The Nashville Predators turned a strange season into a statement night on home ice, rolling past the Colorado Avalanche 6-2 after building a 5-0 cushion through two periods.
Ryan O’Reilly led the way with two goals, while Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos and Jack Drury each added one before the second intermission. Colorado got goals from Artturi Lehkonen and Devon Toews, but Stamkos put the game out of reach with a power-play goal at 9:36.
That power play was the headline all by itself. Nashville scored four times with the man advantage, its most in a game since Jan. 7, 2012 against the Carolina Hurricanes. It also marked only the sixth time in franchise history the Predators have reached that number.
Even with the special teams doing major damage, head coach Andrew Brunette made it clear he viewed the performance as bigger than one unit. “We had 20 drivers tonight.
Every time it was their turn to grab the wheel, they floored it. I think it sets up a little bit of what my expectations of this group were - kind of the standard we’re trying to set here a bit,” he said.
One of the night’s strangest moments came on Stamkos’ goal that stood after video review. It initially looked as if Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar had managed to swipe the puck off the line in mid-air, but the replay showed the shot had fully crossed before Makar pulled it out.
Stamkos wasn’t exactly celebrating with certainty at the time. “I wasn’t confident when I skated back to the bench and they were all telling me it didn’t go in,” Stamkos joked, “so I already accepted the fact that it was no goal, so when they started showing it on the JumboTron, I was like ‘Wait a minute’…I still haven’t seen an angle of it in, so I’m looking forward to seeing that.”
There was also a little extra edge in the matchup because of the personnel involved. Predators general manager Chris MacFarland was once the Avalanche’s GM, and Nashville has brought in several former Colorado players, including Ross Colton and Jack Drury. Zachary L’Hereux and Fedor Svechkov went the other direction in those deals.
Drury ended up scoring against his former club, set up by Colton, and he was quick to credit the play. “I was happy for Ross.
He’s played well in the past couple games. Obviously, we came pretty close against the Pittsburgh Penguins to connecting on one at the end of the period, but he made a great play, and he was pretty fired up.
It was kind of a cool moment to share with him,” said Drury.
The win moved Nashville to 4-3-4, with 12 points, one behind the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Colorado and the San Jose Sharks hold the two wild-card positions with 13.
The Predators stay at home for a busy stretch ahead, with the New York Islanders coming to town on Oct. 27, followed by the Washington Capitals on Oct. 29, the Tampa Bay Lightning on Oct. 31 and the Hurricanes on Tuesday, Nov. 3.
In Other News...
Avalanche Just Showed The Problem Fans Keep Fearing
A bad night at home can look different from one team to the next, but for the Avalanche it came with the kind of problems that tend to linger in a long season. Colorado jumped in front early against Nashville and still walked away with a 6-2 loss, getting outshot 35-21 and watching the game slip away as the Predators kept finding answers. The power play had chances to swing momentum back, yet the Avalanche went scoreless on four opportunities and never fully recovered from the early collapse.
The more troubling part was how often the cracks showed when Colorado was trying to kill penalties, because Nashville cashed in four times on seven man-advantage chances. That kind of special teams gap is the sort of issue fans notice fast, especially when it comes on a night when the building should have been an advantage. Even a late benching of Fedor Svechkov in the third period did little to change the tone, and now the Avalanche move on to a home date with the New Jersey Devils looking for a much cleaner response. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Pipeline Took Another Tough Turn After Costly Eagles Mistakes
The Colorado Eagles had a promising start before things quickly unraveled in a 4-1 loss to the Bakersfield Condors, a result that left another mark on the Avalanche pipeline. Nikita Prishchepov supplied the lone goal for Colorado, but the rest of the night belonged to Bakersfield after the teams were tied 1-1.
Aku Raty powered the Condors with two goals, and Nathan Day picked up his first win of the season with 28 saves. Colorado goaltender Trent Miner faced 30 shots and allowed four goals, as the Eagles could not recover once Bakersfield strung together three unanswered tallies. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Were In Trouble Early For One Frustrating Reason
The Avalanche spent much of the night chasing the game after Nashville raced out to a 3-0 lead through the first two periods. Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos and Ryan O'Reilly all found the net for the Predators, while Colorado kept running into the kind of self-inflicted trouble that can bury a team fast in a tight divisional game.
Turnovers were a problem, and the power play never gave Colorado the lift it needed to get back on track. The second period brought a flurry of penalties and even a fight, but the Predators kept control anyway, leaving the Avalanche to sort through an evening that never found much rhythm. [Read more 🡒]