Nashville Predators bounce back with 6-5 win over Columbus Blue Jackets -NHL Update
Nashville had their six-game winning streak disturbed by the Washington Capitals earlier on Tuesday, but the Predators did not let it disturb their winning momentum by taking over the Columbus Blue Jackets in a high scoring contest, 6-5, Thursday night,
December 22, 2011, at the sold-out Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
Columbus had a great run in the opening period which could have easily allowed them to take the contest out of the Nashville Predators hands but got too confident in the remaining 40 minutes as the competitors easily took advantage of the situation and made
a surprising comeback.
"I would say that we played great the first ten or 12 minutes and after that we took bad penalties," Nashville forward, Martin Erat, said. "In the second period, we started playing a sloppy game. After we got a little offensive pressure in their zone, and
that's when they made the turnovers and we capitalized on them."
Mike Fisher opened the scoring with his seventh of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season on their first power play opportunity of the night but Columbus caught first in the next 30 seconds.
Jeff Carter levelled the match 27 seconds after Fisher’s first of the night while adding another goal straight on the power play after Brian McGrattan of Nashville was booked with a five-minute major for interference and game misconduct.
Ryan Johansen potted the third straight nearly two minutes later on the same power play while Carter earned his first hat trick of the regular season at the 16:14 mark.
Except the first goal, all Columbus goals were on the power play which Brian McGrattan certainly might have regretted being called for.
Patric Hornqvist added Nashville’s second to put some life into the team but as soon as Ryan Johansen added another power play goal two minutes later, it looked as if Columbus was going to start another shooting spree but Nick Spaling was quick to react
and killed the momentum to bring the Predators up. Roman Josi added the third Predators goal of the period, sending them into the third period down by one.
David Legwand’s added man advantage goal at the 16:14 mark put the game back in perspective while Martin Erat closed the scoring with his game-winner with nine seconds remaining before the overtime extension was to come into play.
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