Shea Weber leads Nashville Predators over Atlanta Thrashers
Shea Weber, the newly-minted captain of the Nashville Predators, has evolved into one of the National Hockey League’s best young defencemen. He played a starring role for Team Canada during
the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and he shone for the Predators in a 2-1 pre-season win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday night.
The 6ft 4in, 234lb native of Sicamous, British Columbia led the Preds’ attack against the Thrashers, scoring a power-play goal at 11:02 of the third period that proved to be the game-winner.
Weber’s tally was the first power-play goal scored by Nashville during the pre-season.
Sergei Kostitsyn, who was traded to Nashville from the Montreal Canadiens during the off-season, opened the scoring, putting a shot from Weber behind Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec
at 3:06 of the first period.
It would take Atlanta almost a period and a half to score a tying goal. New acquisition Ben Eager answered for the Thrashers in the second frame, using a strong wrist shot to score on
Pekka Rinne to tie the game at a goal apiece. Rinne ended the game with 21 saves, while Pavelec made 29 saves for the Thrashers.
The Thrashers were busy during the off-season, as they acquired forwards Dustin Byfuglien and Ben Eager and defenceman Brent Sopel from the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks. Soon
after his arrival, Byfuglien was converted back into a defenceman, his original position.
Atlanta missed the postseason again in 2009-10, finishing in tenth place in the Eastern Conference. It was another disappointing season for the Thrashers, who have been struggling greatly
in the standings since 2007. Their first and only playoff berth came in the 2006-07 season, and they have yet to return to postseason action.
Coming off of a third-place finish in the Central Division of the Western Conference last season, the Preds made the playoffs once again. They battled hard against the Detroit Red Wings,
and lost defenceman Dan Hamhuis in the process. Unfortunately, Nashville ended up losing the series in six games by a score of four games to two.
With new acquisitions like left-winger Kostitsyn and defenceman Ryan Parent in tow, the Preds hope to build on their 2009-10 season and go further into the playoffs this season.
Nashville and Atlanta are set to square off again in another pre-season game on Wednesday night at 18:00. Both teams will be hoping their new off-season acquisitions can contribute a victory
for their team and the pre-season winds down and the regular season looms.
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