Last night, the Predators almost shot themselves in the foot by blowing a three-goal lead in a single period. Well, nothing is better for getting back on the horse than playing the worst team in the league. Even though Nashville was showing signs of fatigue, they were able to take advantage of Buffalo’s depleted roster.
Shea Weber, Craig Smith, Colin Wilson, and Nick Spaling all had two-point nights. Carter Hutton has probably been taking notes while having the best seat in the house to watch Pekka Rinne. Hutton played well tonight, only surrendering a power play goal while facing 24 shots. Say what you will about their opponent, it was a good overall team effort tonight. Preds beat Sabres 4-1.
Random Observations
- Congratulations to Craig Smith for hitting the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career. In a nice, round coincidence, he becomes the 20th player in franchise history to do so. Here’s hoping to plenty more, kid.
- How about the play of Colin Wilson recently? It took him a couple of games to get used to the top line, but he seems to be picking it up, at least for now. There are still plenty of games to play before we can really pass judgement, but I really like him playing with Smith. Though, I like anyone playing with Smith, so…
- WHO EVEN IS NICK SPALING?! Recently, Spals has been deflecting pucks like he’s a Jedi being shot at by a battle droid. His goal tonight, 13th on the year, bumped him up to fourth on the Preds’ leader board. Yes, really. Who wants to bet he’ll get 30 points this year?
- No idea how or why Paul Gaustad got the book thrown at him tonight. I didn’t see anything egregious by him, but maybe you all saw something I didn’t. Thoughts?
- So much ice time for Rich Clune. Soooo much ice time.
Two wins in a row! Maybe if they can keep up this pace they… wait. *checks the back-to-back set this weekend.* Oh. Oh, man. Well, thanks for the slight reprieve, Buffalo.
Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – Fancy Stats
Roll the video highlights…