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In many ways, tonight's contest was a repeat of Game One. The team which generated more scoring chances came up the loser, we had double-digit penalties, and the Predators still can't seem to score on the power play. They squandered 6 chances with the man advantage including 30 seconds of 5-on-3 time en route to a 3-2 loss to Detroit, evening up their Western Conference Quarterfinal at 1-1.
Follow after the jump for the video highlights and reaction...
Cue the video (might take 30-45 minutes post-game to work):
Your random observations:
- I was surprised to see Bertuzzi pick that early fight with Weber, you don't see very much of that during the playoffs. Shea acquitted himself well, certainly.
- Not the greatest decision on that second Detroit goal by Klein to shoot without checking that there was a guy right in the way, those blocks up high in the zone become odd-man rushes the other way very quickly.
- You hate to think about it, but that stretch in the early part of the second period with three straight Detroit penalties seemed at times like the dreaded Chicago series of 2010, when the Preds couldn't score on the power play to save their lives. There were many other times, however, when they were creating chances, but just couldn't quite convert them. Overall they got 7 shots on goal in 11 minutes of 5-on-4 and 30 seconds of 5-on-3. That's not too bad, as you'd normally expect about 9 over that amount of time.
- The emotional roller coaster in games like this is amazing. The AK46 goal felt like a dam break, but then to give up that goal with Stuart shooting and the puck deflecting off Franzen's skate just seconds later, that was deflating.
- Can we please have Colin Wilson or Craig Smith in the lineup, please? Even if Halischuk can play in Game 3, Brandon Yip didn't look good at all. Halischuk took a hard (but clean) hit on the shoulder from Cory Emmerton with 4 minutes left in the second, but came back for the third (taking only two shifts, however).
- My other goat was Sergei Kostitsyn, who looked very tentative out there offensively. At one point, faced with no support on a rush as he faced three Red Wing defenders, he simply put his head down and did a 360 before turning the puck over. Just put a shot on net and force a faceoff in the offensive zone!
- Some unheralded heroes? I thought Roman Josi looked better than in Game One, and Mike Fisher played an aggressive game, with the only downer being a 5-for-15 record on the faceoff dot. It might not be a bad idea to leverage Paul Gaustad's skill for some offensive-zone draws, too.
- You have to like the way hard forechecking work paid off for the 3-2 goal, as Shea Weber stepped up and stayed involved with Spaling & Gaustad.
- As for Game 3? It comes up Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Central on NBC.