Nashville Predators hopeful of comeback at home in Game 3 vs. Phoenix Coyotes -NHL Playoffs Preview
Phoenix has just purely amazed so far in the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Western Conference Playoff Semi-Final series against Nashville as Coyotes lead 2-0 with Predators down and closer to elimination.
Now with the series heading to Nashville territory, Predators are hoping that their wilderness will prove to be the need of the hour and allow them to comeback and force a Game 5 competition with both teams tied.
"We realize that Nashville is going to come out and play probably their best game of the series in Game 3, probably out of desperation, and we have to make sure our game is where it needs to be to give us the best chance to win," Phoenix head coach, Dave
Tippett, said.
Ending their overtime streak in Game 2, Phoenix proved to the world that they did not always need to head out of regulation to win and could take charge wherever needed. Young goalie, Mike Smith, was rested well in the second match as the Coyotes offence
took charge instead of being a defensive based game for once.
Nashville’s veteran goalie, Pekka Rinne on the other hand, has not been playing up to par for the team in the past two games as he let Phoenix score nine goals, more than he did against Detroit Red Wings in all five games they played.
Whatever Rinne is going through at the moment, his team is still confident that he will eventually step up and get back into form.
"He's a very good goaltender," Phoenix centre, Antoine Vermette, said. "It's something unusual. You don't see that many goals usually against this guy. So yeah, our approach has been good. That being said, we're going to have to do it again. We're going
to have to create scoring chances."
Vermette and Ray Whitney have been the deciding players for Phoenix as they have four points in the last three games carrying over from the series against San Jose Sharks.
Coyotes will be going in full force but Nashville could also get the boost they needed as Game 3 will be at the Bridgestone Arena in Tennessee on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, at 9:00 PM ET.
Tags: