The Nashville Predators began a three-game road trip against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday night.
The match-up began like so many recent games with Nashville trying to dig themselves out of a hole as the Red Wings took the lead in the first period with a Brad Richards goal at 19:21.
The second period saw Nashville be able to get back in the swing of things with three unanswered goals. The first was at 1:03 by Shea Weber, a power-play goal.
Viktor Arvidsson (2) would get in on the scoring parade at 2:52 to give the Preds a 2-1 lead. Weber would get his second power-play goal of the period as a crazy bounce, reviewed play would give the Preds a 3-1 lead.
Detroit would respond with a power-play goal of their own by Tomas Tatar (10) at 17:54 to end the period at 3-2.
Shea Weber would get a hat-trick on the night with his third power-play goal at 8:03 of the third period.
Nashville would not score again as the Red Wings were able to get two unanswered goals by Dylan Larkin (11) at 9:19 and a Justin Abdelkader (9) power-play goal at 17:37 to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime, Nashville had a 3-on-1 breakaway and was unable to score. On the ensuing play, Gustav Nyquist (10) was able to break away from the Preds defense and score on Pekka Rinne to give the Red Wings a 5-4 defeat in Motown.
After a devastating loss in Detroit, Nashville will continue their road trip to Boston to take on the Bruins tonight.
In their last outing, the Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-0.
Keys to Watch
Stay out of the box!
The current Nashville Predators roster has been on a parade to the penalty box over the past few weeks. The Preds are going to the box at the worst possible of times and leaving Pekka Rinne at an extreme disadvantage. In their recent game against Detroit, they accumulated twelve penalty minutes. The penalty kill has been “garbage” according to Pekka Rinne. The continual struggle on offense has put the penalty kill in disarray. Something has got to give. The Preds have got to stop giving up these atrocious penalties that cause the defense to be at a disadvantage.
Boston Power-Play
The Boston Bruins are the best team in the NHL with a power-play percentage of 30.6%. This team is phenomenal at their ability to score with the man advantage. Any person that keeps up with the Nashville Predators knows that the struggle on the penalty kill is real. Currently, Nashville carries a 75.0% penalty kill percentage, third worst in the NHL. The Preds are at their best when they stay out of the box. Injuries to Mike Fisher, Paul Gaustad, and Gabriel Bourque have hurt the penalty kill units recently. Nashville must stay out of the box. This team is dangerous with an advantage.
Weber-2nd Star of the Week
Shea Weber was the best player in Detroit on Saturday. With his performance over the past week, the NHL has named Weber as the 2nd star of the week over the league. Most of this can be attributed to his performance against the Red Wings. His game has been much improved over the last five games with three goals, three assists, +1 rating, and an increased presence on the power-play. Nashville will need their captain to continue to step up.
The Preds will look to get back on track against a talented, veteran team in Boston. The game will be on Fox Sports-Tennessee or you can listen live on 102.5 The Game.
Puck drops at 6:00 pm!
