Nashville Predators Get Decisive Two-Game Sweep over Blue Jackets

In the second game in three nights for the Nashville Predators, they completed the sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets to go 2-0 on the season.

Bringing home another win for Smashville, the Predators are off to a strong start to the season. So far, they are backing up everything they said they wanted to do in the offseason to return to “The Predator Way.”

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Similar games for Nashville Predators

The game started similarly to the first, with Columbus getting an easy goal because of a defensive breakdown.

In fact, the first two periods looked quite a bit alike as the two defensive-minded teams battled back and forth, trying to get the upper hand.

Like the first game, this one was expected to be another defensive showdown, and it didn’t disappoint for the majority of the game.

However, the Predators opened the floodgates in the third. Just like they seized control in the season-opener.

How It All Went Down

The Blue Jackets were once again gifted the first goal when Juuse Saros was left unprotected by his teammates, allowing Nick Foligno to chip in an easy one to open the scoring.

Fortunately, Rocco Grimaldi used his speed and scored the equalizer on a breakaway a few minutes later, tying the game 1-1.

Grimaldi looks good on the ice and appears to be picking up where he left off last season.

The two teams went back and forth in the second period, with many close scoring opportunities on both sides. We even saw the referees dust off the seldom-used “Face-Off Violation” penalty on Colton Sissons.

In a game with lots of similarities to the first, Filip Forsberg scored a goal to take the 2-1 lead from almost the same spot he scored from the previous night.

Unfortunately, a strange goal by Alexandre Texier that tracked above Saros’ shoulder evened the score. That would be the last goal Columbus would get. The Predators once again clamped down defensively to take control of momentum.

For the third period, the Predators’ depth scoring was at the forefront. Brad Richardson, who happens to be the second-oldest player on the team, put the Predators in front with a cleanup goal close to the net, tallying his first as a Predator.

Richardson is quickly helping us forget about how he eliminated the Predators with his goal in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers last August.

Luke Kunin followed up with another goal to make the score 4-2. The trade that brought Kunin to the Predators continues to pay off. This goal was his second in as many games.

Sissons put the icing on the cake by netting a goal with a sweet deke shot that Columbus goaltender Elvis Merzlikins couldn’t track.

The final score was 5-2. The Predators now sit with a nice cushion over a division foe, which highlights early on how this 56-game schedule will allow teams to quickly make up ground or lose ground in the division.

Stand Out Players

On this night, the stand out players were quite frankly the whole team. While some areas of their game are still shaky, the Predators continue to show the fortitude not to get down when faced with adversity.

This type of team play has been sorely missed for the past few seasons. The Predators appear to have bought into Head Coach John Hynes’ system, and it is paying off in spades.

It’s worth mentioning that although Forsberg, Kunin, and Richardson were the three stars of the game, Saros deserves an honorable mention. He suffered an onslaught by Columbus all night and made some excellent saves when the Predators made mistakes that could’ve led to goals.

In his second game as the starting goaltender, Saros continued to impress and improve upon the first game, which saw him save 29 out of 30 shots. This time he stopped 42 of 44 shots and contributed to an all-around team effort.

Now isn’t the time to become complacent. Their next four games look to be tough as they face the Carolina Hurricanes twice at home before traveling to Dallas for two games against the Stars.

It will be the season-opener for the Dallas Stars on Friday as they’ve been dealing with COVID-19 issues.

The Predators next play against Carolina this coming Monday at 7 pm CST / 8 pm EST. They will provide a much tougher test for the Predators defense and goaltending than Columbus did.