Predators Preseason

[UTVolCountry]

Nashville 5, Florida 3

Sergei Kostitsyn set up three goals in the second period and the NHL preseason got started Monday afternoon in historic fashion as the Nashville Predators received goals from five different players to edge the Florida Panthers 5-3 at BankAtlantic Center in the first game of a doubleheader. (Game Day Photo Gallery)

Kostitsyn assisted on scores by Colin Wilson, Chris Mueller and Jonathon Blum to spark the Predators, who are coming off a season in which they won the first playoff series in franchise history.

Jani Lajunen had the go-ahead score with 3:11 remaining and Kyle Wilson added an insurance goal with 52 seconds left as the Predators picked up the victory despite being outshot in each period and 37-22 for the game.

Jeremy Smith started in net for the Predators and turned aside 14-of-15 shots before giving way to Chet Pickard midway through the second period. Pickard made 20 saves on 22 shots to earn the win.

Florida 4, Nashville 3

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) - First-round draft pick Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist, and Tim Kennedy scored midway through the third period to give the Florida Panthers a 4-3 win and a doubleheader split with the Nashville Predators on Monday night.

Nashville took the opener 5-3 earlier in the day.

Eric Selleck and Mike Santorelli also scored in the nightcap for the Panthers, and Scott Clemmensen made 23 saves.

In the opener, Jani Lujunen's goal with 3:11 left broke a tie and put Nashville ahead for good. The teams used different rosters for both games.

 

[UTVolCountry]

Preds face the Caps tonight. Can't wait for the regular season to start!

 

[UTVolCountry]

Nashville 2, Washington 0

BALTIMORE (AP) - Chris Mueller had a goal and an assist to lead the bustling Nashville Predators past the Washington Capitals 2-0 Tuesday night in the first hockey game in Baltimore since 1997.

Niclas Bergfors had a pair of assists for the Predators (2-1), who were playing their third game in two days after facing Florida in a doubleheader.

It was the first of seven preseason games for Washington (0-1). The Capitals used several of their stars, including Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who went the distance.

Mueller scored from the left side of the net off a cross-ice pass Shea Weber at 17:31 of the second period. Mueller played 15 games as a rookie with Nashville last season without scoring a goal.

Colin Wilson got the clincher at 8:59 of the third period.

Pekka Rinne started in goal for Nashville before being replaced by Jeremy Smith around the halfway point of the second period.

Smith saved the shutout by stopping a blast by Ovechkin in the closing seconds.

It was the first hockey game in the city since the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League left town 14 years ago. The Capitals last played in Baltimore in 1992, against their then-AHL affiliate, the Baltimore Skipjacks.

Dubbed the 2011 Baltimore Hockey Classic, the game drew a near-sellout crowd of 11,082 - even though ticket prices ranged from $34 to $147.

 

[UTVolCountry]

Nashville 3, Carolina 2

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Jack Hillen and Chris Mueller scored in the third period to rally the Nashville Predators to a 3-2 preseason victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.

Hillen and Mueller scored 1:37 apart against Carolina backup goalkeeper Justin Peters, who entered the game at the start of the third.

Alexei Ponikarovsky had two goals for Carolina. The free-agent pickup scored on a wraparound 31 seconds into the first period and on a rebound of Eric Staal's shot 17 seconds into the third period.

Carolina goalkeeper Cam Ward saw his first action of the preseason after being slowed by upper body stiffness since the opening of training camp a week ago. Ward started and played 40 minutes. He gave up a goal to Nashville's David Legwand at 17:58 of the second period.

 

[UTVolCountry]

Nashville 4, Winnipeg 3

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Sergei Kostitsyn, Martin Erat and Patric Hornqvist scored consecutive power-play goals as the Nashville Predators beat the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in a preseason game on Saturday night.

The Predators, playing their first game at home, have won three in a row. Winnipeg has dropped two straight.

Spencer Machacek, Paul Postma and Derek Meech had goals for Winnipeg.

Jordin Tootoo also scored for Nashville.

The Jets jumped ahead 2-0 in the first period against Chet Pickard, who made seven saves.

Machacek scored on a wrist shot from close range at 5:48. Postma added a power-play goal at 10:27.

Nashville scored four goals in the second period, three on the power play, against goalie Chris Mason.

Tootoo scored Nashville's first goal at 4:50 of the second, and Kostitsyn, Erat and Hornqvist followed with man-advantage goals in a span of 4:36.

Pekka Rinne started the second in goal for Nashville and stopped seven of eight shots. Pickard returned with 5:36 left to play in the period.

Meech scored Winnipeg's only second-period goal, a power-play tally at 6:54.

Shea Weber and Ryan Suter both had a pair of assists for the Predators.

 

[higgyfan4]

Any game going to be televised on FSS? I honestly cannot remember if they ever are or not.

 

[UTVolCountry]

Yeah, most the regular season games come on FSS.

 

[higgyfan4]

Yeah, most the regular season games come on FSS.

I meant to say any Preseason games. I knew regular season games were.

 

[UTVolCountry]

Oh...lol, no. But the predators website had a link to an online stream tonight, and they'll have one for the next game too.

 

[UTVolCountry]

Nashville 4, Washington 1

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Defenseman Shea Weber had a goal and an assist to help the Nashville Predators beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 on Wednesday night in exhibition play.

The Predators have won four straight to improve to 5-1 in the preseason. The Capitals are 1-3-1.

Colin Wilson, Matt Halischuk and Cal O'Reilly also scored for Nashville

Mathieu Perreault scored for Washington.

Perreault opened the scoring when he beat Pekka Rinne with a wrist shot at 6:41 of the first period. Wilson tied it in the period with a snap shot that Tomas Vokoun was unable to stop to his glove side.

Wilson has five points in four preseason games.

The Predators made it 2-1 midway through the second period on Halischuk's tip-in.

Weber skated low through the middle to beat Vokoun with 5:23 left in the second.

O'Reily closed the scoring early in the third.

 

[UTVolCountry]

Nashville 3, Winnipeg 2, SO

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) - Cal O'Reilly scored the only goal in a shootout Friday and the Nashville Predators defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in preseason.

The Predators (6-1-0) controlled the first period and O'Reilly opened the scoring when he banged in a rebound off Jordan Tootoo's slap shot from the point.

The second period got off to a rough start when Winnipeg's Tanner Glass and Nashville's Zack Stortini dropped their gloves.

But it was Winnipeg (3-3-1) that came to life after the fight, outshooting the Predators 16-3 as Andrew Ladd tied things by flipping in Bryan Little's backhand home after it bounced away from Nashville goalie Anders Lindback.

The Jets couldn't connect on the power play. Nashville's David Legwand took advantage of a slashing penalty handed to rookie Mark Scheifele to score the Predators' go-ahead goal at 7:28 of the third period.

Scheifele made up for it at 13:07 when he tied the game with his fourth goal of the preseason.

Notes: Nashville coach Barry Trotz is a Winnipeg native. ... The game was also a home game of sorts for Colin Wilson, who was raised in Winnipeg, and Tootoo, who was born in Winnipeg.

 

[SouthPride]

looked very strong all preseason. I'm concerned about Klein on our second line D, he in my opinion is our weakest link and he'll have to do a lot to make me think differently of him.
We have by far the youngest team we've had in a long time and were going to need the veterened AHL players (Wilson mainly) to step it up on Offense.

We've also got to sign Weber/Suter/Rinne during the year... hopefully that doesn't become a "big distraction" when that time rolls around.