Goals from Mattias Ekholm and Filip Forsberg weren’t enough for the Nashville Predators as they fell, 4-2, to the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

The result sees Nashville’s five-game point streak come to a close, resulting in their third regulation loss of the season and only New York’s second win.

The Predators had their chances on the afternoon, outshooting the Rangers 25-15, including a 13-5 advantage in the final 40 minutes, but Nashville was unable to convert on their chances when they had them.

“You work to get the opportunities, and I thought we did, they didn’t go for us tonight,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “But the effort was there, the guys played a pretty good game.”

In the first, a couple of defensive mistakes by the Preds created a breakaway and an in-tight one-timer for the Rangers, with New York picking up two goals on the corresponding plays.

First, Jesper Fast collected his first of the season on a juicy rebound after Juuse Saros stopped Kevin Hayes’s breakaway bid. Five minutes later, Chris Kreider fired home a shot from the low slot for a 2-0 Rangers lead after the first period.

The second frame began with speed and results for the Preds. Nashville took a territorial advantage to open the period and Ekholm slapped a puck past Henrik Lundqvist to cut the visitor’s deficit to 2-1 only 1:44 in.

After Kevin Hayes put the Rangers back up by two, Preds center Ryan Johansen one-armed a pass to Roman Josi, whose shot was deflected by Forsberg and made things 3-2 through 40 minutes.

Nashville did all they could to even the score in the third period, putting nine shots and a slew of chances at the Rangers’ net, but the Blueshirts iced it with an empty-netter before regulation was out.

Captain Roman Josi pointed to an 0-for-5 mark on the man advantage as a downfall for the Preds on the day, something one of the League’s best power plays will aim to correct.

“I thought they came out stronger, but in the second and third, we were the better team out there,” Josi said. “We had a lot of chances, especially in the third, but it’s just a matter of executing on the power play… We had a lot of chances and we have to get a goal there.”

Laviolette saw further improvement in his team’s game through the afternoon as he has all season, but the final result was a product of the Rangers taking advantage of their opportunities and the Predators not doing so enough.

“We’re in the collecting points business, so today we collected zero,” Laviolette said. “But it’s early, our game has gotten better every game. [Today] was no different, we just didn’t get the results.”

Notes:

Center Nick Bonino was placed on Injured Reserve on Friday. Winger Pontus Aberg and defensemen Anthony Bitetto and Samuel Girard were scratched for Saturday’s contest.

With a goal and an assist, Filip Forsberg became the first Nashville skater to reach double digits in points this season (6g-5a-11pts).

Up next for Nashville is another quick stop at home to host Jaromir Jagr and the Calgary Flames (on Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. CT).

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Coffee County elementary basketball league begins league play for the 2017-18 season on Saturday at the Coffee County Middle School.  7 elementary schools from the Coffee County and Manchester City school systems are entered this season.

Regular season games will begin on October 21^st and continue every Saturday until December 9^th.  The league will take off on Thanksgiving weekend on November 25^th.  After Saturday’s games at CCMS, the rest of the season schedule will take place at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym at CHS.

Postseason tournament play begins on January 6^th with the semifinals scheduled for January 13^th.  The league will hold its championship and consolation games on January 20^th.   The regular season schedule is as follows:

Click to enlarge and print

Cooper Reed of CCMS basketball

The Coffee County Middle School 6^th grade basketball teams hosted East Tullahoma on Thursday night for their 2017 home opener.  The Lady Raiders secured a season sweep over the Lady Panthers with a win by the score of 28 to 9.  The Red Raiders completed the sweep by a final score of 28 to 17.

In the girls’ game, the Lady Raiders held East to 2 first half points on their way to the decisive win.  The Lady Raider defense held the Lady Panthers scoreless in the first quarter and to 1 point in the 4^th quarter to run their record to 3 and 1.  Samantha Kirby led Coffee County in scoring with 7 points.  Kara Wheeler added 6 points and Marissa Medina netted 5.

In the boys’ game, it was a 13 point 3rd quarter that lifted the Red Raiders from a 4 point halftime deficit to a 4 point lead entering the final 6 minutes.  The Red Raider defense held East to 3 points in the 4^th quarter to grab their second win of the year.  Cooper Reed led the Raiders in scoring with 13 points.  Ethan Hargrove added 7 points and Jackson Shemwell chipped in 6.

The 6^th grade cagers are back in action on Friday night when they travel to McMinnville for a 6 PM doubleheader.  The games will be played at Warren County Middle School.

Pekka Rinne made 28 saves, and Colton Sissons scored in the third period to lift the Nashville Predators to a 1-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Thursday.

The Predators (4-2-1) have at least a point in five straight games (4-0-1).

It was Rinne’s first shutout of the season and Nashville’s first road win (1-2-1).

Michal Neuvirth made 23 saves for Philadelphia (4-3-0), which lost for the first time in three games.

It was the second time the Predators defeated the Flyers in 10 days, following a 6-5 victory in Nashville on Oct. 10. Sissons didn’t play in that game because of a lower-body injury.

Forward Kevin Fiala pulled the puck out of traffic in front of the Predators net and broke out of the zone. He got into the high slot and chipped a pass to Sissons, who settled it and beat Neuvirth with a shot to the far side, between the goalie’s right arm and body, for his second goal.

The Predators and Flyers each entered the game ranked in the top 10 in the NHL on the power play.

Nashville, which was tied for third (28.6 percent), went 0-for-2. Philadelphia, which was seventh (26.9 percent) after going 4-for-11 in its previous three games, went 0-for-5 with seven shots on goal. The Flyers didn’t get a shot after Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson was called for slashing with 1:06 remaining in the third period.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report