Coach Barry Trotz speaks
Pekka Rinne, Ryan Suter, David Legwand and J P Dumont speak
Nicklas Lidstrom and Jimmy Howard speak
The Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings battled for 65 minutes with neither team able to score a goal before the Wings reigned 1-0 after an eleven round shoot out.
Niklas Kronwall put the puck past Pekka Rinne in the eleventh round to seal the victory for the Wings. It was Kronwall's first ever shootout attempt.
The game was all about goaltending and defense. Jimmy Howard stopped all 33 Predator shots and Pekka Rinne stopped the 38 shots that the Wings threw at him as each recorded a shut out.
Storylines From the Game
Eleven Round Shoot Out...
A new Predator record was set when the shoot out went past the ten rounder that the Preds had with Phoenix on February second which was also a double shut out.
"It was a good game", said Barry Trotz. "Both teams didn't give an inch and we saw it go eleven shooters deep and it was a great goaltending performance by both those guys. Unfortunately they snuck one by us."
On how he plans for a long shootout Trotz explained, "We talk with Mitch Korn who looks at the other goaltenders, and the style and tendencies, and usually before the game we go five guys deep and then go from there."
"It was a good game for both sides." Trotz said. "It was going to be tough to have a loser in that game. You go eleven rounds deep in the shootout, that's good goaltending. That's the way it is."
On going eleven deep in a shootout, Pekka Rinne said,"At that point, it is like flipping a coin. It's always going to end up like that and someone squeaks one by you. Obviously, I was mad right afterward, but it was a solid effort and we picked up one point. I'm sure this will turn out to be a big point."
Predator Defense Solid...
The Predator's defense played one of their best games of the year. There were minimal second chance goals on rebounds as the team swarmed the slot and cleared pucks consistently.
"There wasn't many second chance shots," Explained Trotz, " That is what Detroit is really good at, keeping pucks alive in the slot, and breaking you down defensibly by throwing pucks there and crashing the net and we did a pretty good job."
Trotz continued, "We tried to take a little bit of their game away from them and I think we did a pretty good job in some areas.."
Pekka Rinne was also pleased with the Defense, "The guys played so well. Tonight, we had a lot of blocked shots. Even forwards diving in front of the puck and sacrificing their bodies. That was a good team effort."
Playoff Chase..
The point gained by the Predators kept them in fifth place at 92 points. The Wings are a point behind and have played one less game. Los Angeles and Colorado both lost on Saturday and are two and three points back respectively, and each have two games in hand.
Calgary suffered the biggest blow of the day to their playoff hopes, losing 5-0 in Boston. They are now six points out of eighth place with seven games to play and face the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon.
Up Next...
The Predators leave on Sunday foe South Florida and a Monday night match with the Florida Panthers. They return to the Bridgestone Center on Tuesday to play the Los Angeles Kings.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment