After winning last night in Columbus, fear that the Predators would be tired on the second night of back-to-back games was a legitimate concern. But after a slow start, the Predators showed no signs of fatigue and played a second period like nothing the 15 084 fans at the Sommet Center were prepared for.

The Predators had been outshot 13-6 in the first and outscored 2-1 on goals by Steven Stamkos and Vincent LeCavalier.  Jerred Smithson scored his 5th goal of the year for Nashville.

Smithson’s first period goal is one more than he tallied during the entire 2008-2009 season.

To start the second period, Nashville got two quick goals to take an early 3-2 lead. The Predators would go on to score 5 unanswered goals in total. All goals were scored at even strength and were scored by 5 different shooters to end the period ahead 6-2.

David Legwand, Ryan Jones, Patric Hornqvist, J.P. Dumont and Dan Hamhuis all scored for the Predators in the middle frame.

It was Ryan Jones third goal in as many games.

Marcel Goc was credited with two assists.

The Goc, Dumont, Hornqvist line was responsible for two goals. So it should come as no surprise that late in the period, the forwards on the ice when Hamhuis scored were Goc, Dumont and this time Captain Jason Arnott.

Tampa Bay tried to make a game of it, coming within two goals of Nashville as Kurtis Foster and Vincent LeCavalier scored for the Lightening to make it 6-4 with more than 7 minutes to play.  It just wasn’t meant to be as not even 90 second later Martin Erat got his 11th goal of the season to bring the score to 7-4.

Nashville was outshot 34-27. Pekka Rinne got the win for the Predators.

Game notes:

A team considered to be offensively challenged without names like Healtey, Nash, Ovechkin or Crosby on its roster, in 10 of the last 16 games, the Preds have scored 4 or more goals.

Nashville’s home record improves to 12-6-1.  No team in the East has an equally impressive record in their home barn. Chicago, Vancouver and Phoenix all have similar records at home in the West.

Seven is the highest amount of goals for one game the Predators registered this season. Their previous high was 6 goals.  

With the win over Tampa Bay, the goals for Nashville finally equal the goals against Predator goalies at 95-95.

Next up for Nashville: The Predators leave Wednesday morning for Western Canada where there will play Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver before taking a three day break for Christmas.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 10:59 pm and is filed under Most Recommended, News Headlines, Right Column, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.