Friday, November 28, 2008

Predators Dispatch the Thrashers, Return Home to Face the Wild


The Nashville Predators beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 in overtime at Phillips arena on Friday night. Ryan Suter’s wrister at 1:44 in the overtime period slid past Johan Hedberg for the victory. Pekka Rinne and Shea Weber assisted on the play. It was the first OT assist ever by a Predator goalie and the first in the league this year.

The game was well played on both ends by the Predators. The Preds held three one goal leads scoring first in each period and followed by a Thrasher goal each time, the final one by Ilya Kovalchuk at 10:26 in the third, which set up the overtime period.

There were two very odd goals of note in the game, one for each team. With the Preds ahead late in the first period, Dan Hamhuis tried to pass the puck from behind the Preds net and hit the stick of Todd White and the puck ricocheted into the Preds goal by a stunned Pekka Rinne to tie the game 1-1. Early in the second period, Scoty Nichol blasted a slap shot past Johan Hedberg and it went through the netting in the Thrasher goal and play continued for several seconds. Much to the disgust of the Atlanta crowd when play was stopped, the replay clearly showed the goal going through the netting leaving black marks on the net in its wake.

The other Predator goals were by Dan Hamhuis and Jason Arnott in the first and third periods respectively. Assists on the evening were well spread out. In addition to Rinne and Weber, Hamuhis and Nichol had assists in route to two point nights for each. Fiddler, Smithson and Tootoo also added helpers.

Pekka Rinne got the win as he started for the first time since his debacle in Calgary three weeks ago. He played well enough to win but looked a bit rusty. A few times he had trouble clearing the puck out of the zone, especially on the Thrashers third goal where his misplay lead directly to the score. Rinne stopped 22 of 25 for the game.

The Predator power play remained powerless going 0 of 3 while the penalty kill extended it streak to twenty straight success stories by killing 4 of 4. The Predators first goal by Dan Hamhuis was in a short-handed situation, the Predators fifth of the season.

The Predators again excelled in the faceoff circle winning 38 and losing 27 for a 58% success rate. The newest Predator, Wade Belak skated nine shifts for a total of 6:36 in ice time. He registered two hits and blocked a shot. I would expect that he will hook up with the Wild’s Derek Boogaard for a little two step action tomorrow night in Music City to show the home crowd what he is capable of doing.

Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild is the first half of a two game set with the Wild in what is an oddity in the NHL schedule. The Preds and Wild will hook up again in Nashville next Saturday too. In the meantime the Wild will return home for three games. I can’t say that I have seen that back to back home Saturday action recently.

Jones – Hornqvist Update – David Poile announced yesterday that Ryan Jones and Patrik Honqvist would remain in Milwaukee for Friday and Saturday’s games against Houston. On Friday night in the Admirals 2-1 win against the Areos, Ryan Jones scored the overtime game winning goal to seal the deal. It was his second goal in four games in the AHL. Patrich Hornqvist was –1 with two shots.

Predators Third Jersey ??? – With almost every other NHL team rolling out a new third jersey design including the Blues wearing theirs on our home ice Tuesday night, where is the Predators new sweater? Even in a bad economy I can’t imagine that a bunch wouldn’t find their way under the tree in Middle Tennessee if they were available. So, where are they? Hopefully, they wont be mustard colored when they finally are revealed!

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Nashville Predators beat the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3 in overtime at Phillips arena on Friday night. Ryan Suter’s wrister at 1:44 in the overtime period slid past Johan Hedberg for the victory. Pekka Rinne and Shea Weber assisted on the play. It was the first OT assist ever by a Predator goalie and the first in the league this year.


The game was well played on both ends by the Predators. The Preds held three one goal leads scoring first in each period and followed by a Thrasher goal each time, the final one by Ilya Kovalchuk at 10:26 in the third, which set up the overtime period.


There were two very odd goals of note in the game, one for each team. With the Preds ahead late in the first period, Dan Hamhuis tried to pass the puck from behind the Preds net and hit the stick of Todd White and the puck ricocheted into the Preds goal by a stunned Pekka Rinne to tie the game 1-1. Early in the second period, Scoty Nichol blasted a slap shot past Johan Hedberg and it went through the netting in the Thrasher goal and play continued for several seconds. Much to the disgust of the Atlanta crowd when play was stopped, the replay clearly showed the goal going through the netting leaving black marks on the net in its wake.


The other Predator goals were by Dan Hamhuis and Jason Arnott in the first and third periods respectively. Assists on the evening were well spread out. In addition to Rinne and Weber, Hamuhis and Nichol had assists in route to two point nights for each. Fiddler, Smithson and Tootoo also added helpers.


Pekka Rinne got the win as he started for the first time since his debacle in Calgary three weeks ago. He played well enough to win but looked a bit rusty. A few times he had trouble clearing the puck out of the zone, especially on the Thrashers third goal where his misplay lead directly to the score. Rinne stopped 22 of 25 for the game.


The Predator power play remained powerless going 0 of 3 while the penalty kill extended it streak to twenty straight success stories by killing 4 of 4. The Predators first goal by Dan Hamhuis was in a short-handed situation, the Predators fifth of the season.


The Predators again excelled in the faceoff circle winning 38 and losing 27 for a 58% success rate. The newest Predator, Wade Belak skated nine shifts for a total of 6:36 in ice time. He registered two hits and blocked a shot. I would expect that he will hook up with the Wild’s Derek Boogaard for a little two step action tomorrow night in Music City to show the home crowd what he is capable of doing.


Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild is the first half of a two game set with the Wild in what is an oddity in the NHL schedule. The Preds and Wild will hook up again in Nashville next Saturday too. In the meantime the Wild will return home for three games. I can’t say that I have seen that back to back home Saturday action recently.


Jones – Hornqvist Update – David Poile announced yesterday that Ryan Jones and Patrik Honqvist would remain in Milwaukee for Friday and Saturday’s games against Houston. On Friday night in the Admirals 2-1 win against the Areos, Ryan Jones scored the overtime game winning goal to seal the deal. It was his second goal in four games in the AHL. Patrich Hornqvist was –1 with two shots.


Predators Third Jersey ??? – With almost every other NHL team rolling out a new third jersey design including the Blues wearing theirs on our home ice Tuesday night, where is the Predators new sweater? Even in a bad economy I can’t imagine that a bunch wouldn’t find their way under the tree in Middle Tennessee if they were available. So, where are they? Hopefully, they wont be mustard colored when they finally are revealed!


Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass



No comments:

 

Minibox 3 Column Blogger Template by James William at 2600 Degrees