The Nashville Predators dropped a 3-1 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Bridgestone Arena in a game that saw jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky stand tall and deny the Predators attack throughout the game.
The Predators fired 39 shots on net, and with the exception of a Kevin Klein goal in the second period, they were unable to solve Bobrovsky.
It certainly wasn't for a lack of effort by the Predators. They opened the game with good jump and attacked the Columbus net. Midway of the first period, the Predators had a 10-2 shot advantage and created some good scoring chances.
As has happened so often this season, however, the Predators were unable to finish their chances.
Pekka Rinne was in net for the Predators, and although he gave up three goals, played a strong game as the Jackets were firing pucks as often as the Predators. The Jackets finished with 38 shots on goal.
Columbus opened the scoring on the power play as James Wisniewski scored from the blue line with a shot that went top shelf past a screened Rinne at 8:36 of the second period.
The Predators answered at 12:14 of the second as Kevin Klein crept down from the blue line and took a pass from Patric Hornqvist and beat Bobrovsky, who lost his stick in the traffic in front.
In the third period, the Jackets newest acquisition, Marion Gaborik, took a pass from Brandon Dubinsky and beat Paul Gaustad to the front of the net. Gaborik lifted the puck over Rinne to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead at 4:16 of the third period.
The Jackets made it 3-1 at 10:50 of the third as Matt Calvert fired a wrist shot that Rinne got with his blocker, but it bounced over his shoulder and into the net.
Some observations:
Fish Fights Back
The Predators welcomed back Mike Fisher, who had missed 4 games with an injured hand. It was apparent that Fisher was not 100% as the Predators played him on the wing and he did not take face offs. It appeared that the injured hand was still troubling Fisher as his ability to handle the puck seemed to be limited. Although Fisher was not able to get on the score sheet, he gave a gutsy effort all night.
Failing To Finish
While I cannot fault the effort by the team, and 39 shots on net is a great effort, the fact remains that the Predators have to finish some of their chances. Part of this is obviously the play of Bobrovsky, who was stellar. The Predators desperately need someone to take the puck strong to the net and finish some of their chances. It is also telling that the top three players with the most shots on goal were defensemen (Josi, 6 SOG; Klein, 6 SOG; Ellis, 4 SOG). The Predators need their forwards to develop a goal scorers mentality and find a way to bury some shots.
I Still Have My Doubts...
about the ability of Ryan Ellis to be a full time NHL blue liner. Ellis recorded 4 shots on goal and was a -1 tonight. My doubts arise from the fact that Ellis is consistently out muscled and tonight was knocked to the ice several times during scrums for the puck. Ellis was making his first appearance after a brief stint in Milwaukee, and while he gives good effort, his lack of size is a detriment to his game. The Predators can ill afford an under-sized defenseman that cannot match up with the opponents forwards.
The Best and Most Creative Player Offensively Is...
Roman Josi. Josi is smooth handling the puck, and when he jumps up in the offensive zone, is able to create some offensive chances. The Predators forwards need to take a few lessons from Josi.
Final Thoughts
With the loss, the Predators allowed Columbus to leap frog them in the standings. The Predators now sit in the 11th spot in the West with Chicago coming to town on Saturday night. Nashville is 15-15-8 and has 38 points. In the West, Detroit is playing at the time of this post and sits in 7th with 41 points and will have played 37 games. St. Louis is 8th with 40 points and 35 games played. Edmonton is playing and has 39 points and will have played 37 games. Columbus moves into the 10th spot with 39 points and 37 games played.
You can see the problem for the Predators: having played more games than the teams in front of them and needing points to get back into the playoff picture.
The next few games are going to determine if the Predators will be a playoff team or if they will hit the golf course at the end of the month.
There is only one way to avoid an early tee time.
Bring the effort every shift.
My three stars:
1. Sergei Bobrovsky
2. Marion Gaborik
3. Matt Calvert
Showing posts with label Matt Calvert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matt Calvert. Show all posts
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Predators Break the Losing Streak against the BJ's
The Nashville Predators (finally!) snapped a four game losing streak, topping the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 at the Bridgestone Arena. The contest was a typical grinding affair against a team that has given the Predators fits this season. The Tire Barn has been a house of horrors for the BJ's, who lost their 16th straight game in Nashville.
The victory was not an easy one for the Predators, as the Blue Jackets trap nearly strangled the life out of the Predators. A sluggish and scoreless first period was not from lack of effort by either team, but neither the Predators nor the Jackets would yield any space in a tight checking period. Neither team could get their offense untracked against stubborn defensive pressure, with Columbus registering only six shots on goal while Nashville managed five.
It appeared as if Columbus notched the first goal on a goal mouth scramble early in the second period. The on ice officials immediately waved off the goal, but the play was reviewed by the replay booth and the War Room in Toronto. After the review, it was ruled that it was inconclusive as to whether or not the puck had crossed the goal line. Finally, the Predators had caught a break
Columbus would tally the first score of the contest at 14:17 and the Predators Shea Weber in the box for hooking. Matt Calvert converted with the man advantage as Grant Clitsome stimulated a rush into the offensive zone and slipped a pass to R. J. Umberger, who fired a shot on Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne. Rinne kicked out the shot with his right pad, but Calvert was driving the net and was able to slap the rebound past Rinne.
The Predators would tie the game at 1:47 of the third period as Shea Weber would record his 13th goal of the season on the power play. His blast beat Mathieu Garon to the stick side to the delight of the partisan crowd.
Nashville would take a 2-1 lead at 7:18 of the third period as Jonathan Blum found the back of the net for his first NHL goal. Blum launched a slap shot from the blue line that beat Garon through traffic, and the smile on Blum's face lit up the arena. The young blueliner has shown great promise since he has been called up and has filled in admirably on the back end.
Columbus would not go quietly, however. Nashville would go down a man at 10:50 as David Legwand was called for hooking. With just 16 seconds left on the power play, Kris Russell fired a slap shot that beat a screened Rinne to tie the game at 2.
Nashville managed to kill off a Shea Weber tripping penalty, and with Weber emerging from the box, he took a pass and fed it to Marty Erat. Erat fired a shot that Garon fought off but he left the rebound lying to the left of the net. David Legwand swooped in and lifted a backhand over a sprawling Garon for the game winner.
The Jackets style of play, trapping, holding, and clogging the neutral zone presented problems all night for the Predators. The Predators could have easily succumbed to the pressure and continued their downward spiral. Instead, they showed resiliency and mental toughness and battled all night against a tough opponent.
This is the kind of effort that will be required of this team in all their remaining games. It is playoff hockey, hockey that requires intensity and heart.
It will be a test throughout the remainder of the season.
It is time to show that you can pass that test.
My three stars:
1. Shea Weber
2. David Legwand
3. Jonathan Blum
The victory was not an easy one for the Predators, as the Blue Jackets trap nearly strangled the life out of the Predators. A sluggish and scoreless first period was not from lack of effort by either team, but neither the Predators nor the Jackets would yield any space in a tight checking period. Neither team could get their offense untracked against stubborn defensive pressure, with Columbus registering only six shots on goal while Nashville managed five.
It appeared as if Columbus notched the first goal on a goal mouth scramble early in the second period. The on ice officials immediately waved off the goal, but the play was reviewed by the replay booth and the War Room in Toronto. After the review, it was ruled that it was inconclusive as to whether or not the puck had crossed the goal line. Finally, the Predators had caught a break
Columbus would tally the first score of the contest at 14:17 and the Predators Shea Weber in the box for hooking. Matt Calvert converted with the man advantage as Grant Clitsome stimulated a rush into the offensive zone and slipped a pass to R. J. Umberger, who fired a shot on Nashville netminder Pekka Rinne. Rinne kicked out the shot with his right pad, but Calvert was driving the net and was able to slap the rebound past Rinne.
The Predators would tie the game at 1:47 of the third period as Shea Weber would record his 13th goal of the season on the power play. His blast beat Mathieu Garon to the stick side to the delight of the partisan crowd.
Nashville would take a 2-1 lead at 7:18 of the third period as Jonathan Blum found the back of the net for his first NHL goal. Blum launched a slap shot from the blue line that beat Garon through traffic, and the smile on Blum's face lit up the arena. The young blueliner has shown great promise since he has been called up and has filled in admirably on the back end.
Columbus would not go quietly, however. Nashville would go down a man at 10:50 as David Legwand was called for hooking. With just 16 seconds left on the power play, Kris Russell fired a slap shot that beat a screened Rinne to tie the game at 2.
Nashville managed to kill off a Shea Weber tripping penalty, and with Weber emerging from the box, he took a pass and fed it to Marty Erat. Erat fired a shot that Garon fought off but he left the rebound lying to the left of the net. David Legwand swooped in and lifted a backhand over a sprawling Garon for the game winner.
The Jackets style of play, trapping, holding, and clogging the neutral zone presented problems all night for the Predators. The Predators could have easily succumbed to the pressure and continued their downward spiral. Instead, they showed resiliency and mental toughness and battled all night against a tough opponent.
This is the kind of effort that will be required of this team in all their remaining games. It is playoff hockey, hockey that requires intensity and heart.
It will be a test throughout the remainder of the season.
It is time to show that you can pass that test.
My three stars:
1. Shea Weber
2. David Legwand
3. Jonathan Blum
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Nashville Blown Away by the BJ's
Points in the Western Conference race are precious. Every game becomes a must win game with the standings jammed with teams competing for playoff positioning. Unfortunately, the Nashville Predators don't seem to grasp the necessity of winning games right now, as they stunk in a 4-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The two teams engaged in a tight checking scoreless affair for two periods as Pekka Rinne and Steve Mason were solid in their respective nets. It would all fall apart for the Predators in the third period, however.
Rick Nash opened the scoring in the third period at 1:11 when he drove past Kevin Klein and poked the puck past Rinne to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead. The way the Predators were playing, one had the sick feeling that this goal would be enough.
It was.
The BJ's would make it 2-0 at 4:29 as Rinne had a mis-communication with his defenseman, Alexander Sulzer. Both went behind the Nashville net to play the puck with Nahville a man down. Neither played the puck and it bounced out the other side to Matt Calvert who stuffed the puck home into an empty net.
The BJ's would make it 3-0 as Antoine Vermette was left alone in front of the Nashville net and he had all day to jam a puck past Rinne.
Rick Nash scored at 19:10 on the power play to make it 4-0.
The Predator offense was invisible in this game, and that is extremely disappointing and unacceptable. The Predators did not do the tough things to win this game. They lost board battles all night; they did not put any traffic in front of Mason; and there was a general lack of toughness, both physical and mental.
In a word, the Predators did not have the desire to win this game. It showed in the third, in crunch time. This is a sign of mental toughness- or lack thereof. This team has shown the annoying habit of fading in crunch time.
Keep it up, and you will be on the outside looking in come playoff time.
It's time for this team to get some snarl, to play smart but with an edge. Right now, this team seems too content to sit back and absorb the punches from their opponent. The Predators have to be in attack mode to be successful.
There was no attack tonight.
And you were embarrassed and embarrassing.
You now have 22 games left. You are going to have to win, by my estimate, 15 of these games to make the playoffs.
It's time to understand how important these games are now. It's time to play with some edge and some desperation. It's time to stop making inferior opponents look great.
My three stars:
1. Rick Nash
2. Steve Mason
3. Matt Calvert
The two teams engaged in a tight checking scoreless affair for two periods as Pekka Rinne and Steve Mason were solid in their respective nets. It would all fall apart for the Predators in the third period, however.
Rick Nash opened the scoring in the third period at 1:11 when he drove past Kevin Klein and poked the puck past Rinne to give the Jackets a 1-0 lead. The way the Predators were playing, one had the sick feeling that this goal would be enough.
It was.
The BJ's would make it 2-0 at 4:29 as Rinne had a mis-communication with his defenseman, Alexander Sulzer. Both went behind the Nashville net to play the puck with Nahville a man down. Neither played the puck and it bounced out the other side to Matt Calvert who stuffed the puck home into an empty net.
The BJ's would make it 3-0 as Antoine Vermette was left alone in front of the Nashville net and he had all day to jam a puck past Rinne.
Rick Nash scored at 19:10 on the power play to make it 4-0.
The Predator offense was invisible in this game, and that is extremely disappointing and unacceptable. The Predators did not do the tough things to win this game. They lost board battles all night; they did not put any traffic in front of Mason; and there was a general lack of toughness, both physical and mental.
In a word, the Predators did not have the desire to win this game. It showed in the third, in crunch time. This is a sign of mental toughness- or lack thereof. This team has shown the annoying habit of fading in crunch time.
Keep it up, and you will be on the outside looking in come playoff time.
It's time for this team to get some snarl, to play smart but with an edge. Right now, this team seems too content to sit back and absorb the punches from their opponent. The Predators have to be in attack mode to be successful.
There was no attack tonight.
And you were embarrassed and embarrassing.
You now have 22 games left. You are going to have to win, by my estimate, 15 of these games to make the playoffs.
It's time to understand how important these games are now. It's time to play with some edge and some desperation. It's time to stop making inferior opponents look great.
My three stars:
1. Rick Nash
2. Steve Mason
3. Matt Calvert
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)