Predators Key Takeaways in Impressive Defensive Win Over Stars

Just when you think you have the Nashville Predators figured out, they go out and put forth a performance like they did Saturday afternoon in Dallas.

I’m done making sweeping verdicts about the Nashville Predators, one way or the other. They’re so difficult to figure out, and I’m just along for the ride now.

The Predators went out and beat the Dallas Stars for the second time in two days thanks to a physical and emotional defensive effort that frustrated the Stars routinely.

There were a few instances when Juuse Saros had to be sharp, but for the most part the defense in front of him played very strong to keep Dallas from getting too many juicy scoring chances.

Saros recorded his second-straight shutout and fourth of the season. It was also his 11th career shutout and continued his dominance over the Stars as he’s now 6-0-1 in his career against them.

Key takeaways

The first player that really jumped out was Filip Forsberg in this game. He never recorded a point, but the guy was everywhere on the ice forcing pressure and creating resistance.

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Forsberg ended up with five shots on goal, but Ben Bishop turned him away on a few of them that were prime scoring opportunities. Forsberg finally broke his goal drought in the last game that spanned back over a month.

Ryan Ellis got the game’s only goal midway through the 2nd period. It came on the power play for his 8th of the season, and the Predators’ third power play goal in the last two games with Dallas.

This was a huge turning point in the game as neither team could find much offensive flow. There wasn’t much room to operate on the ice, and the goaltenders were solid when called upon.

Ellis impressively is now up to 37 points in his injury-shortened 2019-20 campaign. He’s played in just 48 games this year thank to Dallas’ Corey Perry giving him a cheap shot to head in the Winter Classic.

Speaking of Perry, he got the receiving end of what you can call a cheap shot from Roman Josi late in the game. It was definitely a dirty play from Josi, but one that you can argue is justified. Here’s a look at it and you can be the judge:

This did come at a critical point in the game and put Dallas on the power play, so you can argue that the timing was a little bad on Josi’s part.

Either way, Nashville killed the penalty off thanks to Dallas whiffing on some shots of their own, and Nashville blocking a lot of shots.

The Predators had 27 blocked shots in the game, including six from Ellis, three from Korbinian Holzer, three from Mattias Ekholm and three from Forsberg.

The entire team put together a commendable defensive strategy that focused on getting into passing lanes and shooting lanes and making it very difficult for Dallas to cook anything up.

Such a refreshing win

This was a very refreshing type of game to win. It wasn’t flashy, and you probably came away from the game bored if you’re into a lot of offense.

However, if you love the sport of hockey when both teams are battling hard and forechecking hard, then this was the perfect game for you.

The win puts the Predators back into the final wildcard spot and they jumped ahead of Winnipeg as they both have 76 points. The Predators have played one fewer game, so they have the tiebreaker.

The Canucks also have 76 points for the other wildcard, but I don’t need to remind you how bad those head-to-head matchups went for the Predators.

I have to say that claiming a wildcard spot is there for the taking for the Predators. It’s theirs to lose at this point. They have 14 games left, and not an incredibly difficult schedule.

They have a four-game road trip now, starting in Montreal on Tuesday night. The Canadiens are currently well out of a playoff spot.

Then the Predators will take on Toronto, Columbus and Minnesota. The Predators, with this same kind of effort and efficient play on defense, should be able to win three of the next four.

This team isn’t ready to give up on the city of Nashville and all of their fans, so we have to return the favor. There’s still a lot of life left in this team.