Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Nashville Predators center Mike Fisher

After entering the third period down 2-1, the Nashville Predators scored four answered goals and kept their franchise-record, 12-game point streak alive with a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday afternoon at Pepsi Center.

The win gives Nashville 33 victories and 78 points overall, putting them six points ahead of Minnesota and eight ahead of Colorado for the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

“Sometimes those early games are tough to get into, but I thought our guys were sharp right from the start,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was a good team win. We knew what we were in for. We knew it would be a playoff battle, and it was good throughout.”

The Preds raced out to an early 11-5 shot advantage, but fell behind 1-0 when Blake Comeau crashed the crease and backhanded a puck home off Pekka Rinne’s right pad.

In the second period, with the puck loose in the crease, Filip Forsberg scooped the biscuit into the cage for his 14th tally in as many games. The 21-year-old currently sits second in the NHL in goal scoring since Nov. 27 with 26 tallies (Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is first with 30).

Colorado reclaimed a one-goal advantage before the second period horn following a Gabriel Landeskog one-timer, but it wasn’t long into the third before the Preds struck back again.

A play that started at the Nashville blue line, thanks to a Colorado turnover, saw Ryan Johansen collect the puck and motor all the way to the opposing net, drawing three Avalanche defenders with him. That allowed James Neal to follow up the play and deposit the puck for his 23rd of the season and a 2-2 score 63 seconds into the frame.

Then it was Mike Fisher, in career game No. 1,001, who picked up a loose puck in the slot and wristed home his ninth of the season for Nashville’s first lead of the afternoon and a goal that proved to be the game winner.

After Pekka Rinne and Co. withstood the final Avalanche push, Captain Shea Weber and forward Miikka Salomaki potted empty netters for a 5-2 final and two huge points in the standings, capped by a four-goal effort in the final 20.

“We were generating some chances; their goaltending was playing well, and we just talked about sticking with it,” Weber said. “Eventually, it was going to come.”

“Everybody came out in the third period and did a tremendous job,” Laviolette said. “[Rinne] was awesome; we had a little bit of trouble in the first five or six minutes of the third period, but after that I thought we got going and started playing some offense and it was good. They have a real good team, and sometimes you’re going have to play good defense. We thought we did that tonight, and this was a good team win in a playoff-like atmosphere.”

As of late, the Predators have received plenty of production from the line of Mike Ribeiro, Filip Forsberg and Craig Smith. That trio still did their part in Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Avalanche, but the other three forward units got in on the act as well.

Forsberg, James Neal, Mike Fisher and Miikka Salomaki – each a member of a different line – all put the puck in the net, and nine different Preds forwards recorded at least one point on the afternoon.

“Every line can score,” Smith said. “You don’t have to really worry. You can get goals from everywhere, and that’s what we need.”

The top line of Neal, Ryan Johansen and Calle Jarnkrok tied the game 2-2 early in the third, an important tally, not only in the game, but for the trio as well, who haven’t found the back of the net with the regularity they’d prefer.

“You try not to dwell on how it’s been lately; the three of us want to produce more offensively, but I think it’s important we don’t get away from our defensive game,” Johansen said. “We’ve been pretty solid there, so it was definitely nice contributing and hopefully we can use that now and get a spark here.”

No matter who is scoring, the spark of a 12-game point streak undoubtedly keeps the confidence high with only 16 games to go.

“It was very noticeable from my eyes the resiliency in the group tonight, which has made us very successful as of late as well,” Johansen said. “That was a huge win in their building, knowing the circumstances of the standings right now. We’re definitely going home feeling good about ourselves.”

The Predators five-game road trip continues on Tuesday night when they travel to Winnipeg for the final time this season, before heading to Western Canada later in the week.  That game begins at 7 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

Nashville Predators center Mike Fisher

Mike Fisher’s 1,000th NHL game didn’t produce a win for the Nashville Predators, but his club still set a franchise record in the contest.

Nashville’s 5-4 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena gave the Preds at least a point for the 11th consecutive game, a franchise record. The Predators are 7-0-4 during the streak.

“It’s been a great stretch,” Fisher said. “It’s disappointing tonight to lose that way. It wasn’t our best, but we just have to regroup and have a good game in a couple of nights and forget about this one. Just keep rolling here, and keep our confidence high, and forget about it.”

Craig Smith opened the scoring for the third consecutive game, this time on the power play, when he one-timed a Shea Weber pass from the left circle and past Keith Kinkaid for a 1-0 lead. Weber’s helper was the 183rd point on the man advantage of his career, giving him sole possession of first place in the category in Predators franchise history.

After the Devils evened things with their own power-play chance, Nashville got another marker with the extra skater, as Mike Ribeiro tipped home a Roman Josi point shot for his seventh of the season and a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Paul Gaustad put the Preds up 3-1 early in the second frame when he took an Austin Watson pass in the slot and slid the puck five hole on Kinkaid. New Jersey battled back, however, with a goal from Devante Smith-Pelly in his Devils debut and a power-play marker from Travis Zajac at 9:13 of the third to even things at 3-3.

Then, it was Filip Forsberg, potting his 27th of the season with just over two minutes remaining in regulation to give Nashville a 4-3 lead. The goal sets a career high for Forsberg, besting last season’s total of 26 goals. But New Jersey refused to go away, and Adam Henrique tied the game with 40 seconds remaining to force overtime.

In the extra session, it was Henrique once more who scored the game winner on the power play to hand Nashville their first loss in the last six games.

“Every game, you want to keep getting better, even when you are winning,” Weber said. “We’re still going over things we need to improve on and tomorrow will be the same as normal. We are going to review what we need to be better at; I’m sure we’ll go over some things on the PK, 5-on-5, and then on to Colorado. Another big game and we have to move past this.”

From here, Nashville heads west to meet the Avalanche to start a five-game road trip, their longest stretch away from home since January, and an excursion that presents a possible 10 more points for the taking.

“It’s been a tough year as far as stringing points together like that for us,” Weber said. “Kudos to the guys right now that are playing well and buckling down here down the stretch. But we haven’t accomplished anything yet. There’s a long way to go and we have to keep going.”

The Predators hit the road for a game on Saturday at Colorado.  That game will face-off at 2 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.