Paul Gaustad played a major role in this game from start to finish, scoring the lone goal in the first period to put the Predators up 1-0, playing a solid role on the power play at times creating opportunities by working the front of the net, and on the downside, taking that penalty in overtime which led to the Minnesota winner.
Here's a look at the play in question, watch as Goose's left arm hitches up, and he bats the puck with the back of his hand:
During the post-game show on 102.5 The Game, Willy Daunic & I both agreed that while this meets the technical definition in Rule 74.6 (found below), it doesn't seem like this was the sort of situation this new rule was intended for.
The Preds return home to face Chicago on Sunday - get the best deals on tickets at TiqIQ!
Random Observations
The Gaustad goal to open the scoring came after a dynamic shift by Craig Smith. Like Colin Wilson over the last couple games, Smith challenged the Minnesota defense and created a maesltrom in front of the Wild net, leaving Gaustad to bang home the loose puck.
Someone needs to ask Barry Trotz in the post-game media scrum if he's relieved to see Craig Smith get his 1st point, just to compare against how he handled the Shea Weber question on Thursday.
You know, I don't think I've ever seen coincidental minor penalties for Roughing & Delay of Game before. At least if the refs are going to go bizarre, they REALLY go bizarre.
Chris Mason put in a tremendous effort tonight, something you love to see out of your backup goalie ahead of a big game with Chicago Sunday night. The Clutterbuck goal wasn't his fault at all, Suter's wrister came in high but Clutterbuck's redirection went straight down through the 5-hole.
One thing that bugged me about the Preds' work in the offensive zone tonight was the number of times they had good opportunities and moved the puck to the right man, but the passes were off to either side, causing the receiver to handle the puck before trying to do anything effective with it. In the first period, for example, Klein threw a clever pass in front to Fisher, but since it was well wide of Fish's back foot, it was all he could do to just maintain control of the puck instead of one-timing it.
Sergei Kostitsyn with two shots on goal tonight? I may faint. Maybe there's something about Minnesota that brings out the hunger in SK74, as the last time he had 2 SOG in a game was the first game against the Wild this season.
It was a tough break to see Paul Gaustad go the box in overtime for that faceoff, but here's rule 76.4 (new to the rulebook this season):
Both players facing-off are prohibited from batting the puck withtheir hand in an attempt to win the face-off. Any attempt by either center to win the face-off by batting the puck with their hand shallresult in a minor penalty. This penalty shall be announced as " Minor Penalty for Delay of Game - Face-off Violation". The two players involved in the actual face-off (the centers) are not permitted to play the puck with their hand without incurring a penalty under this ruleuntil such time as a third player (from either team) has at least touched the puck. Once the face-off is deemed complete (and a winner of the face-off is clear) hand passes shall be enforced as per Rule 79.
It's tough, but it did look to me like Gaustad batted the puck with the top hand on his stick, so it seems like the right call was made.
Boxscore - Game Summary - Event Summary
Here are your advanced stats...
Nashville Predators
Player
Pos
ES TOI
Total Shots For
Total Shots Against
Corsi
Net Zone Starts
Adjusted Corsi
Colin Wilson
C
14:44
4
15
-11
+4
-13
David Legwand
C
13:35
2
12
-10
+4
-12
Martin Erat
R
13:30
7
16
-9
-3
-8
Mike Fisher
C
13:01
8
19
-11
-1
-11
Gabriel Bourque
L
12:38
4
10
-6
+6
-8
Nick Spaling
C
12:15
8
11
-3
+1
-3
Brandon Yip
R
12:14
9
9
0
+2
-1
Sergei Kostitsyn
L
11:08
10
14
-4
+1
-4
Paul Gaustad
C
10:26
9
7
+2
-3
+3
Craig Smith
C
8:17
3
8
-5
0
-5
Rich Clune
L
6:19
3
4
-1
+1
-1
Shea Weber
D
17:28
4
19
-15
+1
-15
Scott Hannan
D
17:25
6
15
-9
+3
-10
Kevin Klein
D
17:09
14
17
-3
+1
-3
Roman Josi
D
16:07
8
21
-13
-1
-13
Jonathon Blum
D
8:16
6
7
-1
+2
-2
Ryan Ellis
D
7:14
6
7
-1
+2
-2
Hal Gill
D
6:31
2
4
-2
0
-2
At even strength, the Preds were horribly outshot tonight, 24-13.
Short-term memory is a funny thing. The Wild and Predators have played 10 games each. Minnesota has won 4, Nashville 5. Yet the mood could hardly be more different between the two fan bases right now, due to the streaks each team is riding into tonight's game (7:00 on FS-TN).
The Stats
Nashville Predators
Minnesota Wild
Record
5-2-3
10th
4-5-1
22nd
GF/Game
2.10
26th
2.10
26th
GA/Game
1.80
1st
2.80
17th
5-on-5 SF/60
19.3
30th
24.9
27th
5-on-5 SA/60
26.3
10th
27.8
16th
Fenwick Close
45.66
27th
46.00
25th
5-on-5 Save %
.946
2nd
.912
19th
5-on-4 GF/60
7.6
11th
4.3
24th
# of PP's/Gm
3.20
30th
3.70
24th
4-on-5 GA/60
5.7
15th
6.5
17th
# of PK's/Gm
3.80
7th
3.50
5th
The Wild aren't awful, but they aren't exactly a contender, either. They're getting outshot regularly, the goaltending hasn't been able to make up for that, and the special teams have been nothing to get excited about. The Predators, meanwhile, are playing Rope-A-Dope, getting out-shot by a healthy margin but relying on a collapsing defense and Pekka Rinne's goaltending to hold onto a lead whenever they get one.
Previous Meeting
Nashville's recent 7-game road trip began January 22nd with a 3-1 victory at Minnesota, in which Chris Mason saw his only action of the season so far.
Minnesota Wild
All that optimism which took root in Minnesota on July 4th, as Ryan Suter and Zach Parise were flashing twin $98 million smiles and shaking hands with Craig Leipold, has turned sour of late, as the Wild come into tonight's game on a 3-game losing streak.
Naturally, this is leading to crazy talk in the press:
Less than three weeks into the most promising season in franchise history, the Wild played without grit or intelligence in a 4-1 loss to Vancouver, a failure that could alter expectations and shorten tenures surely as it brought jeers raining down on the Xcel Energy Center ice on Thursday night.
In hockey, when you've tried everything but firing the coach and your team doesn't respond, you tend to fire the coach. Maybe owner Craig Leipold won't force that move immediately, but he has no reason to be patient after making an immense investment in front-line talent and watching his team fall apart.
Whether Mike Yeo is responsible for his team's slump is irrelevant.
--- Jim Souhan, Star Tribune (h/t to Hockey Wilderness)
Of course, that kind of "it's so crazy it just might work" talk is about the worst way to run a franchise, but hey, go for it.
All eyes in Smashville will be on Ryan Suter, of course, the guy who left the Predators as an unrestricted free agent, yet still draws ire from many fans.
Ryan Suter
#20 / Defenseman / Minnesota Wild
6-1
198
Jan 21, 1985
10 games, 4 assists and a -7 Plus/Minus have Predators fans howling in derision, and the puck-possession metrics haven't looked good for Sutes so far, either as he boasts the worst Corsi numbers on the Minnesota defense so far. Let's just remember that reworking a blueline is no simple task, as we've seen in Nashville already.
The guy who is paying early dividends is Zach Parise, whose 6 goals and 4 assists so far lead the Wild in scoring.
Nashville Predators
With a four-game winning streak under their belt, confidence is rising among the Predators' ranks. Martin Erat and Colin Wilson have the hot hands up front, and the lineup has enjoyed a rare amount of stability, as Barry Trotz tends not to change much while the wins are coming.
Pekka Rinne
#35 / Goalie / Nashville Predators
6-5
209
Nov 03, 1982
In goal, Pekka Rinne has enjoyed considerable success against Minnesota historically, with an 8-3-1 record in 13 games, with 3 shutouts and a 2.20 GAA.
So head over to Hockey Wilderness to sample the mood in Minnesota, check back here later for pre-game updates as they become available, the Game Thread to follow along with tonight's action, and tune in to 102.5 The Game later as I'm joining birthday boy Willy Daunic tonight for the post-game show.
The Preds return home to face Chicago on Sunday - get the best deals on tickets at TiqIQ!
Josh Cooper of the Tennessean reports that Pekka Rinne gets his second night of the season off tonight:
Trotz said Mason will start tonight #Preds #mnwild
— JoshuaCooper (@JoshuaCooper) February 9, 2013
Chris Mason got the win back on January 22nd when the Predators faced Minnesota the first time, and he comes into this one with a 7-5-2 record, 3.03 GAA and .888 save percentage all-time against the Wild, with one shutout.
Chris Mason
#30 / Goalie / Nashville Predators
6-0
195
Apr 20, 1976
Facing him across the ice will be Niklas Backstrom, according to Preds play-by-play radio voice Tom Callahan:
Coach Yeo says Backstrom will start for MIN, Prosser and Granlund are in too.
— predsradio (@predsradio) February 9, 2013
Backstrom is 7-5-1 all time against Nashville, with a 2.85 GAA and .905 save percentage.
Niklas Backstrom
#32 / Goalie / Minnesota Wild
6-1
189
Feb 13, 1978
Giving Pekka Rinne some rest tonight makes a ton of sense, with the Chicago Blackhawks already in Nashville awaiting a game with the Predators Sunday night. For the best deals on tickets to that game, head over to TiqIQ.
Hey guys! Sorry this took way more than a week. I got unusually busy, and then last night Nemo hit, so I've been running around doing lots of non-hockey stuff. As a quick aside: during the Kings GDT I said I would post pictures from Nemo, so here's what my street looked like today.
If you were in the Preds@Wild GDT tonight, you've already seen this, but here's a panoramic of my street (open in new tab to make it bigger)...
Here's what the street looked like this morning before everyone started shoveling...
And here's what it looked like after everyone shoveled...
Impressive, no? We got about 2.5 feet, maybe more with the drifts. My hands are killing me, as this was the first time in almost 24 years I had to shovel snow. It sucks. Avoid it forever, if you can.
Anyway, back to the post. There were three games last week, so I picked one goal from each game. Not exactly a lot to pick from (until Tuesday), but I found some good stuff, so let's get to it!
January 31: Predators vs. Kings (2-1 SO)
Preds: Brandon Yip (2) from Gabriel Bourque (2) and David Legwand (1) on Jonathon Quick
This is a set play by the Predators. Yip has abandoned his normal right wing position and is instead standing behind Leggy. The hope is that Leggy will win the face off back to Yip, who can take a shot on goal. To make it easier to see where everyone is supposed to go, I labeled the Kings by their positions, not their names.
The Kings LW has moved to the opposite side of the face off circle to be closer to Yip. When the puck drops, Yip is his man to cover, and considering that this is a set play, this is a big deal. The D has scooted over a bit to cover the RW's spot and make sure there isn't a big empty hole. He has two positional options: the extremely likely option is that he will drop back behind the center; the very unlikely option (that is still worthy of consideration) is to cover Yip if he gets the puck. The Kings RW is back slightly from the circle and will cover Roman Josi if he gets the puck. The D in front of the net is covering Gabby, and maybe dropping behind the center if the other D heads towards Yip. The C will cover Leggy.
Hypothetically.
Here we have a bunch of things going wrong for the Kings all at the same time. I get the impression that they didn't really talk to each other before the puck dropped. Like at all. Because four different people almost immediately become ineffective. Guys 1 and 2: Both defensemen decide to fall back behind the center. I understand one guy going back there, because if the Kings win the face off someone needs to pick up the puck, but two guys? ...why? (Plus, the orange defenseman is supposed to be covering Gabby.) That unlikely option for the green defenseman to cover Yip is technically still open, but I understand why he didn't do it, and that's fine. Guy 3: LW decides to cover Gabby instead of Yip... who was the whole reason he moved to that side of the circle. If you're going to do that, TELL A TEAMMATE. Guy 4: RW gets a tiny finger wag. He's just kinda chilling in the slot the whole time. That's great, but there's no one there to cover. Considering that LW isn't doing the job expected of him, you know what would be helpful?? Doing LW's job. All RW needs to do is challenge the very blatantly open Brandon Yip. Just skate a couple feet towards him, at the very least. Why wouldn't you cover an immediate threat that isn't being covered?
Anyway, Leggy has kinda won the face off and Gabby has sped towards the puck. He's gonna snag it and chuck it back to Yip, who actually has to stretch pretty far to grab it.
Aaand that's all she wrote. Yip has all the room in the world, and was actually able to ring the puck off the pipe and into the top right corner from there, despite having to reach for the pass. Who knew he could snipe a shot like that! RW is still not doing anything, and the four other Kings are all hanging out within about ten feet of each other. I'm assuming that LW thought RW would cover Yip, but clearly that wasn't communicated very well. Oops. (By which I mean "HURRAY!")
Watch the entire video for the replay - that's where I took the screen shots.
February 2: Predators vs. Sharks (2-1 SO)
Sharks: Martin Havlat (3) from Scott Gomez (2) on Pekka Rinne
Anyone want to be mad at Sergei Kostitsyn? Now is your chance. This is the second time in two weeks I'm calling him out on twice screwing up on the exact same thing... twice. This was a consistent problem last year as well, and I'm sure Trotz and Co. have called him out on it, because when you look for it, it's really obvious.
So the Preds are on the penalty kill here and the Sharks are transitioning into the attacking zone. The Sharks defenseman, Braun, is going to dump the puck in, and Gomez and Hannan are going to skate after it into the corner. It's important to note here that the Sharks are also in the midst of a line change; the defenseman leaving doesn't matter so much, but the forwards changing means that someone is going to be joining the play a bit late, so someone needs to keep an eye out for him...........
Right now, everyone's relatively positionally fine. I'm not entirely sure Sergei or Weber is aware of Clowe sneaking down the far boards, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that one of them has seen him. It would be nice if Sergei was a bit closer to him, but at least he's near by.
Pleasant surprise: Sergei its is indeed aware of Clowe and is covering him. Awesome. Upon dumping the puck into the zone, Braun is heading back to the blue line, leaving Fisher with no one to cover. Hannah is in charge of retrieving, controlling, and keeping the puck away from Gomez. Because Sergei has Clowe under control, Weber is moving to the back of the net to intercept Hannan and Gomez. The Sharks' third forward still hasn't entered the picture yet, so this is all fine. When he shows up, Fish and Tits should head up towards the points, form the box, and kill off the penalty. If you're unfamiliar with the concept of the PK Box, it looks like this. I don't really have a good reason to explain it for this goal, but it'll come up eventually and I'll discuss it then.
VERY rarely is that much room on the ice in your defensive zone a good thing. It's just a bad sign. Everyone here is doing their job, so it's not like there's been a screw up yet, but that much space makes me cringe.
As soon as Clowe decides to go battle for the puck behind the net with Gomez, Tits gives him up. I'd like to think that he knows the Sharks are missing a forward and he's circling up to find him, but he's just moving in the direction of the play. He leaves Clowe right in Fish's line of vision, so Fish knows what's up. I feel like Fish might want to head more towards the slot-ish area because someone needs to cover the slot and we still don't know where the Sharks' fourth forward is, but he decides to stay slightly behind the play instead. It's not a bad move, all considering. If the puck pops out behind them, he'll be able to clear it easily. If it goes towards the net, I guess he better be able to get there in time. Hopefully, since the puck is that far behind the net, it can't get to the slot very easily.
To the tune of "Here Comes Santa Claus":
Here comes Hav-lat, here comes Hav-lat, right down Sergei's lane!
Gomez and Weber, Hannan and Fisher, in him they have no say.
Alarm bells ringing, Tits's brain should be screaming,
"Havlat's scary and a-flight!"
Tits, hang your head and say you're sorry, cause Havlat's gonna score tonight.
...Not sure why I immediately went to a Christmas song when I saw Havlat coming in, but I tried to make the most of it. The puck's about to pop out on the far side of the net, and Gomez is about to snag possession of it. Fish is slowly making his way towards the net, following the direction of the play. Also, I'm absolutely positive that Sergei has ZERO idea that Havlat is right there. HEAD ON A SWIVEL!
What's about to happen next epitomizes my frustration with Sergei Kostitsyn. He has done so much correctly during this shift! He covered his man, he followed him in, he left his man in capable hands, and he was following the play. So many good things! And after all of that, he's gonna screw the pooch in one fell, inevitable swoop. Let's get it over with.
How? How does this happen? How does Sergei Kostitsyn let a dude skate right in front of him without (A) knowing that he's there, and/or (B) covering him?? He has to know there's a forward missing... shouldn't he want to know where that guy is? And it's not like Havlat is going a million miles per hour, either. He sorta casually wanders in.
This is what makes me even madder. When you watch the video, keep an eye out for this. Tits does a BACKWARDS CIRCLE before jumping towards Havlat. So he doesn't see Havlat enter the zone. ...okay. So he doesn't see Havlat until he skates right in front of him. ......fine. So he totally has the opportunity to power forwards at Havlat, and he skates backwards. Away from him. ...........NO. Ridiculous.
February 5: Predators vs. Blues (6-1)
Predators: Kevin Klein (1) from Jon Blum (1) and Martin Erat (4) on Brian Elliot
This was just BEAUTIFUL, and it happened because of a filthy move by.... Sergei Kostitsyn.
Irony.
Martin Erat has the puck and he gets it all the way around the net to Sergei Kostitsyn, who is immediately challenged by David Backes. Tits pokes the puck between Backes' legs, gracefully dodges Backes' flying body, regains control of the puck, and calmly looks around, like you do.
Marty remains open, because the guy who was supposed to cover him (Russell) is now covering for David Backes, who is currently searching for his jockstrap in the 300 level.
Russell does a nice job of cutting Sergei off very effectively, but not before Sergei is able to make a lovely pass (imagine that) to Marty. Oshie then decides to leave his man (Fish) to cover Russell's man (Marty), because Russell had to leave his man to cover Backes' man, because David Backes lost his jock. Under Oshie's pressure, Marty slides the puck back to Jon Blum on the point. Backes, meanwhile, has picked himself up and is heading to the front of the net.
I feel like I'm telling the story of the old lady who swallowed the fly. So because Oshie had to leave his position to cover Russell's man, because Russell had to leave his position to cover Backes' man, who got deked out of most of his clothing by Sergei Kostitsyn, Vladimir Sobotka had to scoot clear across the ice, from left to right, to cover Oshie's man, leaving Sobotka's man (Klein) WIIIIIIDE open. David Backes was, of course, unable to follow this shift in player coverage, so he's just wandering around the slot right now and being completely unhelpful. Blum sees that Klein is fantastically wide open, and passes him the puck.
Full credit to the Blues - they all moved pretty damn quick. Unfortunately for them, however, that speed wasn't really conducive to anything useful. I looked up the within-rink measurements because of how hilariously small that patch of ice seemed, and sure enough... man that's not much room for 7 guys (8, if you count Elliot) to be packed into. Kudos to all the Preds for crashing the net, though! Klein has all the time in the world, and he's able to thread one through past Brian Elliot.
One mistake by one guy screwed up this entire thing for St. Louis, despite the fact that his teammates all covered for him. Kinda puts things in perspective, eh? What really sold me on this goal, however, was the Preds' movement, and their crisp passes. This game was one for the ages. We finally remembered that the season had started!! It was about damn time.
The Blackhawks are an offensive dynamo, presenting the greatest challenge yet to the defense & goaltending which has helped the Predators earn 14 points in 11 games.
This is the first meeting between the Preds & Hawks this season. In 2011-2012, Nashville went 4-1-1 against Chicago.
Do you want to go to tonight's game? Get the best deals on tickets at TiqIQ!
Chicago Blackhawks
They're pretty much giddy in Chicago to see how Patrick Kane has started the season, as he stands 2nd in league scoring with 8 goals and 10 assists. There were questions last year about whether the Hawks might best be served by trading away the young playmaker, but that's been set aside now. Does credit for this maturation go to his time over in Europe during the lockout?
Every off season we have wondered when Kane is going to "grow up" and take that next step towards super stardom. We all know Kaner's off ice reputation and incidents all too well. For years we've heard jokes about shirtless limo rides, upstate New York cab drivers and Cinco De Mayo parties gone haywire. We have seen his defensive lapses and many nights where he has looked like his head and heart just aren't into the game. We have been hearing him say all the right things at the start of every training camp. I really think playing in Europe during the lockout was the best thing to ever happen to him. We have seen a more mature and focused Patrick Kane this year and I have to believe that his time in Switzerland has a lot to do with the results we've enjoyed this year.
--- Second City Hockey
Patrick Kane
#88 / Right Wing / Chicago Blackhawks
5-11
181
Nov 19, 1988
Over the course of his career, Kane has 11 goals & 16 assists for 27 points in 31 games against Nashville.
According to Daily Faceoff, here are the lines and d-pairings Chicago is using right now:
Brandon Saad
Jonathan Toews
Marian Hossa
Patrick Sharp
Dave Bolland
Patrick Kane
Bryan Bickell
Andrew Shaw
Viktor Stalberg
Michael Frolik
Marcus Kruger
Jamal Mayers
Duncan Keith
Brent Seabrook
Sheldon Brookbank
Nick Leddy
Johnny Oduya
Niklas Hjalmarsson
Nashville Predators
The Predators don't have any time to stew over last night's controversial overtime loss at Minnesota, and instead need to focus on bringing a strong effort against a Blackhawks team which hasn't played since Thursday at Phoenix. Chicago has been waiting & practicing here in Nashville while the Preds went up to play the Wild, so you can expect them to establish a high tempo right from the opening faceoff.
After having last night off, Pekka Rinne is expected to get the start, and the Predators will need him at his best. He's 10-7-1 all-time against Chicago, with a 2.44 GAA, .919 save percentage, and one shutout.
Pekka Rinne
#35 / Goalie / Nashville Predators
6-5
209
Nov 03, 1982
Will last night's loss lead to Barry Trotz making any lineup changes? It's been a while since Matt Halischuk hit the ice (the San Jose game on February 2), but going with seven defense seems to be working pretty well for the Predators.
The Preds will not have a morning skate today given their late-night arrival from Minnesota, so we may not hear about lineup decisions until later in the afternoon. Check back later for updates, and join us in the Game Thread for a 7:00 p.m. start!
The Wild aren't awful, but they aren't exactly a contender, either. They're getting outshot regularly, the goaltending hasn't been able to make up for that, and the special teams have been nothing to get excited about. The Predators, meanwhile, are playing Rope-A-Dope, getting out-shot by a healthy margin but relying on a collapsing defense and Pekka Rinne's goaltending to hold onto a lead whenever they get one.
Previous Meeting
Nashville's recent 7-game road trip began January 22nd with a 3-1 victory at Minnesota, in which Chris Mason saw his only action of the season so far.
Minnesota Wild
All that optimism which took root in Minnesota on July 4th, as Ryan Suter and Zach Parise were flashing twin $98 million smiles and shaking hands with Craig Leipold, has turned sour of late, as the Wild come into tonight's game on a 3-game losing streak.
Naturally, this is leading to crazy talk in the press:
Less than three weeks into the most promising season in franchise history, the Wild played without grit or intelligence in a 4-1 loss to Vancouver, a failure that could alter expectations and shorten tenures surely as it brought jeers raining down on the Xcel Energy Center ice on Thursday night.
In hockey, when you've tried everything but firing the coach and your team doesn't respond, you tend to fire the coach. Maybe owner Craig Leipold won't force that move immediately, but he has no reason to be patient after making an immense investment in front-line talent and watching his team fall apart.
Whether Mike Yeo is responsible for his team's slump is irrelevant.
--- Jim Souhan, Star Tribune (h/t to Hockey Wilderness)
Of course, that kind of "it's so crazy it just might work" talk is about the worst way to run a franchise, but hey, go for it.
All eyes in Smashville will be on Ryan Suter, of course, the guy who left the Predators as an unrestricted free agent, yet still draws ire from many fans.
Ryan Suter
#20 / Defenseman / Minnesota Wild
6-1
198
Jan 21, 1985
10 games, 4 assists and a -7 Plus/Minus have Predators fans howling in derision, and the puck-possession metrics haven't looked good for Sutes so far, either as he boasts the worst Corsi numbers on the Minnesota defense so far. Let's just remember that reworking a blueline is no simple task, as we've seen in Nashville already.
The guy who is paying early dividends is Zach Parise, whose 6 goals and 4 assists so far lead the Wild in scoring.
Nashville Predators
With a four-game winning streak under their belt, confidence is rising among the Predators' ranks. Martin Erat and Colin Wilson have the hot hands up front, and the lineup has enjoyed a rare amount of stability, as Barry Trotz tends not to change much while the wins are coming.
Pekka Rinne
#35 / Goalie / Nashville Predators
6-5
209
Nov 03, 1982
In goal, Pekka Rinne has enjoyed considerable success against Minnesota historically, with an 8-3-1 record in 13 games, with 3 shutouts and a 2.20 GAA.
So head over to Hockey Wilderness to sample the mood in Minnesota, check back here later for pre-game updates as they become available, the Game Thread to follow along with tonight's action, and tune in to 102.5 The Game later as I'm joining birthday boy Willy Daunic tonight for the post-game show.
The Preds return home to face Chicago on Sunday - get the best deals on tickets at TiqIQ!
Perhaps the biggest question surrounding the Nashville Predators heading into this season was how they would replace Ryan Suter on defense. We all knew it would take a committee-style approach to backfilling the 26 minutes a night that Suter contributed, but who would have guessed that the committee would have 7 members instead of 6?
For the last three games, Barry Trotz has dressed an extra defenseman, which has not only given Jonathon Blum a chance to get on the ice, but has also perhaps made better use of this group collectively. Even though some guys may not be getting the 20 minutes a night they'd prefer, this alignment seems to allow Trotz to use each defenseman to the best of his ability.
Take a look at the following chart, which lays out the total ice time per game for each Preds blueliner (click for a bigger version):
Follow @Forechecker
The bottom line is that since no single guy can replace Suter's all-around effectiveness, we see a number of players being used in very specific roles.
Hal Gill is the penalty-killing specialist, getting 3rd-pair minutes at Even Strength.
Jonathon Blum is the opposite of Gill, getting in some Power Play work and marginal even-strength time, but not a second on the PK.
Kevin Klein is the right-side PK leader, and faces a steady diet of Top Six competition at even strength as well.
Roman Josi has taken the biggest hit since the shift was made to go with 7 D, as his Even Strength ice time has dropped by about 5 minutes per game.
Ryan Ellis has also seen his EV ice time dip by about 4 minutes, but he and Josi are also major figures on the Power Play.
Scott Hannan has recently stepped up onto the top Even Strength pair alongside Shea Weber, but the only increase in his ice time (about a minute per game) has been due to increased Penalty Killing work of late.
Shea Weber, as always, is soaking up minutes in all key situations.
What we see is that Jon Blum's opportunity to play is coming at the expense of Roman Josi and Ryan Ellis, but that's not at all a bad thing. Nashville is famously patient with the development of their young defensemen, and as long as the players are comfortable with the amount of work they're getting, this is probably the best way to make use of a group of specialists.
For example, you generally like to have four offensively capable blueliners to man your power play. Weber, Josi and Ellis are obvious choices, but Gill, Hannan or Klein? Not so much, so Blum adds a dimension that keeps both power play units humming along.
Similarly, on the penalty kill you have Weber & Klein on the right side, alongside Gill & Hannan, who are more suited to such work than Josi, Blum or Ellis are at this point.
To fill 8 primary special teams roles on defense (4 PP, 4 PK), you have only one guy (Shea Weber) who you'd really feel comfortable filling two of them. Until someone steps up and demonstrates that they can provide that kind of all-around effectiveness (likely candidates being Josi on the PK, or Klein on the PP), Barry Trotz might be best served to keep dressing 7 defensemen for quite a while.
