Nashville Predators dominate the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 – NHL Recap
Jonathon Blum notched the power-play goal in the final period and Pekka Rinne stopped 39 shots to help the Nashville Predators defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 on Saturday night for their fourth win in five games.
Blake Geoffrion and David Legwand also lit the lamp, while Patric Hornqvist dished out two assists for the Predators, who moved back into the eighth place in the National Hockey League Western Conference.
“Obviously, you hope for that,” Predators captain Shea Weber said. “You never really know. It’s good to see. We’ve got some great young players. We always draft well, and it’s good to see them being so successful early in their career.”
With this victory, the Predators have 84 points and sit only one point above both the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames. They are tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the seventh place in the Western Conference.
"To come in here and get a win like this, especially in a playoff race, is awesome," Geoffrion said.
Danny Cleary tallied the lone goal for the Red Wings, who had won their previous four games. Goal-tender Jimmy Howard allowed all four goals on 36 shots in the defeat.
Detroit defenseman, Niklas Lidstrom was disappointed that his side could not make their chances they had and said, “They (Predators) got the winning goal on their power play, and we had our chances late on the power play we had, as well. We couldn’t capitalize
on it.”
The Red Wings got on the board in the last minute of the opening period when Henrik Zetterberg grabbed the puck along the back boards and centred a pass to Cleary who tapped in his 23rd goal of the season.
Predators pulled even in the ninth minute of the second period, when rookie Geoffrion tipped in his third goal of the season from in front, off an assist from Patric Hornqvist.
Nashville took a 2-1 lead in the eighth minute of the final period when Blum whacked in a rebound off a shot from Hornqvist.
Detroit could not capitalise on their chances the rest of the way, as Rinne held strong, turning away 20 shots in the final period.
“At the end there, disc was bouncing everywhere and you know I got lucky there a few times. Sometimes you get the breaks.” Rinne said.
Rinne blocked Tomas Holmstrom's shot from the right boards with less than one minute to play, and just 10 seconds later, Legwand netted the game-winner to seal the victory for the Predators.
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