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Nashville Predators 3, Minesota Wild 0: SHUTOUT SHUTOUT SHUTOUT

Posted on by Kristopher Martel

I had a feeling when Carter Hutton was given the nod over a “whatever seems to be going wrong with him” Pekka Rinne, he was going to do whatever it took to make sure he earned himself a second go in net for the Predators.

By god I think he did it against Minnesota.

Stopping 29 shots against the Wild, he made it look all too easy. Which is quite concerning if you’re looking at Rinne on the bench; making you question if Hutton just had an amazing game or if there has been something seriously wrong with the Finnish netminder that’s decreased his level of play.

Either way, I was vastly impressed with the level of play from Hutton tonight. Surprised? No. I know Hutton has that ability inside of him, he’s done it before. Now if he can pull off the same thing against the Blackhawks on Tuesday, assuming he gets the start.

Random Observations

  • 84 seconds into the game and Eric Nystrom has a two-game goal scoring streak. I can kind of believe that right now as no one else can string together any consistency for Nashville.
  • I find it odd that fans still boo Ryan Suter. It makes no sense anymore. Let it go. It’s like an old man yelling at a cloud.
  • Hutton has been fantastic to start the game. No one should have doubted it. Rinne’s clearly not all there right now and Hutton has been itching for playing time.
  • Nashville’s power play has been better lately, but man Minnesota’s penalty kill smothers any chance the Predators try and generate
  • Jason Zucker is pretty good at hockey. At least he has been in this game so far. Nearly scored shorthanded for Minnesota.
  • Speaking of penalty kills, the Predators actually held their own against the Wild. Granted, Minnesota has scored that much on its road power play, but still.
  • Hutton looks like a real-deal NHL starting goaltender right now. Making tremendous save after tremendous save. Good for him.
  • Nashville’s play near the blue-ice in front of Hutton has been tremendous so far. Much better than it has been for Rinne in the past handful of games. Maybe this is a wake-up call.
  • Holy crap Filip Forsberg. Part of me thought he looked a bit disinterested in the game this evening, but he just deked Jonas Brodin like his career depended on it.
  • I’ve never understood why people try to get in Fisher’s face. It never ends well for the instigating party.
  • Kevin Fiala back-checking??? My word, where did he learn that?
  • Craig Smith has some amazing breakaway speed when he turns on the jets.
  • Roman Josi. Swiss perfection. The man can do no wrong. He will shoot it until he finds the back of the net.
  • Prevent defense never seems to workout and I don’t like when Nashville plays it, which is what they’re doing…and it’s scary.
  • Late penalty kill for Nashville…what could go wrong???
  • FILIP. FORSBERG. EMPTY NET. You guys…is Hutton going to get the shutout?
  • Carter. Hutton. Shutout city.

OTF’s Super Duper Stars of the Game

  • Carter Hutton: Dude wants to play more games. Dude earned himself another start after tonight
  • Roman Josi: There should be no way anyone thinks he’s underrated. If you do, start watching hockey.
  • Eric Nystrom: Why the hell not. Nystrom started the scoring and had probably his best game in a Predators sweater all season long./

Tweets of the Game

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

Talking Points