x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Nashville Predators 1, New York Rangers 2: Sleepy Saturday

The Nashville Predators played a rare Saturday afternoon game versus the New York Rangers. As this was the first game of November, Bridgestone Arena was decked out in purple for Hockey Fights Cancer.  Juuse Saros was in net for the Predators while Alexandar Goergiev stopped pucks for the Rangers.

The first period started off with quick tripping penalty against Ryan Johansen, putting the Rangers on the power play early. Despite several good chances, the Predators were able to kill it off. What followed was roughly ten minutes of sloppy hockey by both teams. The Predators were finally able to establish an attack in the offensive zone and drew a crosschecking penalty on Brady Skjei, putting them on the power play. This penalty was also killed by the Rangers.

With around four minutes left, Filip Chytil brought the puck down the ice and put it in the back of the net to put the Rangers up 1-0. Immediately afterwards, Mattias Ekholm was called for interference. Once again, the Predators found themselves on the penalty kill. They were able, however, to kill that one off as well and time expired soon after to bring the period to a close.

The second period began with little to no energy until Austin Watson and Michael Haley engaged in what many would call an energy fight. Not much fighting occurred and there wasn’t a discernible increase in energy afterwards. However, during the aftermath Ryan Strome scored off of a nice pass by Artemi Panarin, putting the Rangers up 2-0. Soon after, Matt Duchene got to visit Austin Watson in the penalty box after what can best be described as a phantom hooking call.  Once again, the penalty was successfully killed off.

Eventually, the Rangers did something the referees were unable to ignore and called an interference penalty against Tony DeAngelo, putting the Predators on the power play. The power play unit wasted no time finding twine as Viktor Arvidsson redirected a pass from Filip Forsberg that made it past Georgiev, cutting the Rangers’ lead in half and putting the game back in reach for the Predators. The period ended with a crosscheck on Mattias Ekholm by Ryan Strome that resulted in a near-brawl between both teams.

The third period opened with Predators on the power play. The Rangers were able to kill it off despite quite a few chances. As the period continued, the Predators applied heavy pressure, but nothing came of it. Juuse Saros stood on his head to hold the Rangers off after they’d taken up residence in the Predators’ defensive zone. Ryan Ellis was called for slashing, sending him to the penalty box and the Predators on the penalty kill.

Soon after the Predators killed off the penalty, they got their chance on the power play. A few good chances later, the Rangers killed off the penalty. A great steal by Johansen in front of the net led to a power play after he was tripped. The Predators pulled Saros with 1:40 remaining to give the Predators a two-man advantage. However, it wasn’t enough and time expired with the Predators losing 2-1.

Random Observations

  • Neither of these teams features Cody McLeod. Nice.
  • Fabbro almost snuck one in.
  • That got boring quick. Ready for some action.
  • Great chance by Kyle Turris on the power play.
  • I guess with the recent rash of short-handed goals, the Predators assume they will benefit from being a man down.
  • At least they’re killing them off, if not scoring.
  • This game will be won by the team that tries. Not necessarily the team that tries hard, but just tries.
  • Unfortunate the one of the Predators’ best penalty killers is serving a penalty for “fighting” while his team is on the penalty kill.
  • Nice energy from the Preds while short-handed.
  • Hey, look, it’s JOFA!
  • Great power play goal!
  • Turris has had some great looks. Imagine if he wasn’t on the fourth line.
  • Is that PP Unit Nick Bonino?
  • Preds are putting a lot of pressure on the Rangers, hopefully it will pay off soon.
  • Saros is standing on his head.
  • Somewhere, in the basement of Bridgestone Arena, someone is playing sad Adele songs.
  • Let’s hope this power play works out.
  • Just not enough./

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Afternoon

3rd Star – Dante Fabbro: I think he looked solid.

2nd Star – Juuse Saros: Regardless of the outcome, he stood on his head and kept it closer than it should have been.

1st Star – Viktor Arvidsson: He scored.

Tweets of the Afternoon

Game Video