It is hard for the Predators to get good media coverage, being a non-traditional and small hockey market. So it is no surprise that the emphasis of the NHL.com’s storyon the success of the Predators is to point out they had a very favorable schedule in the month of November and early December.

According to the NHL.com columnist, the true test for the success of the team started Thursday night when the Preds visited Rexall Place to take on the Edmonton Oilers. Six of the next 7 Predators games are on the road.

Early on, it looked like nay-sayers would be able to claim victory as memories of October 12th’s 6-1 Oilers spanking of the Predators quickly came into sight. At 5:01 in the first period, Barry Trotz called a time out after Nashville gave the Oilers a quick 2-0 lead.

The first goal was on a power play and the other was the result of a bad defensive zone give away, but goalie Pekka Rinne was pulled for letting in 2 goals on 4 shots. Ellis would save 21 out of 22 shots he faced. Lubomir Visnovsky and Robert Nilsson scored for the Oilers.

Whatever Trotz said during the time out, it worked. For the rest of the first period, the Predators outshot the Oilers 13-6 and scored three goals to take a 3-2 lead after 20 minutes.

Nashville’s second, third and fourth lines all tallied for the Preds on goals by Ryan Jones, Joel Ward and Marcel Goc.

It was Ryan Jones fourth game in a row that he scored.

The Predators didn’t seem to slow down at the start of the second, taking a two goal lead on a Patric Hornqvist wrist shot, posting his 9th goal of the season.

The Oilers would come within one goal of the Preds. With J.P. Dumont in the penalty box serving a too many men on the ice delay of game call, Shea Weber shot the puck over the boards in the defensive end to give the Oilers their second straight delay of game power play. Robert Nilsson scored his second power play goal of the game.

 After 40 minutes of play, the Predators enjoyed a 5-3 lead. Nashville got a last minute power play and they would capitalize with 4 seconds left in the second period. Patric Hornqvist scored his second goal of the period with a real nice tip-in on a Ryan Suter shot.

Jerred Smithson added a last minute of the game goal (not an empty-netter) for the 6-3 win.

Games Notes:

Thursday’s game was the third game in four nights for Nashville. The Predators scored a combined 18 goals in the span of those 3 games. The offensive surge continues with the Predators now having scored 4 or more goals in 11 of the last 17 games.

Last year, the Predators were in the top 10% for penalty killing in the league. This year the Preds kill off a mere 77% of penalties–29th in the league. Only the Toronto Maple Leafs have a worse record. Thursday night’s game was no exception as Nilsson’s two goals were both scored on the power play.

Speaking of penalty killing, it was interesting to see that Trotz gave rookie Nick Spaling for 1:54 minutes of short handed ice time.

Next up for Nashville: The Predators continue their Western Canada road trip in Calgary. Game time is 3 pm CT.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 12:16 am 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.