Nashville Predators holds off Anaheim Ducks to move up in the Western Conference –NHL Update
Nashville Predators are thirsty for victories as they extended their winning streak to five in a row on Thursday night at the sold-out Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Anaheim Ducks got their four-game winning streak snapped by Nashville as they
lost in a close 5-4 matchup.
Anaheim opened up the doors for Dallas and Calgary to take them over and throw them down and out of their hard earned playoff’s spots.
Predators moved up to the fifth spot in the ever changing Western Conference. They are two points above Chicago and below Phoenix by three, with 90 points.
Sergei Kostitsyn was looking for a hat-trick which almost caused Predators to lose when his teammates fed him the puck twice but couldn’t avail the opportunities.
With those missed chances, Anaheim scored three goals in 10 minutes during the final period.
"Everybody was trying to get Sergei the hat trick," Predators coach Barry Trotz said, he was also frustrated at his players for being so careless during the third period. "It's not the time of the year or the team that you want to do that against."
Kostitsyn and Nick Spaling scored three successive goals nearly halfway through the first to take an early 3-0 lead. Corey Perry tipped in his first of the night with four minutes remaining.
Nashville’s right wing Jordin Tootoo, who’s been dealing with injuries all season, finally had the opportunity to score.
It was the only goal in the second period, with less than two minutes remaining and Tootoo fired it from the circle, through Dan Ellis.
Jonas Huller started the match for Anaheim and was replaced nearly 15 minutes in after Kostitsyn’s 19th of the season when he blocked only six of nine.
He was substituted by Dan Ellis, a former Predators’ goaltender, who was able to block 17 of 19 attempts.
Pekka Rinne proved why he’s one of the best goalies around (a little behind Boston’s Tim Thomas according to stats). He made 34 out of 38 saves for Nashville.
Nashville gave over 10 minutes in penalty time during the final period, but that didn’t stop David Legwand from scoring shorthanded, 9:29 in the final period.
Teemu Selanne took charge and scored 10 seconds later and another one at the 15:14 mark, both assisted by Ryan Getzlaf on power plays.
Corey Perry shot back a puck that was kicked out by Nashville defensemen, Ryan Suter, which went through Rinne with 27 seconds remaining.
If Legwand had not scored, they would have forced overtime which could have been in favour of Ducks.
Anaheim stands still at the eighth spot and faces Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.
Nashville Predators go up against Dallas Stars on Saturday, following a tough matchup against league leaders, Vancouver Canucks, on Tuesday.
Tags: