NHL Update: Nashville Predators pound Minnesota Wild 5-1, for sixth straight win
Nick Spaling notched two goals as Nashville Predators matched a franchise record with their sixth straight 5-1 victory over Minnesota Wild at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night.
Marcel Goc and Joel Ward both scored a goal and had an assist each while David Legwand also netted a goal for Nashville, who has now reeled off six consecutive victories. Pekka Rinne turned aside 25 shots in his side's win.
On the other hand, Mikko Koivu registered the lone goal for Minnesota, who has lost its last two games. Jose Theodore was pulled after yielding four goals on 25 shots. Anton Khudobin allowed only one goal on five shots the rest of the way for Minnesota.
“I think the difference was goaltending, especially on the first two goals allowed,” Wild’s Coach Todd Richards said.
Predators got on the board first in eighth minute of the opening period with Legwand’s fourth goal of the season. A give-and-go between Marek Svatos and Legwand was finished when Svatos gave a pass from the left point to the front of the net where Legwand
tipped it in for Predators' 1-0 lead.
Wild took eight minutes to tie the game at 1-1 on a breakaway just as Predators' power-play ended. Koivu skated from the left circle to the front where he flung a backhand past Rinne with an assist from John Madden. It was his 11th goal of the season.
Ward then staked Nashville to a 2-1 lead 63 seconds into the second period. Kevin Klein snapped a shot on net from the high slot that was saved by Theodore, but Ward was there to backhand home the rebound through goalie’s outstretched glove.
“It’s all about momentum and confidence,” Ward said. “We’re just playing with a lot of confidence. We know we had a good trip, but we won’t dwell on that. We just think about what’s going on right now, and we take it period by period. We’re kind of staying
focused within ourselves and the task at hand. Tonight was a good game for us and good execution.”
Rinne made 12 saves in the middle period to keep Predators ahead heading to the third period.
Minnesota got two power-plays in the second period to equalize the game. But Predators are best at killing penalties at home, and Minnesota went 0-for-3 with the advantage.
Rinne helped Predators kill two penalties. He stopped Matt Cullen’s slap shot from the blue line with his glove and made another nice save by stopping Kyle Brodziak’s shot in front of the net.
“That was the momentum change right there,” Rinne said.
Spaling put Predators ahead in fifth minute of the final period, scoring with a wrist shot from near the boards through traffic that beat Minnesota net minder for 3-1 lead.
Next, Spaling padded the margin 4-1 with nearly nine minutes remaining in the third period. Shea Weber slapped a shot on the net but it was stopped. Spaling then collected the rebound and tipped the puck in at the post for his fourth goal of the season.
After giving away back to back goals, it was enough for Theodore and he was pulled by Wild’s Coach Richards. Khubodin replaced him in the third period as Wild's goalie.
“Those were the ones he was gobbling up,” Richards said of Theodore. “We went all last week, and he had about 100 of those that either hit him, or he caught it and the play was done.”
With just seven minutes left in the third period, Goc gave Predators a four-goal advantage at 5-1 with an unassisted goal and thus sealed the win for them. He defeated Khudobin with a wrist shot from the edge of the right circle.
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