Tag: AHL

NSH claims 1st in League after OT Win over DAL

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Source: John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images

Source: John Russell/NHLI via Getty Images

Though it landed in overtime, the Predators captured the all-important two points to claim first in not only the Western Conference, but the entire League. Wowza. Or, as Sean McIndoe so eloquently put it:

Did the Predators ruin a bunch of predictions for the 2014-15 NHL season? Yea, I am going to go ahead and say that’s a big y-e-s to that one. It’s certainly not a bad thing. No one, not even the loyalest of fans, could have imagine that the Nashville Predators would be 27-9-4 at the beginning of January. And no one surely could’ve imagined that would be good enough to take the League. A team from Nashville?

I know, world; it’s hard to believe a bunch of hillbillies could muster the best team in the league. I must ask, though, as to why that always comes up. None of these guys [players], let alone the majority of the staff, administration, organization, what have you, aren’t even from Tennessee! Haters gonna hate. Shake it off.

SCRATCHES: Anton Volchenkov

First Period:

  • Shea Weber set the game in motion at 15:27 with a signature slapshot past Kari Lehtonen for his ninth goal of the season. Mike Ribeiro (27) and Roman Josi (19) collect the assists.
  • Nashville would end the first period leading the Stars 1-0.

Second Period:

  • Jason Spezza would tie the game at 12:51, his seventh goal of the season.
  • In his NHL debut, nonetheless, Miikka Salomaki would claim his first career NHL goal at 16:47, pushing Nashville back into the lead 2-1. Roman Josi (20) and Calle Jarnkrok (6) collected the assists.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAHn4Xf3A7w
  • With just two seconds left in the period, Trevor Daley would sink one past Pekka Rinne to tie the game at two heading into the third.

Third Period:

  • Though it falls in the books that there were no goals tallied in the third period, a different story could be said for Preds fans. In a battle to get the puck to the net, Craig Smith got tied up with Kari Lehtonen, which allowed Filip Forsberg to sweep in for the score. Lindy Ruff and the Dallas bench called foul, claiming Smith was keeping Lehtonen from covering the post. Though originally called a goal, the play was then reversed in a matter of Smith committed “incidental contact” on Lehtonen. Of course, on review, it is clear that Jason Demers is crosschecking Smith into Lehtonen, thus causing the “incidental contact”, but it is all in the books at this point.

Overtime:

  • In a game that should’ve ended in regulation, Shea Weber sealed the victory in favor of Nashville just seventeen seconds into overtime, his second of the night and 10th goal of the season. Mike Fisher (7) and Colin Wilson (13) picked up the assists on Weber’s game winning goal.

Game. Set. Match. With the anticipated two points, the Predators bumped the Anaheim Ducks from the top of the Western Conference and League standings. However, Nashville isn’t out of the clear; both they and Anaheim share 58 points, but because the Ducks have played two more games, the Predators notch the top spot. With that, in order to push further ahead, Nashville will need to beat Minnesota tomorrow in regulation (or at least get one point) and hope that Anaheim gets steamrolled by the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

So Preds fans, bask in the glory that is top of the Central Division, Western Conference, and League.
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Preds recall Stalberg and Salomaki

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PicMonkey Collage

Early last night, just before the Admirals took on the Grand Rapid Griffins, Admirals Roundtable posted something quite interesting to Twitter:

…And, sure enough, it was announced officially from the Predators early this morning in wake of Nashville’s bout against the L.A. Kings this afternoon:

As it says in the Tweet, this is Miikka Salomaki’s first recall in his career, which means this may be his first time hitting the big boy ice. We assume Viktor Stalberg is just as ecstatic.

With a recalls, that means someone isn’t in tip-top shape. Taylor Beck was announced as placed on the IR moments after the announcement of Stalberg and Salomaki, and then, shortly after, Matt Cullen was also placed on the IR. Also noteworthy is the fact that James Neal left the ice early yesterday during practice, but that’s just speculation of an injury or the evasion of one.

Preds fall to Hawks 3-1; Time to Rest Rinne?

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Source: Kristen Jerkins Photography

Source: Kristen Jerkins Photography

Nashville hasn’t lost a home game since being pummeled 3-0 by the Penguins on October 25th, but another one was bound to happen sooner than later. Unfortunately for Preds fans, it came at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks tonight. What could add insult to injury is the fact that Chicago played the Montreal Canadiens last night at home, which usually puts said team at a disadvantage compared to a team [Nashville] who has a day to rest. Leave it to Chicago to bypass that hindrance and jump the Predators in the Central Division standings. You read that correctly:
Screen shot 2014-12-06 at 8.49.31 PMLooking at the glass-half-full, this loss wasn’t as devastating (stats wise) as it might feel; especially if you have to listen to belligerent Hawks “fans” as you leave the arena tonight. Though Nashville was only given two powerplay chances and managed to detour Chicago’s four chances, those were still two advantages the Predators failed to capitalize on that could’ve changed the game. However, the Blackhawks do currently hold the best penalty kill in the league, but that’s no excuse. The Predators are now 1-for-45 on powerplay goals at home this season; 28th in league just above the Wild and the Sabres. It is a weakness in advantage that is slowly catching up to the Predators as they push forward into the season.

Another factor to look at is impact on Pekka Rinne. Though there is no way you’d rest him while playing divisional opponents, when is the man going to get a break? Rinne has appeared in the 23 games thus far, whereas Carter Hutton has only seen three games worth of ice time. Yes, Pekka has been the much needed asset for securing many of Nashville’s 17 wins, but it may be time to give the Finnish Phenom a rest or two. Perhaps that will be the case for Tuesday’s game against Colorado; though a Central Division opponent, they sit four rankings below the Predators in sixth. However, ranking position means nothing if you’re goaltender isn’t on point, but Hutton has had enough rest and might want to stretch his legs. Truly, the only other time Pekka might legitimately get a break is on the 22nd when Nashville goes into Columbus. Yes, Pekka Rinne has saved many a butt and missing him from the net is definitely a risk (See last season), but starting him every single game is also a risk. You may play your best golf with your 9-iron, but eventually you’ll need your putter.

Kudos to Colin Wilson tonight for not allowing the Blackhawks to celebrate a goose egg tonight. His wrister past former Mississippi RiverKings (and Milwaukee Admirals, yea) goaltender, Scott Darling was his sixth for the season; assisted by Victor Bartley (1) and Mike Fisher (2). If you are stuck on the Mississippi RiverKings mention, that’s because it’s a Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) team and he is the first of said league to make it to the NHL. Jumping around that stat, Colin Wilson is certainly on his way to having one of the best seasons of his career. I mean, this kid went from constantly being tossed into Trotzy’s Doghouse to actually getting ice time to find his comfort zone. He has put up great numbers in the past, but I am foreseeing a much better performance from the 25-year-old under Laviolette’s system for sure.

Welp, don’t get too down, Preds fans; it’s Saturday night and, just remember: the Predators are doing 100x better than the Titans and shhh! Hockey’s not supposed to do better than football!

Preds Win second straight SO; Rout Kings 4-3

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Source: Brooks Bratten Twitter - @brooksbratten

Source: Brooks Bratten Twitter – @brooksbratten

I dare you not to stare at the photo of Shea Weber above for more than three seconds; he looks so delighted. And rightfully so as Nashville knocked the defending Stanley Cup Champions (L.A. Kings) in a shootout last night 4-3. Oh yea, and there are some other reasons why Shea might be a little giddy this morning, but we’ll cover that in the highlights of last night’s game:

First Period:

  • Nashville lit the lamp at 6:24 to get the ball rolling; Craig Smith’s seventh goal of the season. Colin Wilson (5) and Anton Volchenkov (3) pursued the assists on Smith’s goal.
  • The Kings were quick to put their name on the board, tying it at 11:32 with a goal from Jamie McBain (his first of the season – you’re welcome).
  • Though both even on the scoreboard, Nashville would send twelve shots-on-goal compared to L.A.’s seven.

Second Period:

  • Marian Gaborik would give L.A. the lead at just 1:01 into the second, his fourth goal of the season.
  • It would take a little over seventeen minutes later for Nashville to retaliate with a goal from Ryan Ellis (2). Colin Wilson would pick up his second assist of the night (6) and Craig Smith would collect his first of the night (6). Oh yea, and the first of one of these of the season:
    CATFISH
  • Not even a minute later, Eric Nystrom would tip one in from Taylor Beck (3) and give Nashville a 3-2 lead late in the second. Shea Weber also picked up an assist on Nystrom’s goal, his seventh of the season and – remember when I said he’d have another reason to be happy? – is now the franchise defenseman leader in assists with 223.

Third Period:

  • Just 38 seconds into the third period, Drew Doughty would sink a clean goal through Pekka Rinne’s five-hole, tying the game.
  • Though Nashville did everything right to push back into the lead (with a number of nail-biting dings off the post and floating pucks), Martin Jones kept his composure and helped send the game into overtime.

Overtime:

  • It was clear Nashville was in control during overtime, out-shooting the Kings four to one and keeping Jones on his toes. Unfortunately, no goals were tallied in overtime, thus throwing Nashville into its second-straight shootout.

Shootout:

  • NSH – Derek Roy – MISS
  • LAK – Jeff Carter – MISS
  • NSH – Filip Forsberg – MISS
  • LAK – Marian Gaborik – MISS
  • NSH – Ryan Ellis – MISS
  • LAK – Anze Kopitar – MISS
  • NSH – Craig Smith – MISS
  • LAK – Tyler Toffoli – MISS
  • NSH – Roman Josi – MISS
  • LAK – Jarret Stoll – MISS
  • NSH – James Neal – GOAL
  • LAK – Dwight King – MISS

Phew! For a second there, I thought we were going to have to go through the entire roster and then some! Both goaltenders, Rine and Jones, were on point and one was going to have to budge sooner or later. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, it was Martin Jones who cracked first, a kid who only moved up into the NHL from a stint in the AHL last season. However, the kid is good – when others would flinch under the sight of a Shea Weber cannon, Jones stood tall. With this SO win (and St. Louis’ loss in a shootout against the Senators), the Predators are back atop the Central Division, but St. Louis is still biting Nashville’s heels. The Predators are back in action tomorrow night for a Turkey Day throw-down with our friends from the North, the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers, who have lost their last five games and are sitting dead at the bottom of the Pacific Division, will be another possible “Florida Panthers scenario” if the Preds don’t mind their p’s and q’s. By assuming Nashville will overpower and kick the Oilers to the curb is as inaccurate as they come. The Oilers are due and win and punting Nashville on an American holiday is just what the doctor ordered.

First Period Action pushes Preds past Oilers 3-2

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Source: ESPN.com

After a six-game road trip, tallying 4-2-0, the Preds returned home last night to face the Edmonton Oilers for the second time this season (first time Nashville won 4-1). Though their record going into last night’s game was numbered at 6-8-1, the Oilers are a much stronger team than they let on. However, Nashville is on a power run and it’ll take more than being strong to knock them off their high horse.

Notable Notes:
– After suffering knee-to-knee contact with Brennan Evans of the Grand Rapids Griffins, it looks like Viktor Stalberg will be out for a 4-6 week period. Due to the injury, Evans has been suspended for four games.
– Good news for Mike Fisher fans as word has it he should be ready to return within two weeks.

First Period:
– Mike Ribeiro wasted no time getting the Predators on the board at 2:51, Nashville’s fastest goal this season. James Neal (4) and Filip Forsberg (10) picked up the assists on Ribeiro’s fourth goal of the season.
– Barely seven minutes later, Matt Cullen collect his second goal of the season with a tip-in past Viktor Fasth at 9:21. Seth Jones (4) and Craig Smith (3) would nab the assists.
– Filip Forsberg would put Nashville up 3-0 at 19:06 for his seventh goal of season and second point of the night. Mike Ribeiro (9) would collect the loan assist on Prince Filip’s goal.

Second Period:
– Edmonton would relieve Fasth of his duties and replace him with Ben Scrivens going into the second period.
– The Oilers took the first period to heart, scoring just 31 seconds into the second period with a goal from Benoit Pouliot.
– Edmonton would jump within one of Nashville with another goal at 14:42 from Nail Yakupov.

Third Period:
– No goals.

Edmonton bounced back strong in the second and third periods, but Nashville was able to hold them off and seal victory with the return home. As I mentioned, Edmonton’s record doesn’t account for how strong of a team they actually are; they just haven’t hit their stride yet (sounds super familiar). Nashville’s return was a quick one, as they jump back on plane and hop over to St. Louis to try another hand against the Blues, who are itching to push back into first in the Central Division (Nashville has 22 points, St. Louis as 21). Saturday night, Nashville returns with Winnipeg in tow (and it’s Pekka bobblehead night).

Roster Movement: Clune, Cullen & Stalberg

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threeIt was only a matter of time. The Predators have finally started to click on many levels and within all of the given lines, but with Mike Fisher and Matt Cullen on the verge of returning, someone would be having to take a backseat or ship out altogether. Rich Clune has seen maybe five minutes of ice time during this season, with the remainder of that time spent on the Scratched list. Though Victor Bartley has also been sitting pretty on that list, enforcers tend to get the boot before players who don’t spend their time patrolling the ice (the same can be said for the Calle Jarnkrok argument). If you were at all a fan of former Predator, Brian McGrattan, you knew that, by seeing Clune’s name listed under scratches game after game was going to end poorly.

Cullen suffered an upper-body injury back in the pre-season against Tampa Bay, but yesterday he skated amongst the top line with Craig Smith and Derek Roy. With that, Cullen was deemed ready for activation from the IR, meaning some roster changes were needed to make the room. The first move? Placing Rich Clune on waivers, with the intent that he clears as so he can be assigned to Nashville’s farm team, the Milwaukee Admirals. The second move? Viktor Stalberg being sent down to Milwaukee on a conditioning assignment. Due to an injury caused in the pre-season and missing the first three games of the season, the organization felt Stalberg would do better getting some ice time amongst the AHL.

The Milwaukee Admirals – with the welcoming of Stalberg and potentially Clune – now has a full house, which will cause them to do a little shifting of their own. The Ads, who are currently undefeated at 6-0-0 and sitting pretty at the top of the AHL Western Conference, may have a challenge on their hands, but we’re sure they’ve got this down to a science.

Simon Moser joins SC Bern

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fdfdIn case you start digging through the Preds and Admirals roster and cannot find him, Simon Moser will be starting the season with Schlittschuh Club Bern, better known as SC Bern. This may be news to some, but Moser has a valid contract with SC Bern until 2015. However, said contract includes a NHL out-clause until November 15th, which means if he is given an offer from a NHL team before that date, he can leave the club without retribution. If he does not accept an offer from the NHL by November 15th, the 25-year-old Swiss will finish out the 2014-15 season with SC Bern. Now, you may be asking, “Why hasn’t Nashville presented him anything?” Well, they have. Nashville pitched Moser a qualifying offer for the League minimum at the beginning of July, but turned it down because of a low AHL salary.

So, unless Nashville comes back with a better offer (which, IMO, they won’t), Moser may be smitten by a deal from another NHL team, or could be sticking around Switzerland permanently.

Trade Deadline: MTL nabs Dubnyk

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Dubbie's off to Montreal

Dubbie’s off to Montreal

So this comes as no surprise that the Predators needed to pass Devan Dubnyk on to greener pastures, but in all honesty, I expected him to fall down to the Admirals. That, my friends, was not the case today. Around noon, TSN confirmed that the Predators had traded Devan Dubnyk to the Montreal Canadiens for “future considerations”. Carey Price has been suffering from an injury, but Montreal refuses to say that is the reason for picking up Dubnyk.

That being said, Dubnyk has had a rough, but interesting, season thus far; Montreal will be his third team and he is yet another backup for an injured goaltender. That doesn’t seem to phase Dubnyk much, though; he still believes he has the ability and talent to be a starting goaltender. It’s good to have ambitions. Unfortunately, we just got word that Dubnyk is, for now, being assigned to the Hamilton Bulldogs, which is Montreal’s farm team.

Dubnyk isn’t the only goalie who has been traded thus far, though; he joins the ranks of six other goalies who are making the move, which consists of Roberto Luongo (VAN-FLA), Ilya Bryzgalov (EDM-MIN), Viktor Fasth (ANA-EDM), Ryan Miller (BUF-STL), Jaroslav Halak (STL-BUF) & Jacob Markstrom (FLA-VAN). It truly is the Goalie’s Deadline this year.

We wish Dubnyk well on his ventures with the Canadiens and we hope than not too many fans ran out and grabbed up a Preds Dubnyk jersey. We must say, though, Dubnyk lit a fire under Carter Hutton’s bottom when it came to who would hang onto that backup position. For that, we thank you.

We’ll keep you updated if Nashville decides to do something productive or absolutely asinine.

https://twitter.com/smashville/status/441269676882919424

Rinne Returns; Dubnyk on Waivers

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peks

Guess who’s back…

He’s Back! …And apparently, so are we (blog wise). The return of Pekka Rinne has been much anticipated and, for everyone who was patient, your Finnish prayers have been answered.

Mid last week, the Predators announced that Rinne would be making a trip to Milwaukee to get in some ice time conditioning with the Admirals. After knocking off the Iowa Wild 9-1 and pushing past the Rochester Americans 2-1 in OT, Pekka was given the green light to return to Nashville and return to his beloved goal posts.

Rinne has missed a total of 51 games since being placed on the IR due to an E.Coli infection in his surgically-repaired hip, but that hasn’t stopped him from doing whatever it took to get back on the ice. Rinne has officially been given the all clear to start in the net tomorrow against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With that green light for Peks, that also means someone has to be booted and, unfortunately, that goaltender is Devan Dubnyk. The Predators have placed Dubnyk, who was picked up from a trade between the Edmonton Oilers on January 15th for Matt Hendricks. Sadly, Dubnyk was given only two chances in net, all of which were not exactly NHL backup worthy. With Carter Hutton clawing for the position, it was easy to push Dubnyk aside and thus his current condition.

But, for Pekka Rinne, tomorrow is the true test; is he ready to be back full time? We certainly hope so and we certainly hope he does not hide any issues he may still have with his hip.

If you don’t have tickets for tomorrow, go ahead and get them now.

Hutton makes Save of the Season

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On Thursday night, the Predators took to Philadelphia to face the 24-19-4 Flyers & managed to, against all odds, win their very first shootout this season, snagging the all-important two-pointer.

But there was another key moment during this game that helped propel Nashville to the two-pointer & it was all do to Carter Hutton’s cat-like reflexes. Yes, I said Carter Hutton.

Just a day after the Predators announced that they had made a deal with the Edmonton Oilers to trade Matt Hendricks for goaltender Devan Dubnyk, it was kind of assumed that either Hutton or Mazanec would have to take a step back to the farm team, the Milwaukee Admirals. And, after Trotz’s “throw him under the bus” comments about Hutton after the 2-1 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes, it was easy to believe that Hutton was the one needing to pack his bags.

…And then he does something like this:

Like Pete Weber says in the video, this may be the highlight of his career… or something similar to that. Though Hutton’s miraculous save may have only played a small part, it was announced yesterday that Marek Mazanec would be the goalie hitting the road to Milwaukee. It makes sense, though; he is a less-mature goaltender in the NHL and will thrive well in the AHL for now, similar to how well Filip Forsberg is doing.

Tonight, however, Carter Hutton will be taking the night off as the newly acquired Devan Dubnyk has been given the “ok” to start in net tonight against the Colorado Avalanche. Despite me posting that nightmare-inducing video in the previous post, Dubnyk has grown as an individual in his game since that incident. He is currently 11-17-2 and, although we’d rather see more wins than losses, you have to think logically here: Would Edmonton give up a Pekka Rinne for a Matt Hendricks? You know that answer.