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Nashville Predators 2, Arizona Coyotes 5: Noche de los Yotes

The Nashville Predators found themselves in Phoenix Thursday night after a high-speed match filled with rough stuff against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday. After a series of assaults by Mark Stone and Ryan Reaves, the Predators were forced to play against the Arizona Coyotes without Filip Forsberg, who’d been riding a hot streak, scoring a point in each of the first six games. Unfortunately, his streak would come to an end, stopped by Vegas goons.  Daniel Carr—who was recently waived, cleared, and remained with the NHL club—started in his place, with the lines otherwise remaining the same.

The first period started fairly slow, but saw a flurry of action from the Predators around Darcy Kuemper’s goal. However, nothing materialized and as play went back toward Saros, Ryan Ellis made a pass with a little less power than was needed and it got deflected to the tape of Christian Dvorak, who easily put it behind Saros to put the Coyotes up 1-0.

Soon after, Phil Kessel staged a performance worthy of an Oscar to put Ryan Johansen in the penalty box for hooking. As a result, Phil Kessel, master thespian, was able to score on the resulting power play, putting the Coyotes up 2-0. Mercifully, the period would end with this score despite another power play chance by Arizona. It should be noted that Predators registered just three shots on goal.

The second period saw some early action as Juuse Saros stopped a shot from Carl Soderberg on a Coyotes 3-on-1, which immediately turned into a Predators goal from Dante Fabbro, making things a bit closer at 2-1. Assists went to Kyle Turris and Ryan Ellis.

During the course of a Coyotes power play, brought on by a slashing call against Dan Hamhuis, Jakob Chychrun took a pass on the weak side and found the side of the net wide open. He easily popped the puck in for a goal, putting Arizona up 3-1.

The third period was largely uneventful until Yannick Weber committed a cross check that put Arizona on the power play. Phil Kessel, who had scored on the power play earlier, did it  once again to put the Coyotes of Arizona up 4-1.

As time dwindled away, Nick Bonino deflected a shot from Ryan Ellis that found the back of the net. Cutting the lead down to 4-2, they immediately tried to capitalize on it by pulling Saros from the net. Within seconds, Carl Soderberg potted the empty net goal, putting the Coyotes back up by three at 5-2.

Mercifully, the clock expired without further incident.

Random Observations

  • Juuse Saros gets the start…BRING THE JUIIIIIIIICE!
  • Oh, ugly situation with what appears to be a puck to the base of Jordan Oesterle’s skull. He was upright leaving, but he wasn’t skating. I hope he’s okay.
  • Everybody just wants you to know that Daniel Carr has a great opportunity here tonight.
  • Juuse had a great save, maybe that will give him some confidence. (It gives me a little confidence)
  • Well, Dvorak scored a beauty. Unfortunately, Ryan Ellis should get the assist.
  • Ryan Johansen got called for Phil Kessel’s embellishment, there.
  • First, I’m not going to swear. Second, I want to swear.
  • Oh, that Coyote howling is almost as obnoxious as all those empty seats at the arena.
  • Wow, more hooking, Josi in the box. Coyotes back on the power play.
  • Okay, penalty killed…get your heads back in the game boys.
  • Turris seems to have replaced Carr on the second line. I can get behind this move.
  • Johansen’s backdoor pass to Arvidsson was a beauty, but Viktor got the angle wrong.
  • Oh, look! A power play for Nashville! You know who’s good on the power play? Filip Forsberg.
  • Terrible passing on the now expired power play. Is this the same team that beat Vegas on Tuesday?
  • I’d like to see Ekholm tussle with Kessel. I’m glad that period ended. I hope a different team comes out of the locker room for the second period.
  • Everybody looks pretty casual on the bench at the start of the second.
  • DANTE FABBRO SCORES!
  • Preds power play? Dare I endeavor to hope?
  • BIG effort by Arvidsson on the power play. Even if no one scored, they’re playing with intensity.
  • 4 on 4 action? HUGE SAVE BY SAROS! (they needed that save.) 4 on 4 expires with no goals.
  • Getting a little punchy out there.
  • Great save by Saros on Grabner’s breakaway. Of course, it leads to a slashing call against Dan Hamhuis, so the Coyotes go on the power play.
  • Crap. 3-1.
  • Okay, so during the intermission, I heated up some leftover chili, right? But, get this, I added queso from a local Mexican restaurant to it. It really kicked things up a notch…speaking of kicking things up a notch, you know who needs to kick things up a notch? The Predators. With about 3 minutes left in the second, they have 10 shots. And you know what else? The Coyotes have had a crap-ton of odd-man rushes that have, mercifully, been stifled by Juuse Saros. The defense really needs to get it together.
  • End of the second, maybe the Predators will add a little queso to their chili.
  • The third period starts, I have nothing to say three minutes in.
  • Coyotes are on the power play…it’s about 11:10 local time, I start to question why I do this to myself. And just as the thought crosses my mind, Phil Kessel scores another power play goal.
  • Roman Josi gets called for cross checking. He’s not keeping his cool. Coyotes are back on the power play. Is this the Phil Kessel hat trick we haven’t been waiting for? (not yet)
  • Josi is out of the box and still looks angry, he yelled at the ref again. Will he try to fight someone again tonight? I hope not.
  • The Preds are on the power play. Duchene had a nice little shot. I mean, it didn’t go in or anything, but it looked nice.
  • Been thinking about William Wordsworth lately—
    The world is too much with us; late and soon,
    Dumping and chasing, we lay waste our powers;—
    Little we see in Arizona that is ours;
    We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
  • Oh, hold on, someone scored! It was, uh, Nick Bonino deflecting a Ryan Ellis shot. Nice job. I guess that’s 4-2.
  • Crap, empty net goal. Coyotes up 5-2.
  • Oh, now a power play for the Coyotes. Cool. (I just want to go to sleep)/

OTFs Super Duper Stars of the Game

  1. Ryan Ellis – picked up a few points
  2. Kyle Turris – also picked up a few points
  3. Fans who stayed up to watch the game – You are clearly the real heroes. Go ahead and take the day off tomorrow.

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