Jordin Tootoo helps Nashville Predators beat Atlanta Thrashers 6-3
Jordin Tootoo lit the lamp twice and had an assist while Pekka Rinne turned away 33 shots to help the Nashville Predators beat the Atlanta Thrashers 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Sergei Kostitsyn scored twice and dished out an assist while Matt Halischuk had a goal and an assist for the Predators, who earned their 23rd home victory. Patric Hornqvist had three helpers for Nashville, which has won
eight of its previous 10 games played during the season.
With this victory, the Predators have 97 points and moved into the fourth place in the Western Conference rankings. While, Nashville sits one point ahead of the Phoenix Coyotes and the Los Angeles Kings, both of which are in the fifth place.
Blake Wheeler tallied two goals while Nik Antropov also had a goal for the Thrashers, who came in 2-3-0 in their past five games. The first goal-tender, Chris Mason, was benched in the middle frame after allowing four goals on 13 shots. Ondrej
Pavelec replaced him, who then made 9 saves for the rest of the day.
The Thrashers’ head coach, Craig Ramsay, said, “We waited until a little too late to get our goofy things to happen for us and score some goals. I can’t blame anybody. When they got a chance, it went in.”
Halischuk put Nashville on the board in the sixth minute of the first period when he back-handed the puck into the net from the slot for his third goal of the season.
Nashville doubled its advantage with less than a minute to left to play in the first stanza when Tootoo chipped a loose puck from the front for his first goal of the night.
Kostitsyn gave Nashville a 3-0 lead with less than a second remaining on the clock when he unleashed a powerful wrist-shot past Atlanta's net-minder.
The Predators took a 4-0 lead in the second minute of the middle frame with Tootoo’s second goal of the game. The goal came when Halischuk sent a pass toward the slot, where Tootoo banged the puck home.
Nashville extended its lead to 5-0 in the third minute of the final period, when Kostitsyn scored off a pass from Cody Franson for his 22nd goal of the season.
The Thrashers got their first goal of the game less than a minute later, when Wheeler unleashed a wrist-shot past the Predators’ net-minder to make it 5-1.
Mike Fisher pulled Nashville with another goal in the seventh minute of the third session when he wristed a shot off a nice pass from Kostitsyn that dodged Pavelec to make it 6-1.
The Thrashers were able to reduce their deficit to 6-2 late in the final frame with Wheeler’s second goal of the game. Antropov also scored to pull Atlanta to 6-3 in the 18th minute of the third.
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