Predators shut out hapless Coyotes

The Nashville Predators are in the midst of a furious postseason battle, currently tied for 8^th place in the Western Conference with the Edmonton Oilers.  Due to the tiebreaker, however, they’d be on the outside looking in if the season ended today.  At this stage of the NHL season teams take their ‘breaks’ where they can get them, and Nashville received one courtesy of the schedule maker this weekend.  With every point at a premium, the Predators took advantage of a tenacious defense and the solid goaltending of Pekka Rinne to take a 2-0 road victory from the hapless Phoenix Coyotes.

Despite being outshot 10-4 in the first period, the Coyotes were kept in the game by the solid play of their goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.  The two teams completed the first twenty minutes with no score, and Nashville turned up the heat in the second as they outshot their opponents by a 16-4 margin.  The 26-8 shots on goal differential during the first two periods finally paid off as J.P. Dumont beat Bryzgalov at the 14:01 mark assisted by Steve Sullivan and Ryan Suter.  Nashville took the one goal lead into the final frame and played conservatively though allowed the Coyotes to outshoot them 10-7 for the final 20 minutes.  The Preds put the game away with just over a half minute to play as David Legwand scored into an empty net assisted by Vernon Fiddler to produce the final 2-0 result.

Heading into the third period, the biggest worry for Nashville coach Barry Trotz was the fact that his goaltender had only faced 8 shots in the first forty minutes of play:

"I was worried after two periods that they didn't have a lot of shots. I knew they'd have their best effort in the third, come with everything and that we'd have to weather some storms. Pekka was up to the challenge."

Rinne credited his mental focus for allowing him to stay sharp despite not seeing many pucks early on:

"Obviously it's hard when you only face eight shots in the first two periods. But it's all mental. You just try to be sharp. They didn't have anything the first two periods and the guys showed how important a game it is. It's a life or death game for us."

Nashville’s Dumont, who scored the game winning goal, said that in return the team draws motivation from the strong play of their goaltenders:

"We all knew Pekka was a solid goaltender but what he's done this year has been pretty amazing. We have two good goaltenders and we know every time they make a big save we have to score big goals for them."

It was a good start to a tough road trip for Nashville, since things won’t get any easier as they play in Los Angeles on Monday night, at Anaheim on Wednesday and against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.  Phoenix is just playing out the string at this point, and face a potent trio of foes in their next three home games.  The Coyotes will host San Jose on Tuesday, Anaheim on Thursday and Vancouver on Saturday.