Hutton Shines In 2-1 Win Over the Flames

The Nashville Predators wrapped up their 4 game Canadian road trip with a stop at the Scotia Bank Saddledome for a tilt with the Calgary Flames. The Predators were looking to make it a 4-0 road trip after capturing the first three contests and working themselves back into the playoff hunt.

Carter Hutton got the start for the Predators, and they staked him to a 2-0 lead through the end of 2 periods. Mike Ribeiro was the beneficiary of a great drive into the zone by Craig Smith and he buried a shot from the slot past Kari Ramo to give the Predators a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period.

Shea Weber hammered home a blast from the face off circle with the Predators on the power play to send them into the locker room after two periods with a 2-0 lead.

Mark Giordano cut that lead to 2-1 with a perfectly placed shot to the top corner early in the third period.

For the second straight game, the Predators were going to have to kill a penalty to end regulation and preserve the win.

The Flames swarmed the offensive zone, skating 6 on 4, but the Predators penalty killers and especially Hutton came up big to lock down the win.



Some observations:

• Lines juggled again as Filip Forsberg moved up to the top line with Ryan Johansen and James Neal. Mike Ribeiro dropped down to a wing on a line with Craig Smith and Calle Jarnkrok.
• Eric Nystrom was injured in last night's game with Vancouver when he took a Shea Weber blast off his foot. According to a comment from Stu Grimson on the broadcast, Nystrom suffered a broken foot.
• Kevin Fiala drew back into the line up and was on a line with Mike Fisher and Austin Watson.
• Craig smith has been playing some very good hockey on this road trip. He is using his speed to open up the ice and the Predators first goal tonight was the result of smith driving the wing and spreading out the defense, leaving Ribeiro alone in the slot. Smith can be an impact player if he plays a simple hockey game, and that is something he has been doing consistently on this road trip.
• Lots of unnecessary penalties in the first period. Brain fart penalties. Fortunately for the Predators, the PK was up to the task, but they can't keep tempting fate.
• Strong defense by the Predators in the first period. Calgary was held to 4 shots on goal even with the power plays and didn't record their first shot on net until the game was 9 minutes old.
• Goodness, Weber just flat out blew the shot past Ramo on the power play. Weber got open in the face off circle and loaded up on the shot. Ramo got his glove up, but well after the puck had found the back of the net. When Weber steps into a shot cleanly it is deadly. Just ask Eric Nystrom.
• Carter Hutton played an excellent game. He made some huge saves, especially in the last minute of play to preserve the win. The only goal he gave up was a perfectly placed shot through traffic. Hutton has looked strong in his last two outing and secured critical wins for the team. Hutton is now 5-2-1 in his starts this season.
• The Predators were back on their heels for most of the third period. The Flames out shot the Predators 16-7, which only emphasizes the quality of play from Hutton tonight.
• The Predators PK was stellar, killing all 4 of the Flames man advantage opportunities. The Predators PK has killed 26 of the last 27 power plays from their opponents.

This was the type of game that in the recent past the Predators would have allowed to slip away. Now, they are playing with some confidence and starting to get their swagger back. The last two games have shown this team is refusing to buckle under pressure, and that is a great sign going forward.

The Predators win gives them 4 wins in a row for the first time since October.

Now they need to keep building on this momentum after the All Star break.

My three stars:

1. Carter Hutton

2. Shea Weber

3. Mike Ribeiro

Predators Fall to the Flames 3-2 In A Shootout

The Nashville Predators got out-Predatored at Bridgestone Arena, dropping a 3-2 decision in a shootout to the Calgary Flames.

Joe Colborne scored the lone goal in the shootout for the Flames to secure the win.

Throughout the night, the Predators lost puck battles and for the most got out skated and out worked by the Flames. The Flames did a great job of limiting the Predators breakouts, clogging the neutral zone and making entries difficult. As a result, the Predators offense never really got in sync and struggled to find consistency.

The Predators were out shot 28-21, the first time they have been out shot this season.

Filip Forsberg staked the Predators to a 1-0 lead at 8:46 of the first period with his first goal of the season. Forsberg took a pass from Derek Roy and  ripped a shot past Flames netminder Kari Ramo from the face off circle.

The Flames answered with a goal by T.J. Brodie. They got a break when Anton volchenkov went dow to block the shot and it hit his stick and ramped over the Shoulder of Pekka Rinne at 10:01 of the first.

Calgary took a 2-1 lead at 5:19 of the second period off a goal from Mark Giordano on the power play.

The Predators would answer with Mike Ribeiro getting his first goal as a Predators. He gathered in a rebound of a Craig Smith shot that Ramo could not control that slid to the off side of the net, and he was able to bang it in at 15:10 of the second period.

A scoreless third period and overtime led to the shootout. The Predators sent Derek Roy, James Neal, and Olli Jokinen out in the shootout and Ramo was able to stop them all. Rinne gave up a goal to Colborne and stopped Jiri Hudler.

Some observations:

• Rinne made some great saves through the course of the game and got some bad luck on the deflection off Volchenkov's stick. the flames did a good job of controlling the puck in the offensive zone and keeping pressure on the Predators, and rinne bailed out the defense on more than a few occasions.
• As good as Rinne was, Ramo was outstanding. He made some very good saves, including off a re-direct from Craig Smith in the third period.

• The Predators had a difficult time handling the aggressive forecheck of the Flames, which disrupted their offensive flow all night. The flames attacked the puck in all zones and the Predators struggled to handle the pressure.

• Colin Wilson, who has generally been invisible so far this season, was moved up to the wing on the line with James Neal and Mike Ribeiro in the middle of the second period. I liked the way that line looked with Wilson on it. May this is what it takes to get Wilson's game jump started. He used his speed well to compliment his line mates.

• Shea Weber led the team in TOI with 30:53.

• The Predators were 0-2 on the power play.

• Craig Smith was +2 and had 2 assists on the night.

The Predators struggled tonight, but they can learn from this game and hopefully improve, especially when it comes to handling the aggressive pressure and the intensity of their opponent.

They get their chance Friday night in Winnipeg against a divisional foe.

My three stars:

1. Kari Ramo

2. Mark Giordano

3. Craig Smith

Predators Waste Nystrom's 4 Goal Night, Fall to the Flames In a Shoot Out

The Nashville Predators have won of their last five games. Tonight, they were in Calgary taking on a team that has struggled with injuries and trying to find their identity.

This was a game the Predators needed to win, for the points of course, but also to build on the momentum that the team has had recently. coming into this game , the Predators have been playing more consistently and have started to mesh.

They needed a fast start to take the home crowd out of the game, and they got that start courtesy of Eric Nystrom.

Nystrom tallied the first two Predators goals, the first just 1:51 into the game. Gabriel Bourque battled for the puck and got it to Nystrom, who made a sweet move on Flames netminder Kari Ramo. Nystrom faked Ramo down to the ice and tucked the puck into the net for a 1-0.

The Flames tied the game on the power play. Predators goaltender Devan Dubnyk was screened and never appeared to see the Mark Giordano shot, which was the Flames first one of the man advantage.

Tied at 1 going into the second intermission, Nystrom asserted himself again. he went to the front of the net and gathered in a bouncing puck off a flip in by Roman Josi that Ramo could not control. Nystrom was able to slide the puck through the five hole of Ramo at 1:50 of the first period.

Paul Gaustad took a sharp angle shot with Nystrom in front screening, and the puck deflected in off Nystrom for the goal. at 6:00 of the second. For Nystrom, this was his first career hat trick.

That was it for Ramo, as he had given up 3 goals on 13 shots, and Reto Berra entered the game in net for the Flames.

The Predators opened the third period on the penalty kill, and brutal turnover by Seth Jones led to a David Jones goal at 1:24 to cut the lead to 3-2 for the Predators.

Eric Nystrom scored his 4th goal of the night as Matt Cullen threw the puck into the slot and Nystrom re-directed the pass through the pads of Berra to give the Predators a 4-2 lead and some breathing room. His goal came at 10:47 of the third period.

The Predators did not make it easy on themselves as they wound up with 2 men in the box, giving the Flames 1:27 of 5 on 3 advantage.

The Flames took advantage of the Predators miscues to score a 5 on 3 goal as Mikael Backlund scored at 12:27.

The Flames tied the game just after the power play ended as T.J. Brodie blasted a shot from the blue line that beat Dubnyk over the shoulder at 13:36.

The Predators had complete control of this game and managed to give away a 2 goal lead and momentum.

Unbelievable.

The overtime period saw both team have some good scoring chances. Matt Cullen rang a shot off the pipe, but neither team could score.

So, in a game that the Predators should have won handily, the shoot out would decide the winner.

Shootouts are kind to the Predators, as they have only won one this season.

They still have only one win, as the Flames won the skills competition 2-1.

Some observations:

• Eric Nystrom was in full on beast mode. He is the first player in franchise history to score 4 goals in a game, and he played with jump and speed tonight. Good to see this hard working forward get rewarded.

• The Predators gave this game away with some stupid third period penalties and an awful turnover. This team is not good enough to overcome those kind of mistakes.

• Cullen, Colin Wilson, and Mike Fisher finished with zero shot on goal. Three top line forwards... and you wonder why the offense struggles.

• Dubnyk is not the long term solution at back up.

• Seth Jones shows flashes of brilliance, and he is going to be an elite player in the NHL. There are times when he shows that he is a rookie, as he did when he failed to clear the puck and turned it over in the defensive zone on the penalty kill. It was a terrible giveaway that led to the Flames third goal.

Well, boys, you threw this one away. Not much more you can say.

Hopefully the team can re-group and play a solid game in Edmonton.

My three stars:

1. Eric Nystrom

2. Mikael Backlund

3. Matt Cullen

Flames Frustrate the Predators (Again) 3-2

The Calgary Flames swept their season series with the Nashville Predators, handing them another frustrating one goal loss in a 3-2 home ice victory. This was a game that started well for the Predators and quickly fell apart.


The Predators opened the scoring at 2:47 of the first period as Marty Erat gathered in a rebound of a Jonathan Blum shot and powered the puck past Mikka Kiprusoff as he was being knocked to the ice. Blum did a great job of getting the shot through traffic and Erat was doing the dirty work in front of the net that the Predators have to do to score.

Calgary would tie the game at 7:15 of the first while on the power play with Jonathan Blum in the box for tripping. It was one of the craziest goals that I have ever seen, as the shot from Mark Giordano was weakly shot toward the net. The fluttering puck would hit the stick of Ryan Suter and then Shea Weber, changing direction and floating over the shoulder of Pekka Rinne. Rinne looked at his two defensemen with a look that could only be described as exasperated.

The Predators would regain the lead at 15:58 of the first as Ryan Suter fired a shot from straight away on the point. Joel Ward and David Legwand were screening in front and Kiprusoff never saw the puck until it was in the back of the net.

As the first period ended, the Predators had to feel good about their effort against a team that has been their nemesis all season.

Perhaps they felt too good.

The Predators were absolutely dominated in the second period as the Flames outshot the Predators 13-4. The Flames would tie the game early in the second as Sergei Kostitsyn would hook down Jerome Iginla on a breakaway. Iginla was awarded a penalty shot and he would beat Rinne five hole just 59 seconds into the period.

The Flames controlled the action for the entire period, and frankly if not for the stellar play of Rinne, the Predators would have been run out of the Saddledome. The Predators offense would completely disappear in the second in what has been a troubling characteristic of this team all season- disappearing for a period at a time in a game.

The troubling trend of a missing in action offense would continue for most of the third period. Although the final shot count was 14-10 for the Flames, for much of the period the Calgary offense controlled the play. The shot total only looks as good as it does because of a late flurry by the Predators.

Calgary's offensive pressure would pay off in the game winning goal by Curtis Glencross at 10:23 of the third period. Ollie Jokinenwould fire a shot a Rinne, who made the initial save, but gave up a rebound. Glencross was crashing the net unimpeded and tapped the puck into an open net past an out of position Rinne.

One felt that the way the Predators offense had failed to produce that this goal would suffice for the margin of victory.

Unfortunately, that proved to be the case.

For much of the night, the Predators found themselves on their heels and let Calgary gain the zone with speed. This forced the Predators back and they did not counterattack effectively. This team does not have the ability to just turn on the offensive flow, and when they are pushed back defensively, the offense seems to continually get stymied.

This was a wasted opportunity to gain two precious points, and opportunity squandered when the offense went into a shell in the second and third periods.

For this team to make the playoffs, they are going to have to understand that it is a full 60 minutes of flat out, balls to the wall hockey. Failure to play that way and they will find themselves on the short end of the score more often than not.

It is beyond waiting for other teams to falter. Now is the time to turn it on and play your way into the playoffs.

There is no other way.

My three stars:

1. Curtis Glencross

2. Ryan Suter

3. Mikka Kiprusoff