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Nashville Predators 1, Winnipeg Jets 3: The Nightmare Continues

Posted on by Alex Daugherty

The Predators hosted the Jets Saturday night and you’ll never guess what happened. They lost.

Unsurprisingly, the Jets scored first. From there the Jets dictated the pace of the game, denying any offensive room for the Preds to work and unleashing carefully timed offensive attacks to keep our defense honest.

The Preds would fight back briefly. Ryan Ellis scored from the blue line to tie the game. But the Jets took the lead back 35 seconds later on a goal by Blake Wheeler, leading to more of the same. No space to move, no easy passes, and Michael Hutchinson shut the door the rest of the way with 20 saves.

You don’t need me to tell you, but I will. This is not good people. Not good at all.

Random Observations

  • Zone entries continue to become a problem on the power-play. How can a team be so effective at entering the offensive zone at even strength and so bad when the other team is short-handed?
  • The puck disappeared into Adam Pardy’s pads and I don’t think was ever found. Maybe Adam Pardy is the NHL’s David Blaine and will later ask the ref to check his back pocket… where the puck suddenly appears.
  • Hurling Gabriel Bourque at goalie Michael Hutchinson’s head is probably not what Adam Lowry had in mind. But it happened.
  • Here we go again… Jets score first. Frolik buries a pass from Andrew Ladd. Rinne had no chance. 11-straight games of that.
  • The first 5 minutes of the 2nd period saw a lot of Cullen-Santorelli-Bourque and they were on the puck like crazy. Some solid shifts from that line, but no goals to go with it.
  • Halfway through the game and the shots are even at 9. Jets are dictated the pace and the scoreboard at this point.
  • HUMAN ROCKET SHIP! He sends one on net (much like the Islanders game) and it just goes in! It hit nearly every Jet on the way in. Tie game!
  • Untillll the Jets go back up. Just over 30 seconds later, Blake Wheeler had great position on the rebound and scores easily. 2-1 Jets and they have the lead again.
  • Cody Franson leaves the game with a lower body injury. Knee to knee contact on the boards with Ladd and he went down instantly. Not good. (Edit: he came back in the 3rd… I guess it wasn’t that bad?)
  • Preds miss a couple of perfect chances to tie the game. In one, Forsberg set up Smith perfectly for a shot, but Smith missed the puck. Before that, Smith connected on the pass from Forsberg, but Hutchinson stopped it. This is how it’s been for like 6-7 games it feels like.
  • Of the 18 shots on goal so far, probably 14 have ended up in Hutchinson’s chest.
  • Goalie pulled with over 3 minutes is becoming a thing I’ve seen too much these days.
  • I’ve also seen too many empty net goals scored on the Preds. This one ends 3-1.
  • For the comments below:

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Game

  • Ryan Ellis: a goal was nice, but it was damn lucky goal at that. He played ok.
  • Michael Hutchinson: not gonna lie, he had an easy night… his chest plate got more of a workout than he did. But I guess give him some credit.
  • No one else deserves to be on this list. /

Tweets Of The Night

Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – War-on-Ice – HockeyStats – Natural Stat Trick

Roll the video highlights…


Talking Points