Predators Lose 4-3 in OT as Tootoo Hits 100 PIMs Against The Jackets

You knew it was going to be a typical Nashville Predators - Columbus Blue Jackets game when the teams had two fights and 20 minutes of penalties in the first 62 seconds of the contest.

Three seconds in to the contest, Jordin Tootoo and Derek Dorsett set the stage for the evening with a bout, and then 59 seconds later, the heavyweight match-up of Brian McGrattan and Jared Boll got all the nastiness out of their system early in the game.

What wasn't typical, was that Columbus won for the first time in 18 games in Nashville and only the second time since the start of the 2001-02 season, overcoming the Preds' 26-1-(1)-1 record over the last ten years.



James Wisniewski scored his first goal at a Jacket off the faceoff 2:43 in the overtime period to break the long-time jinx that the Jackets have had in Music City. The Jackets also got their first goal from another newcomer, Jeff Carter. Power play goals from Vinny Prospal and RJ Umberger rounded out the scoring.

The Predators got a pair of power play goals, one each from Colin Wilson and Mike Fisher. Nick Spaling scored a goal at 14:24 in the third period to send the game to overtime and secure the point for the Predators.

Curtis Sanford may run for mayor in Columbus as he stopped 27of 30 Predators shots to get the win and pick up his third point in two games for the hapless BJs. Pekka Rinne was the hard luck loser giving up four goals for only the fourth time this season on 29 Columbus shots.

Going into Saturday night's Nashville - Columbus match, Preds' pest, Jordin Tootoo had logged 95 career penalty minutes against the Blue Jackets in 38 games which is highest total of one player against another team in franchise history. Fourteen of Tootoo's 58 career regular season fights have come against the BJs.

In fact, 14.5% of Tootoo's 654 PIMs have been against the Jackets who really enjoy getting Tootoo riled up. Tootoo's first professional fight came in the preseason on September 18, 2001, against the Jacket's Rostislav Klesla when Tootoo was an 18 year old junior player, and the tradition has continued ever since.

Here is a list of Tootoo's fights versus Columbus (links go to video)...

Date	Partner	HockeyFights.com Winner
Sep 18, 2001 *	Rostislav Klesla	N/A
Nov 26, 2003	Rostislav Klesla	N/A
Jan 29, 2004	Jeremy Reich	N/A
Feb 16, 2004	Tyler Wright	Tootoo - 95%
Mar 27, 2004	David Ling	Tootoo - 50%
Nov 18, 2006	Steve Goertzen	Tootoo - 69%
Nov 20, 2006	Ole-Kristian Tollefsen	Draw - 57%
Feb 25, 2007	Adam Foote	Draw - 68%
Dec 27, 2007	Adam Foote	Foote -  62%
Mar 25, 2008	Jan Hejda	Tootoo - 91%
Mar 25, 2008	Jason Chimera	Tootoo - 88%
Mar 28, 2008	Jared Boll	Boll - 67%
Oct 18, 2008	Ole-Kristian Tollefsen	Tootoo - 52%
Sep 19, 2009 *	Tom Sestito	Tootoo - 54%
Feb 22, 2011	Jared Boll	Boll - 50%
Nov 19, 2011	Derek Dorsett

* Preseason

The Predators picked up a point and kept their point streak alive at four games and gave them points in nine of their last ten games. Nashville remains in fourth place in the Western Conference with 24 points.

The Jackets got their fourth win of the season and remain in last place in the NHL with 10 points.

The Predators will have Sunday off and return to the ice on Monday to prepare to end the homestand against Edmonton on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Special POTG discount tickets are available for Edmonton as well as all remaining games. Go here and use the offer code preds.


More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass