PREDATORS POUNCE ON SENATORS’ TURNOVERS
Ottawa comes out flying but hasn’t won three games in row since back in October
It took some time for the President’s Day crowd to warm up Monday night, but soon enough, the party got rolling.
Just in case the Ottawa Senators didn’t know it already, the Nashville Predators illustrated just how intimidating the Bridgestone Arena can be, en route to a 5-2 victory.
The Senators had their chances, but were ultimately done in by a combination of too many turnovers and too much Pekka Rinne.
Rinne made 36 saves to hit the 30-win mark for the season and the 299th win of his stellar NHL career. He’s 11-1-1 in his past 13 decisions and punctuated his brilliant performance by robbing a wide-open Erik Karlsson with four minutes remaining.
The Predators received a pair of goals from Viktor Arvidsson and singles from Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis and Craig Smith.
Jean- Gabriel Pageau and Max McCormick scored for the Senators, while Craig Anderson faced 41 shots.
After a wildly entertaining second period, the Predators led 4-2.
A textbook defensive game it wasn’t. Both teams were guilty of turnovers and overall sloppiness, especially in the wide-open second period.
The major turning points came midway through the middle session. At one end, Rinne made a brilliant right-pad save off Thomas Chabot to keep the Predators ahead 3-2.
Only moments later, the Predators took full advantage of a ghastly mistake from Karlsson. Karlsson’s attempted flip pass from his own goal-line was intercepted by Filip Forsberg, who immediately fed Arvidsson, who buried the puck past Anderson.
Karlsson smashed his stick across the crossbar in frustration, but the sound was music to the ears of the rocking crowd.
Smith put the game out of reach, finishing off an odd-man rush eight minutes into the third period.
And once again, the Senators failed in an attempt to win their third consecutive game. After back-to-back home wins against Buffalo and the New York Rangers, the Senators were attempting to accomplish that feat for first time since Oct. 10 to 14.
While the recent positive statistics won’t get the Senators anywhere close to the playoffs, several players entered the game on hot stretches.
Derick Brassard, playing in his 700th career game, was on a career-high four-game scoring streak. Matt Duchene had two goals and four assists in his previous three games and 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 19 games dating back to Dec. 29.
Anderson, who has started six of the past seven games, hadn’t registered a loss since Jan. 30, but he heard plenty of catcalls from the crowd during Monday’s defeat.
Meanwhile, the Predators, fighting the Winnipeg Jets for top spot in the Central Division, had hit a speed bump, of sorts, riding a two-game losing streak and with a pedestrian record of 2-2-2 in their previous six games.
That stretch included a 4-3 overtime win by the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Feb. 8.
The Senators had some early jump, outshooting the Predators 8-3 in the opening seven minutes, keeping the crowd quiet. Briefly, that is.
The Senators were to leave for Chicago immediately following the game to prepare for Wednesday’s contest against the Blackhawks. Mike Condon is expected to start in goal for the Senators against the slumping Blackhawks.