The last time the Preds and Oilers played, they gave us one of the most entertaining games of the season. Nashville is still without Roman Josi, who is reportedly nearing a return.

Almost a full seven minutes went by before the first shot on goal was recorded, and that one shouldn’t really count because it was from center ice. A lot of excitement going on as pucks are flying, hits are coming, and both goalies playing fairly well. The first ends in a scoreless tie, as McDavid and company were held to only four shots on goal.

Viktor Arvidsson gets the Preds on the scoreboard first 1:26 into the period, as he hammers home a beauty of a shot. Cody McLeod drops the gloves with Patrick Maroon and this one has fight of the night written all over it. Maroon intially gets some good licks in but McLeod comes back and I’m sure Patty’s face hurts just a little. Ryan Johansen scores right before the end of the period and the Preds have a 2-0 lead at the second intermission. Save for the Pittsburgh game on Tuesday, the second period has been Nashville’s best period over the course of this season.

Not much going on in the third period folks. Some back and forth exchanges, a few good scoring chances, but that’s about it. Pekka stopped everyone and everything.

Random Observations

• Still no Roman Josi, but we are told he is close to returning
• Eight seconds into the game and Pekka is already out of his net, the defense is out f position, and the Oilers almost score an empty net goal on a bank shot off the boards...
• So apparently Mike Ribeiro has asked for a trade. If Poile can turn Erat into Forsberg, what gold will he spin Ribeiro into?
• Lots of hard hits in this one
• I’M RUNNING OUT OF SUPERLATIVES TO DESCRIBE VIKTOR ARVIDSSON
• Patrick Maroon starts the round landing some good shots on McLeod as he leaves has his hands down a little too low. McLeod then frees his hand from the entanglement of the jersey and starts unloading on Maroon. Patty shoves McLeod against the boards and tries to do some damage but McLeod having none of it as he pushes forward. McLeod landing some good jabs and a few haymakers as the round expires. We have McLeod ahead on the OTF scorecards 10-9
• Matt Irwin is having quite possibly the best season of any Preds defenseman this year
• If Ryan Johansen can make a habit out of scoring goals like that, then this team will be even more dangerous heading into the second half of the season
• Pekka is standing on his head tonight. Not literally of course, but man has he been fire.

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Night

1. Pekka Rinne - Three words. 31 save shutout.
2. Viktor Arvidsson - [enter obligatory favorable adjectives here] He may be No. 38 on the ice, but he’s No. 1 in your hearts!
3. Matt Irwin - he leads the Preds in +/- at +15, he can slide in on any d-pairing and play well, and he had two diving/sliding poke checks to save two potential goals against two of the Oilers’ best goal scorers

Tweets of the Night

Game Extras

Game Stats

Game Photos

HockeyStats

Natural Stat Trick

Game Video