The Nashville Predators debuted the Winter Classic sweaters at home, and despite a boozy Kathie Lee Gifford rampaging throughout Bridgestone Arena, they woke up late in the third period with a game-winning Craig Smith power play goal. Nashville gets their first win in a month at home on Saturday, and let’s go into how it all broke down.
What Happened?
- A boozy Kathie Lee Gifford during pregame and it looks like Crispy is in love
- Man, these Winter Classic sweaters are gorgeous
- Nice start by Nashville – great puck movement
- Austin Watson – on the first line for some reason – gets a wide open cross-ice pass from Ryan Johansen and completely whiffs on it.
- To the penalty kill – please, please, please kill this
- They did – great movement and structure, I could get used to this
- (in case you were wondering, yes, they are still talking to Kathie Lee, and yes, not about hockey)
- Predators lead 9-0 in shots after the penalty kill, so that’s great/
Why have hockey commentary when you have THIS:
“I’ve done a lot of amazing things over the years, some with my clothes on, some with them off”
— Just South Hockey (@JustSouthHockey) January 19, 2020
- Buffalo finally applying some pressure, can Nashville hold on?
- No. Sam Reinhart gets the goal seconds before the crowd can thank Paul.
- Well that will leave a gross taste in your mouth going into intermission – at some point “getting a lot of chances” isn’t enough
- Back for the second period, and guess what guys! Another guest commentator in the booth during play! I feel like we should be paying extra for all this extra coverage!
- Ah, he’s a musician in Music City and he likes the Predators – good, lets hear more from him
- Unbeknownst to the Fox Sports Tennessee crew, there is hockey happening
- Pekka Rinne is having a great night aside from the goal last period – he’s slowly righting the ship
- Great chances and Ulmark has several unbelievable saves – he’s on fire
- FINALLY – Roman Josi drives in like a bat out of hell, gets a couple chances and Ryan Johansen banks it home! Preds 1 – Sabres 1
- What an amazing save by Ulmark, again. And a melee breaks out after, and somehow Calle Jarnkrok is the only person penalized.
- Apparently the Grizzlies haven’t lost since the FS-TN crew did that cross-promotion thing about basketball. The irony in this statement apparently lost on the crew.
- Another strong penalty kill. I’ll take that!
- Can the Predators sustain offense finally? A strong finish to this period should be the highest priority right now – a goal against just can’t happen – it would suck the life completely out of the team.
- Jimmy Vesey BOOOOOOOOOO
- The shot counter is all tied up after the fast start, and the transition game in the neutral zone looks much better
- I don’ t know if it’s just me, but the last two weeks of broadcasts, Willy has said the words “On the forecheck” WAY more often than usual. Glad to hear you’re a big fan, Willy!
- Great chance by Matt Duchene, great save, then miss on a wide-open net.
- This is great throwback hockey – Pekka Rinne standing on his head, and the rest of the team doing absolutely nothing
- Join the PIN15 club, y’all (see tweet below)
- Much stronger finish of the period than the first. Feeling a little better going into intermission
- After an intermission of more wine discussion, the Predators come out for the third looking to finish strong.
- …and Yannick Weber takes a penalty and they’re back to the PK.
- Pekka Rinne gets four saves on the penalty kill, and then a massive one right after – and they’re looking to see if it’s a goal or not.
- Great work by Kyle Turris pushed into PK duty
- Tired: Getting the puck in the net with your stick. Wired: Getting the goalie in the net.
- Sabres outshooting Nashville 6-0 to start the period – not how you want to start/
HEY IT’S KIMO!
Hey Kimmo Timonen is in the house tonight! #Preds | #BUFvsNSH
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) January 19, 2020
- Ryan Johansen gets a good rush into the zone, but nobody came with him
- Nashville can’t sustain pressure, and we have a lot of continuous low-event hockey, and the Predators don’t have a single shot 8 minutes into the period.
- “What a Saturday night in Smashville – special guests, and let’s get the two points” – priorities, in order, for the night apparently.
- Still a whole lot of nothing as nobody on the Preds can complete a pass or unblocked shot
- Couple of shots from Matt Irwin a mile away from the net, but they were shots! Small victories
- What a fantastic sequence by Nick Bonino and Roman Josi
- Follow that up by Viktor Arvidsson and Rocco Grimaldi and finally Matt Duchene draws a penalty, and folks, we have life in the building
- Mister Twenty Goals Himself, Craig Smith on the power play! Predators 2, Sabres 1 with 6:23 remaining
- The atmosphere has COMPLETELY turned around, it’s special to finally see it.
- A great chance by Forsberg to Duchene who airmails a pass back to Filip Forsberg, but no luck
- The Nashville Predators, folks, have the lead and are turning up the pressure instead of turtling, force the icing call
- I like what I’ve seen from Dante Fabbro tonight – he’s slowly making progress this season.
- A somewhat weak slash by Rasmus Dahlin, but it was to stop Rocco Grimaldi’s great move to get a shot on net and Dahlin heads to the box with 2:30 left
- Oh good, we’re back to 3 forwards, 2 defensemen on the power play
- Buffalo gets a couple of good shots shorthanded, please not this again
- TAKE THE SHOT IF IT COMES, PEKKA
- The Predators have done it, a victory on Saturday night!
- Predators 2, Sabres 1 and folks, it’s nice to see it for once. /
Bryan’s Three Stars of the Game
- Pekka Rinne – Vintage Pekka Rinne, a performance like we’re used to seeing – the man bailing out a team asleep for half the game
- Linus Ullmark – I want to give this to Craig Smith, but Ullmark was insane all night with multiple unbelievable saves
- Craig Smith – he had a great night throughout and then finally got the game-winner on the power play
Tweets of the Night
The best forward on this roster is Roman Josi
— NSH Housecats (@NSHHousecats) January 19, 2020
SO CLOSE pic.twitter.com/IXlCMeGynz
— Bryan Bastin (@projpatsummitt) January 19, 2020
What in the world is this broadcast tonight?!?!? pic.twitter.com/nErk49j1LL
— Ben Altom (@PartyOTSben) January 19, 2020
Another example was that attempted zone entry by Arvy. Puck behind him (poor pass) but he should have still be able to receive it and couldnt. These are what Hynes refers to as “details” that make a difference. https://t.co/B4U9thxiHc
— Barry V (@BaronVonL) January 19, 2020