Eric Nystrom’s first career four-goal game should have put the exclamation point on an important win for the Nashville Predators tonight in Calgary, but instead the Predators gave up two late goals in the third period and fell in a four-round shootout.
Nystrom played his first 204 NHL games as a member of the Flames, making tonight’s feat all the more special, and it carves out a spot for him in Nashville franchise history, as he set a new individual record for goals in a game. Devan Dubnyk took the loss, looking shaky at times, as Nashville drew to within seven points of Minnesota for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Since the 2005-6 season, tonight marks the 28th 4-goal game by an NHL player. The Predators are joined only by the Tampa Bay Lightning as teams which lost those games (Tampa dropped a loss to San Jose on January 18 despite 4 goals by Martin St. Louis).
Next up, the 23-22-8 Predators move on to Edmonton, where they’ll face the struggling Oilers Sunday night.
Random Observations
- I know Pekka’s hip is still bothering him, but maybe he could lend Dubnyk his glove hand for a few weeks? Yikes… You have to think Carter Hutton gets the start on Sunday.
- Yeah, remember all that praise for the PK unit last night? They coughed up three goals tonight, and it wasn’t all Dubnyk’s fault.
- Paging Mr. Wilson… Mr. Colin Wilson…
- There will be lots of “we earned points in our last X games” talk, but a two-goal lead in the final 10 minutes should lead to a win.
Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – Fancy Stats
Roll the video highlights…
Who was your Predator of the Game?
| Eric Nystrom | 162 |