Red Wings Beat Predators 4-1 at Home
I hope Patrick Eaves is alright. Eaves was taken on a stretcher after blocking a shot that hit him in the ear. The shot was taken by Roman Josi.
Line-Up News
Scratches for the Predators: #5 C Blake Geoffrion and #23 W Brian McGratton
Scratches for the Red Wings: #22 D Mike Commodore, #48 C Cody Emmerton, and #76 LW Fabian Brunnstrom
Starting Goalies: #35 Pekka Rinne with 33 saves. #35 Jimmy Howard with 18 saves.
Period by Period Plays & Thoughts
To start the game, Trotz went with 7 defenseman, instead of 6. Very interesting. I guess he plans on trying to contain the Red Wings’ forwards. After tons of speculation, Roman Josi will be playing tonight along with Jack Hillen.
The 1st period was mostly dominated by the Red Wings. Nashville’s only chances were on the Power Play and on the short-handed 3 on 2. Pekka Rinne was playing on his head like usual. One goal was scored by the Red Wings on the Power Play. Bertuzzi, standing in front of the net, whacked at the puck and went under Rinne’s pad. Everyone thinking the play stopped, Rinne throws his leg out and the puck comes out to an awaiting Filppula, who shot the puck into the net to make the score 1-0. The shot total is 14-3 in favor of the Detroit Red Wings.
The second period wasn’t any different, except on the Red Wings’ side. They got better. Zetterberg with great patience, waited for Rinne to be off balance. Rinne fell on his side and Zetterberg just roofed it over to make it 2-0 Detroit. Now, this made me really angry. Tootoo gets shoved behind the Detroit goal when the play was in the neutral zone. The play moved from the neutral zone to the Predators’ zone where the Wings scored by a deflection from Hudler. That made it 3-0 Red Wings. Nashville gets out shot in this period one again, 11-5. That means through 2 periods, Detroit out shot Nashville 25-8.
At the start of the 3rd, Nashville was playing alright. Though alright is better than sucking. That didn’t last long as Cleary got a one-timer from Helm and made it 4-0. Nashville scored finally, back door. Jack Hillen who just crashed the net from the point, received a perfect pass from Wilson to make it 4-1. That goal energized the Preds and gave them a few chances. Francis Bouillon went out and would not return. Nice to have an extra d-man. Patrick Eaves blocked a shot that hit him in the ear. Eaves was taken on a stretcher out of the game. Nashville was out shot once again 11-12. The final shot total was 37-19 in favor of the Red Wings.
Thoughts On the Game
The Predators in the last four games have been an awful offensive team. It isn’t a coincidence that those last four games they lost. They can’t take advantage of their opportunities. The Predators missed the net so many times. The Detroit Red Wings will take advantage of you all the time. Crashing the net and getting in front of the net will get a team like the Predators goals. It took a defenseman coming from the point to do it. Very frustrating. Now brings up my next point. Blake Geoffrion needs to play. The last 4 games, he hasn’t played and we have lost them. Please play him Trotz!
Players to Watch: #93 RW Johan Franzen with 0 points, #51 C Valtteri Filppula with 2 goals and 1 assist, and #13 C Pavel Datsyuk with 0 points.
Goals and Assists of the Game
PP Valtteri Filppula – Bertuzzi and Zetterberg at 13:23 in the 1st
Henrik Zetterburg – Hudler and Filppula at 1:31 in the 2nd
Valtteri Filppula – Hudler and Kindl at 8:34 in the 2nd
Dan Cleary – Helm at 4:03 in the 3rd
Jack Hillen – Wilson and Erat at 5:34 in the 3rd
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Next Game: Monday, Predators @ Oilers. Preview coming tomorrow!
