Five different Preds score as Nashville takes a 2-0 series lead over the Avalanche with a 5-4 win at home. Read & Watch
CLOSE All season, the Nashville Predators have had a lot of penalties called. Austin Watson said it's because the team hasn't been disciplined.
Predators right wing Ryan Hartman (38), center Mike Fisher (12) and right wing Miikka Salomaki (20) land on the ice after celebrating Hartman's empty-net goal late in the third period in game 2 of the first round NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com)
It was all very familiar, discombobulated Predators and opportunistic Avalanche combining for a first period that put the muzzle on Bridgestone.
A failed clear involving Nashville’s fourth line, again. Colorado’s first shot finding its way past Pekka Rine, again. An unlikely Avs scoring source giving them that lead and quickly replacing jubilance with tension, again.
And it stayed familiar. The Predators returned often to one of their favorite hangouts this season, the penalty box. And the Avalanche got hit with another avalanche.
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The Stanley Cup favorite Preds cranked things up and gradually overtook the young Avs, again, to take a 2-0 first-round series lead with a 5-4 comeback win Saturday at Bridgestone. They did it with bursts of the dominance we’ve come to expect from this team, amid a few costly mistakes and more than a few demonstrations of overzealous officiating.
“We did what we were supposed to do,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said and, though his team can do it better than this, Colorado also deserves credit for hanging around, shorthanded and often overmatched.
In Thursday’s 5-2 win in Game 1, it was Austin Watson starting the Nashville scoring, Craig Smith tying it and Filip Forsberg winning it and putting a Fil-thy bow on it with a move that tied Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard into a figurative knot. On Saturday it was Kevin Fiala with a power-play equalizer, Viktor Arvidsson with a laser to go up 2-1 — a lead the Preds would not relinquish — Ryan Johansen with a breakaway backhand and Watson striking again to open things up in the third period.
CLOSE Ryan Johansen told members of the media that the Colorado Avalanche are making this a tough series for the Predators.
All of the names in the preceding paragraph are capable offensive players, and they represent the difference in these two teams as the series shifts to Monday’s Game 3 in Denver. So far, everyone is right: Nashville just has too much depth across the board for Colorado, which got a gorgeous Nathan MacKinnon backhand past Rinne to help his team endure when it looked like the place might be caving in on the Avs.
It did eventually, though not as emphatically as in Game 1. A MacKinnon shot midway through the third was tipped in by Gabriel Landeskog to cut Nashville’s lead to 4-3. It came in a 5-on-3 situation to keep the Avs in it all the way until Nashville’s Ryan Hartman found an empty net with 1:09 left, and Colorado’s Alexander Kerfoot got one past Rinne with 35.8 ticks left for the final score.
Predators left wing Filip Forsberg (9) hits the boards as Avalanche defenseman Mark Barberio (44) goes flying during the second period in game 2 of the first round NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: George Walker IV / Tennessean.com)
And it reminded everyone of the real stars of Saturday’s affair. Officials Jean Hebert, Dan O’Rourke, Michel Cormier and Brian Murphy deserve to get their names in the paper after that performance because they called everything that looked remotely like a penalty and some things that didn’t.
And that’s both ways, mind you. This series doesn’t need any more outside complaining about calls after Johansen’s Game 1 hit on Tyson Barrie prompted outrage from some Denver media and the Colorado locker room — Barrie saying, “maybe you take one or two runs at guys that you might get away with” if such hits are allowed with no suspension.
The officials seemed to say in response: “Hey everyone, check out our new whistles!”
Nashville was hit with seven penalties, the recurrence of a chronic issue for the most-penalized team in the league in the regular season. So it’s hard to look at this and put it all on the refs. But Colorado was hit with seven penalties as well, and the number of actual, reasonable playoff penalties in this game was probably more like eight than 14.
Not that we need any more whining.
Linesman Brian Murphy tries to break up a fight between Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis (4) and Avalanche right wing Mikko Rantanen (96) during the second period in game 2 of the first round NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: George Walker IV / Tennessean.com)
“I thought it was good, they went both ways, they allowed some physicality and they were consistent,” Laviolette said.
“They have a tough job, and sometimes you catch things, sometimes you think you might see things,” said Watson, who drew and a penalty and was nailed for embellishment on the same bizarre call. “But the majority of the time, we’ve done a bad job of being disciplined during the regular season.”
Asked if he thought this game was called tighter than usual, Johansen said: “Yeah. You try, as a player, I don’t even know, you try and focus on just your job and what we need to do. That’s not in our hands, the way the game is being called.”
What is in their hands is playing a better game, and they’ll need it Monday. Colorado, already banged up before Girard missed Saturday’s game with an upper-body injury deemed "day to day," is gamely causing some problems and “there’s definitely no quit on that side,” Johansen said.
Come out shaky and fall behind, again, and this series may yet become interesting enough to overshadow its officiating.
Contact Joe Rexrode at jrexrode@tennessean.com and follow him on Twitter @joerexrode.
PREDATORS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE: Stanley Cup playoffs continue Monday in Colorado
PREDATORS IN THE PLAYOFFS: Why Predators are unique among top seeds in NHL playoff history
Fans reach out to the Predators after the team's 5-4 win over the Avalanche in game 2 of the first round NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Bridgestone Arena Saturday, April 14, 2018, in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo: George Walker IV / Tennessean.com)
The Predators' local television ratings continue to soar.
Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Predators and Colorado Avalanche Saturday earned a whopping 10.3 rating, according to WTVF programming and research director Mark Binda.
That means 106,162 Nashville households watched the Predators take a 2-0 lead in the series by beating the Avalanche 5-4 at Bridgestone Arena.
The rating for the first game of the series was a 7.5.
Saturday's rating was the highest since the Predators set a franchise record with a 27.4 in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final last season against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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CLOSE Nashville Predators coach Peter Laviolette is thankful for the home ice advantage throughout the NHL Playoffs.
Saturday's rating also set a franchise record for the highest in the first or second rounds of the playoffs.
The average rating through the regular season this year was 2.1
Saturday's game was broadcast on Channel 4 (NBC).
The series continues Monday on Fox Sports Tennessee and NBC Sports in Colorado at 9 p.m.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
The Nashville Predators overcame another slow start and several return shots from Colorado, but they will head to Denver with a 2-0 series lead after a 5-4 victory on Saturday afternoon.
It’s the first time the Predators have ever started a playoff series at home with two wins.
Former Pred Gabriel Bourque opened the scoring just 2:34 in, beating Rinne from the high slot above his blocker.
Nashville was whistled several times for offside in a short span, then the Preds seemed to ramp up the offensive pace for a flurry or two, but the Avalanche withstood it.
Gabriel Landeskog tripped Kyle Turris and triggered a Nashville power play with 56. 1 seconds left in the first.
Kevin Fiala made that power play count, scoring three seconds before its expiration and tying the contest just 1:01 into the second period.
Colorado’s first power play chance came 3:21 into the second after Mattias Ekholm was called for interference. It lasted all of 16 seconds as David Warsofsky was called for holding to negate the man advantage.
Viktor Arvidsson tore a slap shot past Jonathan Bernier with 10 seconds left of 4-on-4 time, putting the Preds ahead 2-1 with 7:24 left in the second period.
Ryan Johansen broke in and wired one past Bernier for a 3-1 lead during another 4-on-4 situation with 3:28 left in the second, but the two-goal edge was short-lived. Nathan MacKinnon’s backhand found its way past Rinne 36 seconds later to bring the Avalanche back within one.
Colorado made a bad change and Austin Watson made them pay for it, bumping the Preds to a 4-2 lead with 12:44 to play in regulation.
The Avalanche had 1:46 of 5-on-3 power play time and took advantage of it once, as MacKinnon scored his second of the game with 10:46 to play.
Colorado pulled Bernier with 2:06 to play, and Watson narrowly missed a full-length open-net attempt seconds later.
Another empty-net attempt went wide, but Ryan Hartman followed it up with a hustle play, scoring with 69 seconds left in regulation to give the Preds a 5-3 lead.
Alex Kerfoot kept hope alive for the Avalanche with 36.4 seconds to play, scoring with Bernier pulled.
Random Observations
Sam Girard was Colorado’s best defenseman on Thursday, even before Forsberg put him in the spin cycle. His absence puts the Avs in a deeper hole.
I love afternoon hockey. That is all.
Expecting the first 10 minutes from Colorado to be some desperate hockey.
Getting the Bonino-Sissons-Watson out on Colorado’s top unit early might curtail some of the frantic pace, though.
First shot on goal, again, for Colorado. This one Pekka saw cleanly, and Bourque was wide open in the slot. May have been redirected by Emelin, though.
Preds’ first 10 minutes: a bunch of offside calls, and the rest of it hasn’t been good, either.
Will a certain Denver columnist blame the puck on knocking Barrie out of the game for a bit? Asking for a friend.
Now both sides are struggle-bussing in the back end of the first period.
Starting the second period on the power play should provide a lift.
Kevin Fiala provides that lift.
All sorts of whistles in this period. Guess the rules kicked in for the second period.
Bernier didn’t think Arvi was really going to go with the slapper there. Old school, break in and boom it.
Which one is it, interference or embellishment? Watson went down while reaching for the puck — IT CANNOT BE BOTH.
Austin Watson scores goals at good times. That’s just what he does.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Get up two goals and then start committing the undisciplined penalties that will eventually catch up.
Like that.
MacKinnon’s going to be on the ice around 25 minutes today, and the Avs have needed every second of that to stay in this game.
Super Duper Three Stars of the Game
Sissons/Bonino/Watson. I know, I’m cheating. But this line as a whole has not only produced, but helped with Colorado’s top line, so they’re all getting in together. Don’t like it? Write a column about me. Arvidsson. More big stuff from Arvy. Fiala. He lit the match that got things started after a slow start.
Postgame Reaction
Fiala on Arvidsson’s goal:
“It’s awesome. This guy’s working hard, every shift. It was a great shot and a great lead for us.”
On trying to cut back on penalties:
“They have a good (power play). We’ve just got to stay more disciplined and make them just work harder and don’t give them so many (power plays.)”
Watson on his recent scoring success:
“I think I’m seeing the net a little better these days, but you get a couple of them to go for you and you get a little bit of confidence. You don’t forget how to score goals — it might not come easy sometimes — but I’ve been fortunate to get put in some good positions. What a play by (Fiala) to slip it over. It’s nice to be able to score a goal here and there for this team.
On Colorado staying in the game in the third period:
“They’re not just going to give it to us because we finished first in the league. They’re persistent. There’s no quit in them, even there at the end to put another one in to get it back to one goal. They’ve got tons of speed, you have to play with that and you have to be hard on them.”
Johansen on winning the first two games at home:
“It’s a huge advantage for us playing in our building and with the atmosphere we have, we can go out and feed off that and play our game.”
On Arvidsson’s goal:
“I was just skating as fast as I can to be an option there for him, and he took it into his own hands and made a big play for us. It was a huge goal at the time. Arvy did a lot of things well tonight.
Peter Laviolette on figuring out how to play against Colorado to have sustained success:
“You’ve got to play hard, you’ve got to play fast, you’ve got to play for 60 minutes. They’re a good, young, skilled team. I said it after the first game and before the series started — we know what we’re up against. We know we’ve got to compete hard. I thought we did a good job of that.”
On the Sissons-Bonino-Watson line matching up against Colorado’s top line:
“They’ve been good. They’re smart players. If it ends up being the Johansen line, that’s fine too. Really, all of our lines to be honest with you. We started down the road with that, we won a game, we stayed with it and we won another game. To me, it doesn’t really matter. We’re going on the road and all of our guys are going to have to do a good job.”
Tweets of the Night
Special addition to the bench today. The #Preds will honor the Humboldt Broncos with a Wade Belak stick from his last season with the team. Belak was from just outside of Humboldt. pic.twitter.com/DRlnJS1bwu — p-Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 14, 2018
Gill’s new roomie is here! pic.twitter.com/hhRI6VemVd — On The Forecheck (@OnTheForecheck) April 14, 2018
when u condition people to wear gold all the time, getting half of them to switch into white T-shirts ain’t gonna work — J.R. Lind (@jrlind) April 14, 2018
Annnnnd that might be the last time we see Alexei Emelin and Matt Irwin today — Filipovic Forsberg (@DimFilipovic) April 14, 2018
[stick shaft jutting out from Arvy’s jugular]
“PLAY ON, PLAY ON” https://t.co/f3qhFuQZHd — On The Forecheck (@OnTheForecheck) April 14, 2018
Nice penalty by straight-to-DVD sci-fi knock off “Wars of Sky” — Eric Shuff (@ericshuff) April 14, 2018
The Preds doing work at 4 on 4 establishes this thought: if Nashville quits trying to play like Anaheim, they’ll be better for it. Less hits for the sake of hits. — Dan (@DanDBradley) April 14, 2018
Game Extras
