnell and his shenanigans. Just borderline throughout which isn't entirely surprising, but still interesting to see as his old teammate Dan Hamhuis almost dropped gloves with him as the OT buzzer sounded.
* TO THE SHOOTOUT WE GO
* Pekka stole the show again on this one by stoning all Philly shooters. He even saved his best for the last shooter, Richards, in which he made a toe save to win the game. Thus, in the shootout frame he was the ImPEKKAble Rinne once again.
* FINAL SCORE – NSH - 4 PHI - 3.
My Three Stars:
1. Pekka Rinne - 42 saves on 45 shots against. Stopped all 3 shootout attempts.
2. Danny Briere - 2 assists, +1, 5 shots on goal, 1 hit, and 1 takeaway.
3. Jef Carter - 1 goal, 11 shots on goal, won 11 of 21 faceoffs taken.
Goalie Grade:A- – The starting goaltender tonight was Pekka Rinne. If you want the true reason why the Predators even got 2 points out of this game then you can look to none other than #35. A stellar effort by Peks was truly needed and he kept things under control for the entire game. You look at the goals against and it's hard to lay much fault on any of them. The only reason I didn't give a pure A was the Carter goal, but then again, not an easy one to stop no matter how you slice it. 42 stops, 45 if you count the shootout, and THE reason the Preds have points from this effort.
Quotes:
Brandon Felder - "Tonight was special for you since you got to play against your friend James Van Riemsdyk."
Colin Wilson - "It was really exciting. We've been playing either with or against each other for the last five years so I think it was really special to finally get our first NHL game against each other. Me and him were both really excited."
Felder - "Any plans to go out and chat about this one after because I'm sure you guys have talked about this in the past coming up thru the ranks."
Wilson - "Oh I'm sure we'll be talking after this game and maybe go get a bite to eat. It'll be great to see him. It was really exciting tonight though because there are a bunch of our friends watching because they knew how good of friends we are and that this would be a good one to watch."
*
Felder - "When things start deteriorating in that final 20 minutes how hard is to refocus and stop thinking about the things that have happened that may have swung the momentum?"
Pekka Rinne - "It's tough. When you are coming back if you are losing the game by a couple of goals it's easier because you have nothing to lose. You just keep pressing, keep going, you get a few bounces and maybe it's a tight game and you've got the momentum. That's what happened tonight. Even though they were getting more scoring chances we played pretty well. That 2nd goal, that kind of bounce where it hits someones skate, goes back door, and they knocked it in. The tying goal, just a good play by them on the power play. So it's really tough. It's really challenging mentally but tonight I think we managed pretty well."
Felder - "On the last shootout attempt by Richards, is it one of those instances where you are just really glad you are a tall guy?"
Rinne - "(laughs) Yeah. I kinda knew when I saw him coming and he faked his backhand, I knew right away that he was slowing his speed that I knew he wasn't coming back. I was just happy that I was able to keep my skate against the post."
Felder - "To me it looked like one of those moves that if done against a medium height goalie he's not going to be able to get the leg pads back, but obviously you're a taller guy so that worked out for you."
Rinne - "Yeah. It's a pretty good move when you do it like that. A lot of times when it is the deciding shooter they shoot when they feel that pressure and feel that they have to score. It's all about mind games. You try to read what he's thinking and he's probably trying to read what I'm thinking. A lot of times you just have to stay patient and tonight it worked."
*
Felder - "Jason, you guys had a pretty solid 40 minutes and then in the last 20 things suddenly start to swing to their momentum. How hard is it to keep the guys focused on what's ahead as opposed to what's happened in the past?"
Jason Arnott - "It's hard. There's no question that when you are battling for your life out there and battling for the playoffs it can get real frustrating. But you know, that's part of the game. You got to put it behind you and go out for the next faceoff. We have the guys in here that can do that. Put frustrating things behind us and move forward knowing that we were in the hockey game and we deserved to win that one and that's kind the way it ended up."
Felder - "Is that the kind of moment where Barry has to say something or you have to say something even?
Arnott - "Both of us kinda say something I think just by the way we reacted after that 3rd goal. It is frustrating the way it happened but those things happen in hockey and you just gotta move forward. The guys reacted real well to that, especially at home. We haven't reacted overly well at home as of late when we get down or tie the game. I got to hand it to the guys. They battled hard tonight and Peks stole the show."
*
Felder - "When things that are beyond your control, like non-calls, start swinging the momentum, how hard is it to keep focus on the bench?"
Trotz - "Well, sometimes the players will look at me and I'm not screaming and yelling and losing control. If I do that then I think they will do that and you have to focus on the moment. Hopefully if there's a mistake that was mod on the ice, be it our mistake, their mistake, or a referee mistake, you've got to fight though that because that's going to happen. A puck bouncing funny and hitting a linesman and you could lose your composure. There were a couple instances, their 2nd and 3rd goal, we didn't get the call and they come down and score. I thought before that we were slowly killing their will, then they come down and score and the momentum changes. We took a penalty right away and then Leggy I thought drew a penalty, we didn't get the call, and they score on the powerplay. You think things may unravel again but they kept it together, we were calm, and you've got to fight through the adversity. No matter what's thrown at you you just have to fight thru it and get it done."
Final Thoughts:
That was not what you can call "winning hockey" from the Preds, but they did manage to get the job done. Barely. Lately we've seen home games like this end with an L in the Nashville column, but this time the guys found a way to put the past where it belonged and focus on the task at hand. Was it ugly? Yeah, at times it was very ugly, such as the last ten minutes of the 1st period combined with the first ten of the 2nd period. That was very ugly hockey from Nashville. That said, they pulled through and may gain some confidence from this.
The Predators next game is Thursday night at 7 pm CST. It'll be right back here in the Bridgestone Arena vs the Minnesota Wild. This is a key game to put away those behind you and get 2 points that you need. I will be unable to attend or cover this game due to work obligations so enjoy it without me. That said, I do have a post upcoming that deals with the future of this column so please don't miss that.
Till next time, take care.
Questions, comments, and criticisms can be sent to [email protected] if you wish to contact me personally.
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