Earlier this summer we reviewed the Top 10 Moments of the Regular Season, and now seems a fine time to look back at the team’s playoff run…
Shea Weber had sent Game 5 game into overtime in dramatic fashion with his last minute laser right by Ray Emery. The extra period began and the Predators were looking for a hero. But who would it be? Erat? Kostitsyn? Hornqvist? Fisher? Legwand? Nope. Instead, not two minutes into overtime, the Predators’ third line got to work:
In a way, it was the perfect “Predator” goal. Blum, a late-season call up from the Predators’ deep farm system, sent the puck along the boards to Nick Spaling, another Admiral, who dropped it to Jordin Tootoo, a Predator staple who came alive in the post-season, who sent it in front to Jerred Smithson, a grinder in every sense of the word and one of the hardest workers on the team, for the game-winner. It wouldn’t have been fitting for the goal that set so many Predator benchmarks to be a Kostitsyn spin-o-rama or an Erat snipe. Nope, this one was spawned from gritty play and determination by the players who define those words night in and night out.
Smithson’s goal sent the Predators home up 3 games to 2 and gave the team a chance to clinch their first ever post-season series win. It will certainly go down in Predators’ lore and might even be the top goal in franchise history. Stay tuned for more from this series…