Five goals for the Stars in the opening 40 minutes put the Nashville Predators in a hole they were unable to climb out of as Dallas won the third meeting between the clubs, 5-2.
Pekka Rinne kept the home team off the scoreboard for the first 9:55 of the contest, but two goals in 23 seconds gave the Stars the boost they needed on Thursday. After topping Dallas 5-2 in Nashville on Nov. 23, Nashville’s struggles on the road re-emerged in a frustrating way tonight.
“We knew they were going to come [at us]… at times, we were not bad, and then we shot ourselves in the foot – miscommunicating and not bearing down in our own end and they made us pay,” defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “That’s up to us to fix, and we’ve just got to get better on the road. It seems like we don’t make those mistakes at home, but somehow they happen on the road and that’s something we have to correct.”
“It’s not the way we wanted to start,” forward Frederick Gaudreau said. “Whatever happened happened. We’ve just got to get ready for the next game. That’s what we can control.”
Viktor Arvidsson used a high wrister to pull the Preds within a goal in the first period at 16:03. The shorthanded marker from Austin Watson to Arvidsson set a new career high in goals with nine for the 23-year-old winger.
The 2-1 deficit widened quickly in the second, however, with the Stars scoring twice more in the first six minutes of the middle frame. Marek Mazanec came on in relief for Rinne after the fourth Dallas goal, stopping 18 of 19 shots the rest of the way. Mazanec also recorded his first career point, an assist on Calle Jarnkrok’s goal late in the game.
The attention for Nashville now turns to Arizona, where the Preds will meet the Coyotes for the second time this season on Saturday. That game begins at 7 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you all the action on the Nashville Predators Radio Network.
Pete Weber’s Postgame Report
