Preds Get Back in Gear, Blank Wild 4-0

Courtesy of ESPN

Oh how it feels for the offense to be clicking. The Predators took care of business tonight at the Bridgestone Arena as they walloped the Wild 4-0.

Special Teams:

Powerplay – 0 for 3, 0%
Powerplay For The Season – 34 for 225, 15.1%

Penalty Kill – 1 for 1, 100%
Penalty Kill For The Season – 35 for 234, 85.0%

Best Play of the Game: Shea Weber dragging Backstrom out of his net and then flicking the puck to Nick Spaling late in the third where Nick would pocket his second of the game for a 4-0 lead

Worst Play of the Game: N/A – Don’t see many bad plays when your team gets a shut out

Players (Good and Bad) of the Game:
The Good: Nick Spaling – Wow, what an amazing game for Spals tonight! When your grinder players are getting two goals in a game, you know things are going to go your way. Spaling had 2 goals and finished a +2 for the night

The Bad: Niklas Backstrom – Just a bad night overall for Pekka’s Finnish counterpart. Backstrom gave up 3 goals in the first en route to dropping this one 4-0

My Preds #1 Star: Nick Spaling – You could argue that Pekka Rinne deserved this, but this was Nick’s night.

Synopsis: How good it feels to get a win, especially at home. The Predators absolutely dominated this game up and down the ice and it showed. And what else do we see here? 4 goals? What happens when we score more than 2 goals? That’s right, a win. The Predators are now 31-4-1 when scoring 3 or more goals per game, which is a pretty telling stat.

However, all 4 of the goals that were scored tonight were ALL within serious proximity to the Minnesota goal (most within the 10 feet or less range). This is how the Predators win games, by putting the excess garbage in the net.

The Predators HAVE to keep this pace up, as they only have 14 games remaining and are on the outside looking in. BUT, the Predators control their own destiny. They may be 1 point out of the playoffs right now, but a win Saturday night will get them back in the playoffs (and nothing that happens tomorrow changes that statement, a win Saturday gets the Preds back in the top 8).

Next game is Saturday March 12th against the Colorado Avalanche at 7:00pm

Playoff Outlook: 78 points, Currently, 9th place – 1 point out of 8th, 2 points out of 7th, 8 points out of the division lead

Best of 19 Record: 2-1-2

March Record: 2-1-2

What SportsClubStats Says?: Predators need to go 8-1-5, 9-2-3, or 10-3-1 to secure a playoff spot

Thanks for reading!

~KM