Predators Snuff the Flames 4-2

The Nashville Predators were looking to end their three game losing streak and their five game on a positive note. They needed a complete game in all zones and to especially regain confidence in their ability to score.

The visiting Calgary Flames were just what the doctor ordered.

The Predators downed the Flames 4-2 at Bridgestone Arena, employing their magical formula of winning most of their games when they score first. The Predators are 17-2-4 when scoring the first goal.

That first goal came courtesy of Shea Weber, who blew a puck past Flames netminder Karri Ramo at 15:52 of the first period and with the Predators on the power play.

The Flames tied the game at 18:56 of the first period as Jiri Hudler took a backhand that Predator goaltender Carter Hutton deflected with his pad. The puck came to Lee Stempniak in the slot and he buried a shot into the open net.

After a second period that was scoreless, both teams found the net in the third period.

Just 55 seconds into the third period, Ryan Ellis carried the puck into the offensive zone. He showed great patience to wait for an open shooting lane that appeared as no Calgary player challenged the puck. Once Ellis had that lane, he blasted a slap shot past Ramo for a 2-1 lead.

The Predators tallied again on the power play as Seth Jones took a shot from the blue line that bounced around in the traffic in front of the net. Ramo could not locate the puck but Craig Smith could. He drove the net and beat Ramo glove side to give the Predators a 3-1 lead at 2:40 of the third period.

Viktor Stalberg got his 6th goal of the season as he went to the front of the net and re-directed a  Ryan Ellis slap shot to make it 4-1 at 10:52.

The Flames would cut the deficit to 4-2 at 13:07 when Mikael Backlund  came off the wall and beat Hutton with a wrist shot.

The Predators would shut down the Flames for the rest of the period, including the final two minutes with Ramo pulled for an extra attacker and snapped their losing streak with a much needed 4-2 win.

Some observations:

• The Predators power play had been 1 for 13 in their previous four games. tonight, they were 2 for 5 (the fifth was a 55 second man advantage at the end of the game). They showed much better movement without the puck to set up shots and managed the puck well. Weber's goal was an absolute bomb that came as he worked his way open to the left of Ramo. Smith's goal came from basic Predators hockey: shoot the puck and get traffic to the net. On that play, Nick Spaling was creating havoc in front to give Smith a chance to control the puck and get the shot.

• The Predators power play is connecting at 21% after tonight's game, good for 7th in the NHL.

• Weber's goal tonight gives him 11 for the year, best among NHL defensemen.

• Craig Smith's goal was his 14th of the season and leads the team.

• David Legwand picked up three assists tonight. Obviously, Legwand read my blog chastising him for being disinterested in the Minnesota game and it lit a fire under him.

• Carter Hutton had a solid game and made some good saves. He stopped 22 of 24 shots and picked up his first win since December 14.

• Seth Jones picked up an assist on the Predators second power play. With that point, he is tied for second in points for rookie defensemen with Eric Gelinas of New Jersey with 18 points..

• Ryan Ellis had a strong game, picking up a goal and an assist and was a +2 for the game.

This was a solid win for the Predators as they were sound in all phases of the game.

The challenge for this team will be to play consistently and bring this effort every night.

My three stars:

1. Ryan Ellis

2. Shea Weber

3. David Legwand

Predators Defeat the Desert Dogs 5-2

The Nashville Predators had dropped three games in a row in Jobing.com Arena and had been vexed by the Phoenix Coyotes and their stellar netminder Ilya Bryzgalov. Tonight, they reversed their fortunes with a 5-2 win, allowing them to leapfrog over the Coyotes in the Western Conference standings by a point.

The game opened with the Coyotes flying and pushing the Predators back on their heels and deep into their defensive zone. The tenor of this game at the outset did not look good for the Predators, as early on the Coyotes looked dominant.

A funny thing happened on the way to the apparent dominance of the Coyotes. The Predators scored two goals in just 12 seconds to rock the Coyotes.

J.P. Dumont opened the scoring for the Predators at 8:16 of the first period as he banged home a shot off a pass from Chris Mueller, who worked hard in the corner to dig the puck out. The line of Mueller, Dumont, and Matt Halischuk has shown amazing chemistry and energy in the short time that they have been on the ice together.

On the ensuing face off the puck went deep into the Coyotes zone. Patric Hornqvist pursued the puck deep and centered a pass to the front of the net. The puck caromed off a Coyote defenders skate and back to Hornqvist, who was driving to the front of the net. With Bryzgalov out of position, Hornqvist gathered in the puck and flipped a backhand shot into an open net.

Two goals in 12 seconds and all the momentum was with the Predators.

Momentum, fickle as she often is, quickly switched back to the Coyotes.

The first Coyote goal can only be charitably characterized as a fluke. With the puck deep in the Predators zone and the puck loose at the side of the net, defenseman Shane O'Brien tried to slide the puck back to Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne. Unfortunately, he slid the puck between Rinne and the post. Radim Vrbata  got credit for the goal as he was the last Coyote player to touch the puck. Rinne was visibly upset after the goal, which was strange indeed.

Phoenix would tie the game at 14:01 of the first on a goal by Lee Stempniak. Stempniak was cruising in front of the net and deflected a pass from Adrian Aucoin past Rinne.

Phoenix outshot the Predators 16-7 in the wild first period. Great saves by Rinne on several plays kept the Coyotes from taking the lead. As strange as this game had been in the first period, one could only imagine what the remaining 40 minutes would hold for these teams.

What it would hold for the Predators in the second period was an offensive outburst from J.P. Dumont. The Dumont, Halischuk, Mueller line would wreak havoc on the Coyotes in the second period. Dumont would add his second goal of the contest at 11:25 of the second as he banged home a rebound from close in off a shot by Joel Ward.

Dumont's line was strong throughout the second period, and he would strike for his third goal of the contest at 17:35 as he was on the off side and knocked home a rebound of a Matt Halishcuk shot. Halischuk drove hard to the net on the right wing and put a shot on Bryzgalov, who kicked out a rebound to the right side. Dumont beat the defender to the net and had had an easy put back for his hat trick.

Dumont now has five goals in two games, and it is a very good sign for the Predators that he is finding his offensive touch.

The period ended with the Predators and the Coyotes each putting 11 shot on goal, but Dumont was able to tally twice to give the Predators the two goal advantage.

In the third period, the Predators controlled play in the neutral zone and slowed the speedy Coyotes attack. Although the Coyotes outshot the Predators 7-2, most of the shots were from the outside and were fairly routine saves for Rinne.

The Predators did not record their first shot on goal until 14:29 of the period, but they made it count. Patric Hornqvist broke in on net, and with Colin Wilson screening in front, roofed a wrister over the shoulder of Bryzgalov. Hornqvist's second goal of the night was the knife in the heart of the Coyotes.

Phoenix never seriously challenged after that goal and the Predators choked off their offensive attack for the remainder of the period. 5-2 final, and a huge road win for the Predators.

With this win, the Predators record stands at 25-15-6, good for 56 points and 4th place in the Western Conference.

Every game counts, and every game is a character game right now in the Western Conference. There are teams trying to separate from the pack, and the Predators can ill afford a losing streak. After the loss in Chicago, this is a very good bounce back win against a team that was ahead of them in the standings.

My three stars:

1. J.P. Dumont

2. Patric Hornqvist

3. Matt Halischuk

Predators Struggles Continue in a 4-3 Loss to the Coyotes

The injury riddled and struggling Nashville Predators journeyed to the Arizona desert to take on the Phoenix Coyotes in the first game of the a west coast swing. The struggles continued for the Predators as they dropped their third straight game by a score of 4-3

The disturbing aspect of this loss is that the Predators lead the game 3-2 going into the third period and failed to hold the lead, giving up two power play goals to a weak Coyotes power play.

The Predators also managed to make Ed Jovanovski look like the second coming of Wayne Gretzky as Jovo got the hat trick against the Predators.

Jovanovski opened the scoring for the Coyotes just 1:08 into the first period as he fired a shot from the point that got past a partially screened Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne.

The Predators tied the game at 8:58 of the first as Francis Buillon walked off the half wall and wristed a shot past Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Predators would take a 2-1 lead just 30 seconds later as Sergei Kostitsyn took a pass from Jordin Tootoo and fought off a Coyotes defenseman and, running out of rink and room, flipped a shot past Bryzgalov glove side. That goal was a beauty and was attributable to Kostitsyn not giving up on the play.

Jovanovski would strike again at 1:08 of the second period as he took a shot off the boards that appeared to hit a stick and ramped up over the shoulder of Rinne.

Amazingly, the Coyotes missed several attempts at an open net as Rinne was scrambling all night and was occasionally caught out of the net. Fortunately for the Predators, the defensive checking thwarted most of those opportunities. Unfortunately for the Predators, Rinne looked skittish all night and was not as sharp as he usually is.

Nashville would once again regain the lead at 12:44 of the second period as Patrick Hornqvist was in his "office" at the top of the crease and poked a rebound of a Colin Wilson shot past Bryzgalov while the Predators were on the power play.

That lead would stand until 4:23 of the third period when Lee Stempniak would tie the game on the power play. Nick Spaling was called for delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass. It appeared that there was simultaneous contact between Spaling's stick and the stick of a Coyotes player. It didn't matter whether the call was accurate or not as the Predators could not kill the the power play. This would prove the Predators undoing in this game.

Jovanovski got his hat trick at 5:38 of the third period on the power play (again!) with Cody Franson in the box for holding the stick. Jovo snuck in from the back side and wristed a shot on net. Rinne got a good piece of the puck, but could not control it and it squirted into the net for the game winner.

The Predators had a glorious opportunity to take a 2 goal lead early in the third period as Steve Sullivan found himself alone in front of the net . He beat Bryzgalov high glove side but rang the shot off the crossbar. That summed up the Predators effort in the third period. They did not mount much in the way of consistent offensive effort and when they did have chances, could not finish.

This is a painful loss for the Predators. Failing to kill penalties, less than stellar goaltending, and inability to create offense in the third period lead to this loss.

Marcel Goc returned to the lineup, along with Frankie Buillon. Both contributed quality efforts tonight. The Predators are still without Ryan Suter, Matthew Lombardi, and now Marty Erat due to injuries.

This team has to now regroup and get back to the basics of winning hockey. This team cannot skate with an attitude of "not to lose". They have to skate to win. Right now, this team is not doing that.

The Predators have to right the ship and commit themselves to Predator hockey. Injuries cannot be a crutch.

The road trip continues. It's time to refocus, regroup, and start winning.

No more struggling.

No more painful losses.

My three stars of the game:

1. Ed Jovanovski

2. Sergei Kostitsyn

3. Francis Buillon