The Nashville Predators traveled to St. Louis to take on the Blues on Tuesday night.
The match started with the Blues getting on the scoreboard first when Dmitrij Jaskin (2) scored at 9:38 of the first period. At 12:22 of the period, Seth Jones was called for holding against Magnus Paajarvi to send the Preds on the penalty kill. Mike Fisher won the face-off and got the puck back to Mattias Ekholm. Ekholm fired the puck toward the net getting the short-handed goal to tie the game up 1-1.
The second period only had one goal as Robby Fabbri (9) beat Pekka Rinne at 12:04 to give St. Louis the 2-1 lead going into the third period.
In the final period of play, St. Louis scored early to give the Blues a commanding 3-1 lead. It seemed as though the Preds would lose 3-1. Late in the period, the Preds would get a blast from Shea Weber to pull Nashville to within one at 16:08.
With less than two minutes remaining in the period, Peter Laviolette pulled Pekka Rinne to give the Preds the extra attacker. Colin Wilson was able to put a rebound past Jake Allen to tie the game up at 18:28 to send the game to overtime.
In the overtime, Nashville would give up a goal to Alexander Steen at 4:01 and the Preds would fall 4-3.
Tonight, the Preds will head to American Airlines Center to take on the Dallas Stars. In their last outing, the Stars fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3.
Keys to Watch
Best in the West
The Dallas Stars have been the best team in the Western Conference this season. They currently lead the conference with 57 total points. In 38 games, Dallas has won 27 with an overall record of 27-8-3. They have the best offense in the league with an NHL-best 132 goals. The team has seen some recent struggles with a record of 6-3-1 in their last ten games. Nashville is currently 14 points behind the Stars. This team is dominate and can be a struggle against opposing defenses. Nashville must put together their top defensive performance of the season to come out of Dallas with a victory.
Who do you stop?
Is it Jamie Benn? Tyler Seguin? Patrick Sharp? This will be the most offensively-talented teams that Nashville has faced all season. Currently, the Stars average a league-leading 3.45 goals for per game. Their power-play is ranked third in the NHL with a conversion of 23.6%. Two of the top three players in regards to total points (Benn, 50-Seguin, 48). To put it lightly, the Nashville defense will have their hands full tonight with this offense. Mistakes will need to be non-existent tonight. If they get hot, you better look out. Are they unbeatable? Absolutely not. The Preds will have to bring their best to get the victory in Dallas.
Wilson playing well
The first 25 games of this season was not very good for Colin Wilson. There was a lot of frustration in the way he as playing as it seemed he was pressing too much. His production was not there on the offensive side of the puck, and it wasn’t for lack of effort. Over the last five games, the production has been where it needs to be with five points (two goals, three assists). The Preds will need the 2008 1st-round pick to continue his point per game average tonight. He is projected to be on the line with Mike Fisher and Viktor Arvidsson.
The Preds will look to extend their perfect record on New Year’s Eve to 4-0-0 tonight in Dallas. The game will be covered on Fox Sports-Tennessee or you can listen live on 102.5 The Game.
Puck drops at 7:30 pm!
