Flames 3 Predators 2: Recap and Thoughts

For the first time this season, the Predators walked off of the ice at Bridgestone Arena without adding two points to their name in the NHL standings. Nashville did however end their three game home stand adding one point to their name and finishing up the three game stretch with five of the possible six points available.

Last night’s game was the first time this season where it felt and looked like the tempo of the game was controlled, especially in the first period, by the Predators opposition. That is not to say that the Predators have been outstanding in the first period this season, but the overall tempo and feel of the game last night seemed to be in control of the Flames, especially early on. The Flames caused the most havoc towards Nashville in comparison to the previous match ups with Dallas and Ottawa.

With that being said, the Predators were the first to get on the board with a goal from Filip Forsberg. Forsberg had looked fantastic in the first two games of the season so far for the Predators and did not disappoint last night. Forsberg lit the lamp for the first time this season after a great pass from linemate Derek Roy. Craig Smith was credited with the secondary assist.

Just 1:15 after Forsberg gave the Preadators the one-goal lead, TJ Brodie tied things up for the Flames. Brodie drove to the side of the net, flipped a pass/shot towards the crease and the puck deflected off Nashville defenseman Anton Volchenkov’s stick past Pekka Rinne. This was TJ Brodie’s second goal of the season, assisted by Mark Giordano and and Brandon Bollig.

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The first period ended with the Predators leading in the shots category 7-6.

Just five minutes into the second period Colin Wilson was called for interference, and just 17-seconds after the minor penalty Flames’ defenseman Mark Giordano slid a wrist-shot past the stick-side of Pekka Rinne to give the Flames a 2-1 advantage. Giordano received a deflected pass standing all alone and fired the wrister as Shea Weber was closing in on him.

The Predators would get revenge and the game tying goal 10 minutes later courtesy of one of the new guys, Mike Ribeiro. This was one of the flukier goals the Predators have had this season. Craig Smith tried a one timer but didn’t get all of the puck on his attempted shot and the puck slowly traveled towards Colin Wilson in front of the crease and deflected straight to Ribeiro parked beside the net. This would be Smith’s second point of the night with the assist and both Colin Wilson and Mike Ribeiro’s first points of the 2014-15 season.

The third period would come, and the third period would end with the score knotted at two a piece. The Predators managed to get seven shots on net in the third but couldn’t get a puck past Flames netminder Karri Ramo who had a handful of fantastic saves for Calgary. Here is an example of one of those fantastic saves:

Regulation ended with the Flames out shooting the Predators by the count of 26-21. This would be the first time the opposition has out shot Nashville this season.

The game headed into overtime where Nashville managed to only put one shot on net in the extra time in comparison to the Flames’ two shots on net. You could see that as overtime started to dwindle, the Flames were playing for the shootout as they knew their netminder was having a fantastic game. He would deliver as the shootout got underway.

Derek Roy, James Neal, and Olli Jokinen were the three Predators that were given a shot at scoring in the shootout but none were successful in doing so. Joe Colborne put a great move on Pekka Rinne as the first shooter for the Flames and they simply never looked back, winning the shootout by the score of 1-0.

Karri Ramo ended the night stopping 19 of 21 shots and Pekka Rinne stopped 26 of the 28 pucks that flew his way.

Roll the film:

Thoughts about the game:

Filip Forsberg is very good. We all were thinking this, but it sure is fun watching him play and handle the puck. His hands are incredible. I don’t see him making his way to Milwaukee this season; which is great. The move he put on the defender and the pass he delivered to Craig Smith before Ramo robbed Nashville of a goal was a thing of beauty. Through three games we’ve seen Forsberg do that ‘spectacular play’ each game. He also ended the night with three blocked shots.
Derek Roy has impressed me the most so far this season out of the bunch of new guys. Roy delivered a beauty of a pass to set up Forsberg’s goal in the first period. Roy has three points this season.
The fourth-line wasn’t the fourth-line we saw explode in the first two games. Paul Gaustad even struggled in the face-off dot winning only 6 of 16 (38%) draws. Not necessarily horrific numbers, but in the two games prior to last night’s loss Gaustad’s face-off numbers were 80% and 67% respectively.
Pekka Rinne looked good, as he has through the first three games of the year. It will be interesting to see if he gets the start Friday at Winnipeg or do they sit him and play him on Saturday in Chicago.
Colin Wilson on the top-line instead of Gabriel Bourque? I think Wilson has more skill with the puck than Bourque and may deliver a bit more offensive fire-power to the top-line, but Bourque played very well on the top-line in the Predators first two victories. Wilson ended the night with two shots on net and one assist. From game to game, lines, especially the top-line could see some changes in personnel and I think coach Laviolette saw that Wilson on the top-line may benefit the team more in last night’s match up. Expect to see possible changes on the top-line soon as Viktor Stalberg and Matt Cullen come back from injuries.

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