Edmonton Oilers burn Nashville Predators 6-3 -NHL Update
Nashville thought that going up against the weak Edmonton team would be an easy win for them but the Oilers shocked and humiliated Predators, 6-3, Tuesday night, March 20, 2012, at the sold-out Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
Surprisingly, veteran right winger, Ales Hemsky, rose to the occasion as he picked up his first career hat trick in his 550th game ever since he was picked up by Edmonton Oilers back as the 13th overall draft picked during round-one
of the 2001 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft.
"The last time I had a hat trick was as a junior player," Hemsky said. "It was a different type of hockey."
"I can't believe that," Oilers’ head coach, Tom Renney, added. "That is amazing. I hope he has many more. He is more of a passer, there are no two ways about that. He is as unselfish a guy as we have."
Edmonton had only 20 shots throughout the contest and with the number of attempts going in, Nashville scrambled to change goalies as they took out Pekka Rinne and put in Anders Lindback.
Devan Dubnyk wowed the whole crowd and the players as he blocked shot after shot letting only three goals past in after a total of 44 attempts.
"Devan was outstanding," Renney said. "We had a problem with puck management, and Devan was there and square. He became even more competitive as the game went on. That is what we need from our goaltending.”
Darcy Hordichuk added the first of the night and his 2011-2012 NHL regular season followed by Ales Hemsky, taking the total to 2-0 with less than four minutes remaining in the opener.
David Legwand potted Nashville’s first with seven seconds remaining.
Hemsky kicked off the scoring in round-two with Ryan Jones following for the second straight on a power play. Patric Hornqvist attempted to kill the Edmonton momentum with a power play goal at 12:35 but Hemsky’s hat trick completing goal made it useless.
David Legwand fired off Nashville’s last of the night 4:18 into round-three while Sam Gagner’s 16th of the season at 18:19 capped it off.
Edmonton has the next against Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday while Nashville Predators are set to playoff against Pittsburgh Penguins on the same day.
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