Nashville Predators: Roman Josi Tallies Two Assists in Semifinal Loss

The 2020 NHL All-Star tournament saw Team Pacific defeat Roman Josi‘s Central Division squad. Now it’s time for Nashville Predators hockey to return.

It was a pretty fun All-Star weekend from St.Louis as Roman Josi represented the Nashville Predators. He participated in the Save Streak challenge the night before, and played for the Central Division squad in the 3-on-3 tournament.

Unfortunately we only got to see Josi play in one tournament game as the Central Division fell to the Pacific Division by a final score of 10-5. Kind of luck the season has gone for the Predators, the game was a back-and-forth affair as the Pacific scored the first three goal before the Central stormed back to tie it

How it went down

Josi would be the primary assist guy in the first goal for the Central Division, scored by Mark Scheifele of the Winnipeg Jets. Check out the goal here:

Not a flashy pass from Josi by any means, but it’s nice to see him register a point and show off some of his quick skating ability. There’s also basically zero defense being played in this games other than light poke checking.

Josi would tally another assist later in the first of two periods to tie the score at 4-4. Tyler Seguin from the Dallas Stars would score this goal. The Pacific would go on to score five unanswered goals to cruise to the victory.

Other game notes

Only four players on the Central squad managed at least two points, with Patrick Kane scoring two goals. Josi also registered two shots on goal and a blocked shot. It’s harder for a defensman to be flashy in a format like this because it’s all focused on offense and breakaways.

There was some really excellent goaltending from Calgary’s David Rittich as he made nine saves on ten shots faced. Pretty impressive for an All-Star game where it’s all slanted for offense and piling up the goals.

Even though Tomas Hertl of the San Jose Sharks scored the game-winning goal to claim the tournament for the Pacific Division, it was actually David Pastrnak who won MVP honors after having a hat trick in the first game.

This is why fans shouldn’t be voting for MVP’s, even in an exhibition. Clearly Hertl deserved MVP honors for clinching the tournament and scoring five goals overall. Either way, it was a fun final match to close out a successful All-Star weekend for the NHL.

I’m very confident we’ll see Josi in many more All-Star games in the future, and maybe even win his first Norris Trophy of his career later this season.

More importantly, now it’s time for Josi to lead his team back into a playoff spot. His team enters the season after the All-Star break in last place in the division, but only six points out of a wildcard spot.