The Nashville Predators finished off their preseason schedule in style today, putting together a 3-0 win on the road against Alex Ovechkin and the high-flying Washington Capitals. Pekka Rinne turned aside 22 shots for the win, and Joel Ward scored twice (once shorthanded) for the Preds.
Follow after the jump for a few other highlights, and the advanced stats from today’s game…
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Cal O’Reilly also made a big impact, opening the scoring in the second period as he centered a line with Steve Sullivan (who had two assists on the day) and Patric Hornqvist. You really couldn’t ask for a better tune-up for the regular season, beating a Cup-contender on the road, shutting down the biggest offensive juggernaut in the league, and seeing your #1 goalie lock down the shutout.
The lineup we saw this afternoon is quite likely what will open the season Saturday night against Anaheim. Jonas Andersson, Sergei Kostitsyn, Jamie Lundmark, Wade Belak and Alexander Sulzer were scratched. The defense pairings were generally Suter/Weber, Bouillon/Klein, and Parent/Franson, while the forward lines were Erat-Lomardi-Wilson, Ward-Legwand-Dumont, Sullivan-O’Reilly-Hornqvist, and Smithson-Goc-Tootoo.
For an explanation of the table below, head over here…
| Even Strength | Individual Totals | Team Totals While Player Is On Ice | ||||||||||
| Player | Pos | EV TOI | Shots | Shts Blkd | Missed Shts | Blocks | SOG For | SOG Ag | SOG +/- | Tot SF | Tot SA | Corsi |
| Jordin Tootoo | R | 14:03 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 16 | -3 |
| Matthew Lombardi | C | 13:48 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| David Legwand | C | 13:40 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 12 | 1 |
| Joel Ward | R | 13:24 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 5 |
| Marcel Goc | C | 13:14 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 11 | 14 | -3 |
| Jerred Smithson | R | 13:05 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 11 | 13 | -2 |
| J-P Dumont | R | 12:41 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 13 | -2 |
| Colin Wilson | C | 12:38 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| Martin Erat | R | 12:29 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Cal O’Reilly | C | 10:37 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 8 | 10 | -2 |
| Steve Sullivan | L | 9:48 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 9 | -1 |
| Patric Hornqvist | R | 9:36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 6 | 12 | -6 |
| Shea Weber | D | 18:29 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 7 | -2 | 10 | 16 | -6 |
| Kevin Klein | D | 18:14 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 18 | 22 | -4 |
| Ryan Suter | D | 17:48 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 14 | -4 |
| Francis Bouillon | D | 17:44 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 17 | 2 |
| Ryan Parent | D | 16:14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 0 |
| Cody Franson | D | 13:28 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 8 | 8 |
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Who is your Predator of the Game?
| Pekka Rinne, 22 saves & shutout | 71 |
| Steve Sullivan, 2 assists | 5 |
| Joel Ward, 2 goals | 101 |