Nashville Predators thrash Colorado Avalanche 5-1
David Legwand and Cody Franson both scored goals and had an assist in carrying the Nashville Predators to a 5-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche, at Pepsi Centre on Thursday night.
Sergei Kostitsyn and Colin Wilson also tallied goals for Nashville, who have won nine of their previous 11 contests. Pekka Rinne managed a shutout and wound up turning aside 32 shots to record the win. Matt Halischuk added his second career goal for the
victors.
Predators Defenseman Shea Weber said after the game, "I thought we did a really good job defensively tonight. Most of the shots were from the outside."
Matt Duchene netted the lone goal for Colorado, who had a two-game win streak halted. Craig Anderson suffered the defeat after allowing five goals on 28 shots. Kostitsyn took only three minutes in the first period to get Nashville on the board, as he knocked
the puck into the net with his wrist shot for a 1-0 lead.
Nashville then doubled their advantage in the final minutes of opening period. The play was set up by Patric Hornqvist, who slipped a cross-ice pass from below the goal line to Franson, who fired a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle to beat Anderson.
Franson praised his team-mates after the win. He said, “We’re playing well as a team. Everybody is on the same page. The guys have been playing well and burying the chances they’ve gotten.”
About six and a half minutes into the middle stanza, Paul Stastny slotted a shot under Rinne’s leg that seemed to have crossed the goal line, but the referee ruled no goal and signalled for play to continue.
The play was stopped for a video review that appeared to show the puck bouncing in and then back out after hitting the goalie’s pad, and upheld the call on the ice to keep Nashville ahead by two. That proved to be the turning point of the game.
After a goalless second period, Nashville scored three goals in the final period. The Predators struck again for a 3-0 lead in the second minute of final stanza. It started when Shane O'Brien forced a turnover and sent a pass behind the net to Halischuk,
who netted a wraparound goal from the left side.
Legwand put Nashville further ahead with a four-goal advantage at 4-0 a few seconds later. He came down the right side and blasted a wrist shot to the far side from the right face-off circle to beat the Colorado netminder.
Wilson then scored the final goal for the Predators halfway through the final session, as he moved left to right through the slot, and lifted a backhander over Anderson for 5-0 lead.
Finally, Duchene pulled Avalanche within a goal to make it a 5-1 game in the last minutes of the third period. He tapped in his own rebound for his 19th goal of the season, spoiling Rinne’s shutout bid.
An excited Rinne said after the game, “Obviously, every time you get scored on, I’m not happy. But it’s a big win for us and that is the main thing. We’ve been playing pretty well as of late and we’ve been building a lot of confidence. Personally, I feel
good, and the guys are playing well in front of me.”
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