Coming into tonight, the Nashville Predators were only one point behind the Dallas Stars, who have been struggling to win games of late. In a key divisional matchup, Nashville needed a win to leapfrog a rival and keep their push for a playoff spot alive.
This is the point you expect me to say that they failed, but they did exactly the opposite. The Preds pulled through, playing a complete game and securing their 22nd win of the season with a 4-1 decision over the Texas team.
Random Observations
- Early in the 1st period, a Shea Weber blast got past Kari Lehtonen. However, not only did they wave off the goal due to goaltender interference, but they dragged David Legwand to the penalty box. Cody Eakin scored on the ensuing power play. Another goal given up in the first five minutes.
- Weber got one back though, when he threw another shot at the net on the power play.
- Carter Hutton was magnificent in net. He stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced tonight, including 19 in the third period. Whether Dubnyk gets the start right away in the Preds’ trip to western Canada is anyone’s guess, but wouldn’t it be nice to have a goalie controversy over who is playing the best?
- Good thing that Siegfried & Roy were there tonight for Hutton. In the early stages of the game plenty of rubber was clanking off the pipe. It’s better to lucky than good, and Hutton sure had some lucky breaks.
- I’m not the biggest fan of stupid and staged fights, but that one with Kevin Klein and Antoine Roussel was one of those heat of the moment fights that shouldn’t go anywhere. Each one gave as good as he got, and I’m sure your jaw dropped as far to the ground as mine as you were watching it. Pretty sure their punches/60 was over 9000.
- Roman Josi extends his point streak to four games, picking up six points in that span.
- Let’s just stop for a second and all appreciate that awesome behind-the-back pass by Colin Wilson on Mike Fisher’s goal. Wilson got a head of speed in the Stars’ zone and instead of trying to force a shot he made a heads up play to the trailer. Fisher didn’t miss.
- Were you the one making audible bird calls during the game all night? Fess up.
Boxscore – Game Summary – Event Summary – Fancy Stats
Roll the video highlights…
