Red Wings RIP Predators

The Detroit Red Wings kept pace with the Western Conference leading San Jose Sharks as they ripped the Nashville Predators 6-2 on Wednesday night at the Joe Louis Arena.  The Wings snapped a two game losing streak as the shredded the Nashville penalty killers for 5 power play goals in a clear demonstration of why they’re #1 in the league with a man advantage.

The Wings were up 2-0 before the midway point of the first period on power play goals by Jiri Hudler and Henrik Zetterberg.  Steve Sullivan would answer for the Preds later in the frame to cut the margin to 2-1 heading into the break.  It was more of the same in the second period, with Detroit scoring two goals to one for Nashville with Nicklas Lidstrom scoring at even strength and Johan Franzen adding another tally on the power play.  Sullivan would score again for Nashville in the second, but in the third period it was all Redwings  with Lindstrom and Franzen both scoring their second goals of the game on the power play for the final 6-2 margin.

After the game, Lindstrom was clearly pleased with the performance of his teammates on offense:

“It's great to see the offense clicking, especially we had the power play going. I thought we had great puck movement out there and a lot of motion, too. It's tough to defend when we can do those things together."

Franzen had missed five games with a hand injury, and with two goals it appeared the rest did him some good:

"It's always good to get back. It's painful sitting on the side watching, especially we started to play a lot better lately, over the last 10 games. It's good to get back, and our power play is playing good."

Nashville coach Barry Trotz, meanwhile, gave a quick tutorial on ‘hockey math’ after the game:

"If they get two power-play goals a game against us they usually win. They get five, they always win."

Detroit is now a single point behind San Jose for Western Conference supremacy.  The Sharks play Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings.  Detroit will host Anaheim on Friday night before heading to Minnesota for a game against the Wild on Saturday.  They’ll return home for a huge contest against the aforementioned San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night.   The Predators will play a ‘home and home’ series against the St. Louis Blues, beginning in ‘The Music City’ on Thursday night.  They’ll head to St. Louis for the second half of the matchup on Saturday before returning home to host the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.