Preds Send Bruins to Fourth Straight Loss

The once unbeatable Boston Bruins are now officially ‘reeling’.  Boston dropped their fourth consecutive game on Saturday night, losing 3-2 in a shootout to the Nashville Predators on Saturday night in the ‘Music City’.   Their once insurmountable Eastern Conference lead has also begun to erode, with the Bruins now leading second place New Jersey by only 9 points—the first time in months the lead has been less than double digits.

David Legwand scored both of the Predators’ regulation goals and scored twice in the shootout to almost single handedly propel his team to victory.  Legwand has been red hot of late, and the Predators have followed his lead winning six of their last eight games.  Legwand scored late in the first period assisted by Jordin Tootoo and Ryan Suter, and then again shorthanded midway through the second frame with an assist from Joel Ward.

Boston answered less than a minute after Legwand’s shorthanded tally, with Blake Wheeler scoring assisted by David Krejci and Vladimir Sobotka.  The Bruins sent the game to overtime when Zdeno Charra scored from Patrice Bergeron, Dennis Wideman with just over a minute to play in regulation.  After a scoreless overtime session, the Predators got the best of the ‘shootout’ tiebreaker for the victory.

After the game, Preds coach Barry Trotz was effusive in his praise for Legwand:

"Legwand's first two goals were huge. He is skating really well right now. When you see him and Marty Erat skating the way they are, using their speed, taking the puck to hard areas and having a very high competition level it just enhances and showcases their talent and abilities.

"Leggy has a tremendous amount of talent. We have always wanted him to produce offensively. When he is skating like that he can be a force."

Legwand, meanwhile, shared much of the credit for his big night with teammates:

"The first one hit me in the foot. Tootoo did a great job of just throwing it at the net and getting it to the net. On the second goal, Joel carried a couple of guys with him through the zone. That was a big goal."