Sunday, March 18, 2012

Predators salvage road trip with 3-1 comeback win over Anaheim

After having a marginal compete level for the first two periods on Sunday night at the Honda Center, the Nashville Predators roared back with three goals in the final period to take home a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks and gain a much needed two points.

With the win, the Predators moved to move to 92 points and technically moved past Detroit into fourth place in the Western Conference by virtue of having one more non-shootout win than the Red Wings.

Anders Lindback broke his personal six game losing streak, stopping 30 of 31 Anaheim shots. Jonas Hiller gave up two Predator goals on 26 shots.

Anaheim's lone goal came early in the contest from Devante Smith-Pelly. The Predators' third period scoring came from Patric Hornqvist, Mike Fisher, and an empty netter from David Legwand.

The Predators ended their final west coast swing with a 2-1-1 record, picking up five of a possible eight points. They will face Edmonton at the Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday, before heading to Pittsburg for a game against the leagues hottest team on Thursday.

Make the jump for more detail from the game.


At The Puck Drop...

In Goal: Anders Lindback (2-7-0, 2.76, .896) versus Jonas Hiller (27-26-11, 2.54, .911).

Scratches: Nashville - Brian McGrattan, Paul Gaustad, Colin Wilson, Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi and Jack MacLellan. Anaheim - George Parros, Toni Lydman, and Matt Belesky.

First Period...

The first scoring chance of the game came 1:39 into the game when Lubomir Visnovsky hit the post.

The Predators had the game's first power play at 6:10 when Bobby Ryan was called for high-sticking Frankie Bouillon. The Ducks were the ones that cashed in with a short-handed goal by Smith-Pelly off of a nice feed from Ryan Getzlaf.

The Preds did not have a shot on net until 10:45 when Patric Hornqvist had a breakaway on Hiller who stopped the puck.

Both teams exchanged chances for the remainder of the period and the Predators appeared to be gaining traction as the period ended.

1st Period       Goals            Shots          Corsi            PIMs         Faceoffs  
Predators        0        8        17       0-0:00  9-9  50%
Ducks           1        9        20       1-2:00  9-9  50%

Second Period...

The Ducks went on the man advantage 33 seconds in to the middle stanza when Marty Erat was shoved into Hiller and was called for goalie interference. The Ducks got a single shot on the man advantage.

Through the middle of the period, the Preds continued to have trouble generating much offense and were out shot 12-4 through the 11 minute mark.

Sergei Kostitsyn headed for the dressing room at 6:01 when he was struck with a puck. He returned without missing a shift.

At 16:04, Bobby Ryan was called for tripping Bouillon to put Nashville back on the man-advantage. The Predators got a shot but did not score.

2nd Period       Goals            Shots          Corsi            PIMs         Faceoffs  
Predators        0        8        12       1-2:00 8-14  36%
Ducks             0       13        23       1-2:00 14-8  64%

Third Period...

The Predators tied the game 1-1 when Hornqvist roofed a shot on a feed from David Legwand for his 23 rd goal of the season. Gabriel Bourque received the secondary assist.

After a great chance by Corey Perry at 10:16 the Predators took the puck back to the Ducks defensive zone and Marty Erat fed Ryan Suter who missed a shot and Fisher puct the puck past Hiller to give Nashville a 2-1 lead.

Lindback made the save of the game at 14:21 when Kyle Palmieri has a point blank shot from the front of the net after a Predator defensive breakdown.

Nick Spaling drew an interference call on a breakaway when Visnovsky pulled him down as he headed for the Ducks net. There could have been a penalty shot called but none was considered. The Predators did not get a man advantage shot but allowed the Ducks to have two short-handed chances.

Ryan was called for his third penalty of the night when he hooked Erat with 45 seconds remaining. With 16.5 seconds remaining, Legwand picked up one of his patented empty net goals to seal the 3-1 victory. Sergei Kostitsyn and Kevin Klein picked up assists.

Perry was given a game misconduct with 17 seconds left after the Predators' empty netter.

3rd  Period       Goals            Shots          Corsi            PIMs         Faceoffs  
Predators        3        11        21       0-0:00 11-12 48%
Ducks    
        0          9        11       2-4:00 12-11 52%

Final...

Final     Goals            Shots          Corsi            PIMs         Faceoffs  
Predators            3        27        50       1-2:00 28-35  44%
Ducks           1        31        54       5-18:00 35-28  56%

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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