On the Forecheck
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Sullivan sharp in 4-1 Nashville win
by Forechecker on 01/10/09 at 11:46 PM ET
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When the Tennessee Titans fumbled away their NFL playoff chances Saturday afternoon, it marked the annual transition in which the Nashville Predators finally can get some attention from the local sports media. Sure, there will be a week or so of ruminating over the Titans loss but center stage is now open to the Preds, and with Steve Sullivan returning to the ice, they’ve got a ready-made story for the media to jump on. The stretch drive towards the playoffs should be even better.
Fresh on the heels of the dramatic 5-3 win over Pittsburgh Thursday night, tonight’s 4-1 win over Chicago has the team headed in the right direction; standing tall in front of their own net, applying consistent offensive pressure and getting just enough finishing to keep ahead of a dangerous Blackhawks squad.
For the second consecutive game, Barry Trotz went with a top line of Legwand-Arnott-Erat, while a slight change was made to the second unit as Mike Santorelli centered J.P. Dumont and Antti Pihlstrom. Pihlstrom replaced Ryan Jones who was scratched with the flu, along with Greg de Vries and Wade Belak. Jones’ absence definitely made an impact on that second line, as it combined for a mere two shots on net.
It took only 90 seconds for Sully to get out on the ice, to a rousing ovation from the fans. His offensive instincts and timing looked good as he fed a nifty pass to Dan Hamhuis coming down through the middle of the zone, which created a dangerous scoring opportunity that had Blackhawks goaltender Christobal Huet scrambling. Sullivan even got duty on the first penalty kill of the game, where he speed is certainly an asset. Between that and a small bit of power play work, he ended the first period with 4:09 in ice time, putting fans at ease with how comfortable he looked out there. Later on, as he split the Chicago defense and walked in for a scoring chance, roars of “Sully! Sully! Sully!” were heard from the crowd.
The scoring was opened by Legwand, who picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat Huet for the 1-0 lead. His move to the wing really seems to put his skating into a new light, as it’s even more of a difference maker in that role. Shea Weber put the home team up 2-0 in the second period on a classic bomb from the point on the power play, a sight for sore eyes as the PP has been feeble all season.
Jason Arnott didn’t skate in the 3rd period, out with the dreaded “lower body injury”, which could be anything from an aggravated Plumber’s Crack to Turf Toe. If he misses any further action, it will throw a huge monkey wrench into the line combinations that have been working so well lately. Chicago got back within 2-1 a few minutes in as Ville Koistinen’s clearing attempt was intercepted by Adam Burish to beat Pekka Rinne, who looked shaky early on but got better in the later stages, including a furious battle in the crease in the closing seconds of the 2nd period.
Radek Bonk chimed in with a nifty goal to push the Nashville lead to 3-1, cruising down the right side and roofing a puck over Huet’s glove. While it would be nice to dream about Bonk chipping in like that more than once a month, I’m not going to get my hopes up.
Chicago put some good pressure on in the final minutes of the game, forcing Rinne and the Nashville defense to toughen up in the crease, but Legwand chipped in an empty-netter and closed out the 4-1 win. In the end, Steve Sullivan got 12:30 in ice time, with 2:34 on the power play and 1:05 shorthanded. He looked effective on pretty much every shift, and it will be interesting to see his ice time is managed; for instance, will he play in back-to-back games like tomorrow’s rematch in Chicago? No matter the case, even in a limited role Sully has injected some added punch to the Nashville attack.
One sour note, perhaps, is the play of J.P. Dumont, who only logged 12:27 on the ice and was mostly invisible in 5-on-5 action. Could he be one of many players supposedly fighting a bout of the flu, or is something else amiss? I have no idea, but he’ll bear watching tomorrow evening.
Filed in: Nashville Predators | On the Forecheck | Permalink
Tags: david+legwand, jason+arnott, radek+bonk, shea+weber, steve+sullivan,
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