The blue line did it again.

Ryan Ellis opened the scoring and Roman Josi finished it off as the Nashville Predators defeated the St. Louis Blues in Game Three by a 3-1 final on Sunday afternoon to take a 2-1 series lead. The win gives Nashville seven consecutive playoff victories at Bridgestone Arena, and after the Predators said they had more to give in Game Three, they kept their word.

“I’ll be honest, it was good to get back home in front of our fans and in the building,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was awesome today. That’s a credit to our fans and the energy that comes into this building. You guys see that and get to experience it just like we do, so that’s a real positive for us. But nobody likes losing, probably on any team, and you look for a response, and I thought the response was good today.”

“It’s a great response from last game from all of us,” goaltender Pekka Rinne said. “It was obviously nice to play in front of our fans and it was a big win.”

Just as they’ve done for all but one game in the playoffs, it was Nashville that opened the scoring when Ellis slid the puck through traffic for a 1-0 lead. The goal gave Ellis eight points in the postseason, good enough to lead the Preds in the category, and extended his scoring streak to six games, the longest by a defenseman in the playoffs in franchise history.

Depth scoring is a necessity in the postseason, and it was Cody McLeod who stepped up for Nashville in Game Three when he scored early in the second period to put the Preds up by two.

“He’s been a good factor in this series, and we knew that we would need him,” Laviolette said of McLeod. “We knew that he would help and contribute. Physically, he’s done a good job of just staying disciplined but playing the body hard, and when a guy like that gets a goal, it’s hard not to be happy for him.

“I might’ve [smiled a bit on the bench when he scored]. Again, a guy like that, who will do anything for his teammates – he’ll hit everybody, he’ll fight, he’ll defend any one of his teammates – when he’s able to factor into a goal like that, everybody’s happy for him.”

The Predators outshot the Blues 18-4 in the middle frame, but Alex Steen tallied the Blues’ lone goal on the visitors first shot of the period.

St. Louis brought more pressure in the third, but after they hit the post behind Rinne, sustained pressure from Nashville eventually led to a bomb from Josi to put it out of reach for the Blues and give the Preds a 3-1 lead.

“It was awesome, our building is awesome,” McLeod said. “Our fans are always rocking, so that’s good. We’ll enjoy this win and get ready to go for the next one.”

After Game Two in St. Louis, their first loss of the postseason, the sentiment in the Nashville locker room was they had another gear to hit as they returned home. Mission accomplished.

Two of Nashville’s three goals on Sunday came from defensemen, the sixth and seventh goals that have come from the Preds blue line through seven postseason games. That number leads the League, putting a spotlight on the offensive capabilities of those whose primary responsibility is to stifle the opposition attack, which they do just as well.

“It’s not just the defense, it’s the forwards too,” Josi said. “They’re doing a great job of getting pucks up to the blue line, they cycle down low and get it up to us. Even in the defensive zone, it’s always a five-man effort. Everybody’s collapsing, there’s a forward down low. The forwards are helping out if something breaks down. If we get a chance, as a D corps, there are a lot of guys who can skate and we try to join the rush and make something happen.”

And when everyone is chipping in, that can only mean good things for a Nashville team that has thrived on contributions from all through the lineup in the postseason.

“I thought that so far, this was probably one of our best games of the series,” McLeod said. “We just have to keep doing that. Give St. Louis credit, too. They’re a good hockey team, and we played well tonight.”

Defenseman Ryan Ellis has points in six straight games, one game away from tying Colin Wilson for the longest such streak in franchise playoff history. Wilson had points in seven straight games during the 2016 postseason.

Harry Zolnierczyk returned to the Predators lineup in Game Three, recording an assist and two hits in 9:24 of ice time, setting a perfect screen on the Josi goal in the third period.

Game Four between the Preds and Blues is set for Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena at 8:30 p.m. CT before the series shifts back to St. Louis for Game Five on Friday night.

Pete Weber’s Post Game Report

Katie Rutledge of CHS softball (Photo by John St. Clair, stclair-sports.com)

Hosting your own softball tournament in the closing days of the high school regular season presents lots of challenges for Coffee County’s Steve Wilder.  Not to diminish the logistics of making sure fields are ready, teams are scheduled, workers are present; Wilder has the task of balancing the chore of winning versus making sure is team is healthy and rested for the final 3 regular season district games coming up this next week.  With that in mind on Friday, Coffee County fans saw varied lineups in the Lady Raiders 2 losses on Friday night.  Coffee opened the day with a 5 to 3 loss to Forrest before closing out the night with a 9 to 8 defeat at the hands of Covington.

Against Forrest, a 1^st inning run and a 3 RBI performance from Haley Hinshaw were not enough to overcome a 7 hit attack from the Lady Rockets.  Batting first in the tournament format, Coffee County drew first blood when Hinshaw drove in Raven Rogers in the 1st inning.  Forrest responded with a pair of first inning runs themselves and they never trailed again.  Hinshaw finished with 2 hits and the 3 RBI to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Katie Rutledge also finished with 2 singles and Tori Bell had a double.

In the night cap against Covington, the Lady Raiders were shut down in their final 2 at bats in the 9 to 8 loss.  In a back and forth game, Covington scored in the top of each inning in the win.  The Lady Raiders were able to tie the game in bottom of the 1^st and 2^nd innings, before taking an 8 to 6 lead after 3 innings.  But a pair of 2 out rallies in the 4^th and 5^th innings by Covington was the back breaker.   Katie Rutledge led the Lady Raiders in hitting as she was 3 for 4 including an inside the park home run

Coffee County concludes play in the Coffee County Classic on Saturday with a pair of games.  The Lady Raiders will play Waverly at 11 AM and Warren County at 3 PM.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast of each game.

Download the broadcast at www.WMSRradio.com/downloads

Elliot Sain of Westwood soccer

The Westwood soccer team advanced to their 4^th straight CTSC conference tournament final on Friday night with a 3 to 0 win over Fayetteville.  The Rockets got a pair of goals in the first half to seize control of the matchup and Brody Todd was clean in goal to advance the Rockets to Saturday’s finals against St. Andrews.

John Martinez opened the scoring with a goal in the 23^rd minute on an assist from Angel Gonzalez.  Elliot Sain made it a 2 to 0 game at the half as he notched an unassisted goal in the 25^th minute.  Sain added his second goal in the 44^th minute off another assist from Gonzalez.  Westwood will square off against St. Andrews on Saturday morning at 10 AM, that match will take place at Dyer-Bouldin Field.

Katie Crosslin of CCMS softball

The Coffee County Middle School softball team opened play in the CTC softball tournament of Friday night with a 16 to 0 win over South Franklin.  Katie Crosslin threw a no-hitter allowing just a single walk as she struck out 6 in a game shortened to 3 innings via the mercy rule.

The Lady Raiders sent 15 batters to the plate in the 2^nd inning as they scored 12 runs on 2 hits.  The Lady Raiders walked 7 times in the inning, and 11 times in the game.  Coffee County also got the benefit of 3 Lady Trojan errors.  Coffee County will now face off against Warren County at 12:30 PM on Saturday in the second round.  The CTC Tournament is being held at Warren County High School.

Mike Foltynewicz struck out six of the first seven batters faced, carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and positioned himself to complete at least seven innings in a third straight start. But instead of carrying a celebratory mood out of Miller Park on Sunday, the Braves hurler was bothered by how he concluded what had the makings to be a dominant performance.

Dansby Swanson’s two-out error in the sixth inning gave Domingo Santana the chance to complete a two-homer game that gave the Brewers all they needed to prevent a three-game sweep with a 4-3 win. But Swanson’s miscue didn’t frustrate Foltynewicz nearly as much as the fact that the quality of his slider decayed as the innings elapsed and ultimately blemished his otherwise impressive outing.
“I think I did OK, but the team gave me the lead twice and I gave it right back up,” Foltynewicz said. “At the end of the day, that’s what happened. I battled to the end. The slider was working in the beginning, but a lot of them were right over the middle of the plate. They were backed up a little, but they just weren’t ready for it. I did fine, but like I said, the team gave me the lead twice and I couldn’t hold onto it.”
Taking this kind of accountability provides further indication of the maturation that has aided Foltynewicz as he has allowed two earned runs or fewer in each of his first four starts. Less prone to allowing adversity to adversely affect his emotions, the 25-year-old right-hander has moved closer toward legitimizing himself as a legit front-line starter with performances like this latest one, in which he allowed four hits and four runs — one earned — over six innings.
“He’s making some huge strides,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “His whole game has been really, really good. He was really on the attack today.”
Foltynewicz featured his curveball as he notched three of his six strikeouts during a 13-pitch, perfect first inning. He leaned more toward the slider as he recorded two more strikeouts during the second inning and entered the third inning having already induced six swing-and-misses. But he induced just three more swing-and-misses over the remainder of his outing, partly because the effectiveness of his slider began to wane in the fourth inning.
After missing the strike zone with two sliders to begin his fifth-inning showdown with Santana, Foltynewicz made a mistake when he tried to beat the Brewers outfielder with three straight heaters. An elevated 2-2 fastball found its way over the center-field fence to end the no-hit bid.
One inning later after Swanson booted Hernan Perez’s two-out grounder, Foltynewicz elevated a first-pitch slider to Santana, who drilled it the other way for a decisive three-run home run.
“There in the sixth it was a little longer of an inning than I had most of the day,” Foltynewicz said. “I think I was just leaving pitches up over the plate and they did what they had to do with them.”

Sunday afternoon’s game between the Nashville Sounds and New Orleans Baby Cakes was suspended due to rain at First Tennessee Park.
Heavy rain began to fall with the scored tied 0-0 in the top of the fourth inning.

The game will be finished on Sunday, June 18th when the Baby Cakes return to Nashville for the second time this season. The two teams will resume action at 5:05 p.m. and finish the nine inning game as originally scheduled. Then the two teams will play a seven inning contest 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.

Fans with a ticket to today’s game may exchange it at the First Tennessee Park box office for a ticket of equal or lesser value for any 2017 home game – subject to availability.

Fans with a ticket to the original June 18th contest with New Orleans can enjoy the finish of the suspended game and the original game with just one ticket.

The two teams will wrap up the five-game series Monday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Daniel Gossett (0-2, 6.27) starts for Nashville against right-hander Odrisamer Dispaigne (0-1, 3.55). First pitch is scheduled for 12:05 p.m.