Nashville Predators drop road trip finale 4-1 to Vancouver

by Dirk Hoag on Dec 23, 2009 1:27 AM EST

The Sedin twins harassed Predators defenseman Ryan Suter all night long, with a goal and 2 assists each. (via nhl.com) More pics of the green men can be found at Orland Kurtenblog.

The Nashville Predators ended their hot streak with a resounding 4-1 defeat to the Canucks, as the Vancouver forwards kept the Preds hemmed in their own zone for much of the contest. A 36-21 shot advantage correctly reflected the imbalanced play, but it was more a factor of the Canucks playing well than any particularly poor effort on Nashville's part.

Follow after the jump for the highlights, which include a dandy goal by Patric Hornqvist to break the shutout, along with the advanced stats...

The storyline to follow tomorrow will be the injury news surrounding Jerred Smithson. On an early penalty kill, he blocked a shot that appeared to catch him in the left wrist, after which he went immediately to the dressing room, not to return. Later in the game Francis Bouillon took a stick to the face and missed much of the second period, but came back for the third.

Dan Ellis certainly gave the Preds a chance with 32 saves, but when you spend that much time in your own zone, bad things tend to happen eventually.

Having taken 2 out of 3 games on the Western Canada road trip, the Preds get a couple days off before hosting the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday night in the first of a home-and-home series.

For discounted tickets to Saturday against the Chicago Blackhawks, or any Nashville Predators home game, you can follow this link and use the special offer code "PREDS".

Looking at the advanced even-strength stats, a few points in particular jump out:

Unless there's some unreported injury concern, we can only assume that Dave Scatchard was benched after taking his 2nd penalty of the night, a careless collision with Luongo. The veteran never hit the ice after that.
The Hornqvist-Goc-Dumont line was the only one that had a positive evening, with all three players contributing to the lone Nashville goal. I like Hornqvist and Dumont as a winger pair, as Hornqvist is more than willing to shoot the puck, which takes full advantage of Dumont's superior playmaking skills.
While Erat hustled and Arnott put the puck on net, the top line simply got shut down by the Canucks; that happens, and tonight Nashville just couldn't get enough from the supporting cast.

Even Strength		Individual Totals					Team Totals While Player Is On Ice
Player	Pos	EV TOI	Shots	Shts Blkd	Missed Shts	Blocks	SOG For	SOG Ag	SOG +/-	Tot SF	Tot SA	Corsi
Martin Erat	R	15:50	1	1	0	0	9	10	-1	14	19	-5
Jason Arnott	C	15:02	4	0	2	0	5	7	-2	10	17	-7
Steve Sullivan	L	15:27	2	1	1	0	7	11	-4	13	20	-7
David Legwand	C	16:13	1	1	0	1	4	8	-4	11	14	-3
Jerred Smithson	R	0:44	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Joel Ward	R	17:28	0	2	2	0	3	4	-1	11	8	3
Marcel Goc	C	14:00	3	0	0	0	10	6	4	18	9	9
Patric Hornqvist	R	14:37	4	3	1	0	6	5	1	14	7	7
J P Dumont	R	14:53	0	0	0	0	9	5	4	16	7	9
Nick Spaling	C	13:59	1	1	0	0	3	3	0	9	10	-1
Ryan Jones	L	9:40	0	0	1	0	1	7	-6	6	9	-3
Dave Scatchard	C	2:36	0	0	0	1	0	3	-3	1	6	-5
Shea Weber	D	19:38	0	1	0	0	7	9	-2	11	18	-7
Ryan Suter	D	20:32	1	0	1	6	9	8	1	14	16	-2
Dan Hamhuis	D	15:38	0	0	1	0	4	7	-3	12	15	-3
Kevin Klein	D	14:09	0	1	0	3	4	5	-1	12	12	0
Cody Franson	D	15:38	1	2	0	1	8	9	-1	18	12	6
Francis Bouillon	D	14:56	1	0	0	0	6	8	-2	15	11	4

Poll

Who is your Predator of the Game?

Dan Ellis, 32 saves

22 votes

Patric Hornqvist, goal & 4 shots

27 votes

49 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

My Hornqvist man crush continues to be justified

by 3DLink on Dec 23, 2009 7:40 AM EST reply actions

i hate vancouver but the green guys were greaaaaaat.

by predswilrule on Dec 23, 2009 7:59 AM EST reply actions

Man, Hornqvist’s goal was gorgeous.

by Chris Burton on Dec 23, 2009 9:37 AM EST reply actions

Also, Trotz’s post game quote on the Weber fight was pretty funny:

I just wanted to see some emotion. Shea’s a big boy. He can take care of himself, as you saw. That wasn’t too much of a challenge.’’

by Chris Burton on Dec 23, 2009 9:38 AM EST reply actions

Hornqvist’s goal was just sick…being part Swedish, I have no problem admitting my man-crush as well….
I really hope Smithson is ok…I feel like his absence was pretty disruptive to the secondary lines getting anything going.

by Tim P on Dec 23, 2009 10:05 AM EST reply actions

This morning Pete Weber sat in on 104.5’s morning show, and he said he thought Smithson looked fine after the game. Obviously that’s nothing official, but encouraging nonetheless.

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Dec 23, 2009 10:07 AM EST up reply actions

A Timely Loss

It’s hard to feel good about a 4 – 1 loss, but it was the right loss, to the right opponent, at the right time. We needed wins over Edmonton and Calgary to avenge earlier embarrassments. We needed a loss right before the Christmas break to keep us humble. This is Nashville; we only win when we work harder than the other team. The last thing this team needs is three days to sit around and think about how awesome they are. I have a feeling that Chicago is going to feel the pain from this loss on December 26th. See you there.
PS-Mr. Poile, all I want for Christmas is a depth winger.

"Get to the Choppa!"

by PredHead on Dec 23, 2009 11:00 AM EST reply actions