Category: Sports

Tuesday night will be remembered by the Nashville Predators more for what it could have been, rather than what it was.

Visitors to SAP Center for the evening, the Preds erased a flat first period that saw them fall behind 3-0 by scoring the next four to take the lead in the third period. Two goals in 13 seconds flipped the narrative back to the Sharks, however, as San Jose used Joe Thornton’s 400th career goal to claim a 5-4 victory.

The regulation loss on the road was the first of the season for the Predators. Nashville’s record stands a 13-4-1, with San Jose delivering two of the losses, each by a final score of 5-4.

“Lousy first, good second, back and forth in the third,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said of Tuesday’s outing. “We made some mistakes there at the end that cost us, and we had plenty of looks and chances to make it 5-3 or even go back to tie it again, but it didn’t bounce for us.”

The game’s first 40 minutes delivered a tale of polar opposites. The opening period saw the Preds surrender three goals and 18 shots, but then they countered with three of their own in the second stanza.

Marcus Sorensen, Joe Pavelski and Antti Suomela all tallied for San Jose in the first, but Craig Smith got his team on the board in the second when he slid home a loose puck at the 4:43 mark. Less than a minute later, Filip Forsberg converted on a breakaway, and then he beat Martin Jones once more before the period was out to even the score at three all.

“It was a bad start, that’s really the only way to explain [it]… but after that, this group is all about just trying to bounce back, and the second period was good,” Forsberg said. “What they did to us in the first, we did to them in the second. There was obviously a lot of regret in the room after the first and we came out and showed that in the second.”

In the end, taking the lead in the third period is what stings the most for Nashville – considering the final score. Winger Rocco Grimaldi potted his first as a member of the Preds to give them their first lead of the evening as he deked out Jones on a breakaway chance.

Later, Jones flashed leather to deny Smith on a 2-on-1, and after the Predators could not extend their lead with a late power play chance, the Sharks struck and struck quickly to surge back ahead.

The Preds continued to press until the final horn, but they were unable to find a fifth goal.

“We came in after the first and we knew it was not acceptable for the best team in the League,” Grimaldi said. “We came out, and we showed why we’re on top right now. We had a great second and a great third, and just because of that first period, it ended up biting us in the end.”

Notes:

Forward Calle Jarnkrok missed his third consecutive game with a lower-body injury.

The Predators conclude their five-game road trip on Thursday night in Arizona before returning home to Bridgestone Arena on Saturday to host the Los Angeles Kings.

The Motlow Bucks will play in front of their home fans Friday for the first time this season when they host TCCAA rival Jackson State at 5:30 p.m. at Copperweld Arena. The Bucks will then turn around and host Columbia State at 2 p.m. Saturday. There is no admission charge to Motlow home athletic events.

The Bucks (0-0, 1-3) are coming off a pair of close road losses to solid basketball programs. Motlow traveled to Rome, Ga., this past weekend, falling to the host school Georgia Highlands 76-71 Friday night, then dropping a 77-76 overtime decision to USC-Salkehatchie Saturday afternoon.

This coming Friday is the first night of conference play for all teams in the TCCAA. Both Columbia State and Jackson State are 2-1 on the season. Jackson State, formerly known as the Generals, has changed its athletics name to the Green Jays.

Motlow’s Marcus Lacey, a redshirt-freshman from Madison, Ala., was spectacular for the Bucks in Friday’s loss to Highlands, scoring 26 points on 10-15 shooting and hauling down 16 rebounds along with four steals and three assists.

The Bucks trailed 40-32 at the half and struggled to make up the difference in the final 20 minutes. Motlow shot 41.4 percent from the field but hit only 6-23 three pointers. Highlands wasn’t much better, shooting only 46.2 percent from the floor, but connected on 26-34 free throws while Motlow hit 17-24 from the foul line.

Darius Harding added 17 points and six rebounds for the Bucks, with Josh Greer scoring 11 and pulling in seven boards. Leo Castillo scored 10 points and had seven rebounds, and Josh Endicott scored seven with six rebounds.

Saturday against Salkehatchie, Motlow trailed 31-27 at the half but fought back and ended regulation tied at 66. The two teams swapped the lead back and forth through the overtime, with the Saluqis making the play at the end to get the win.

USC-Salkehatchie shot the ball well, hitting 50.8 percent from the field, while the Bucks struggled at 38.8 percent, including 6-21 from the three-point line. Motlow was solid again at the free-throw stripe, connecting on 18-23 attempts.

Castillo hit 8-15 from the field, including 3-5 three pointers, and led the Bucks with 19 points while grabbing seven rebounds, and notching four steals and three assists. Endicott scored 13 with nine boards, Bryce McBride scored 11 with three assists and two steals, Greer scored 11 with three rebounds, Lacey had seven points and seven rebounds, and Kin Webster scored six with seven rebounds.

The Motlow State Community College Lady Bucks will play their first Tennessee Community College Athletic Association (TCCAA) contest of the year Friday night when Jackson State visits Copperweld Arena for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. The contest will follow the men’s game between the schools, which begins at 5:30 p.m.

Motlow (2-1) hosted and beat Central Georgia Tech 79-63 last Thursday, and is scheduled to host the Martin Methodist College JV team Tuesday, Nov. 13. Following Friday’s home game against Jackson State, the Lady Bucks will be on the road for the next three games and will not return to Copperweld Arena until Dec. 1.

Sophomore Janna Lewis recorded her second double-double of the young season against visiting Central Georgia Tech, scoring 26 points and adding 10 rebounds. Katie Thomas, a freshman from Lynchburg, connected on 5-10 three-point shots and scored 17 points along with three steals, two assists and two rebounds.

Starasia Bell-Freeman added 11 points and five rebounds, Tanisia Murphy scored nine points, while Dominique Fields and Azhane Bacot had five points each and Taylor Holcomb added four points.

Motlow jumped out to a fast start, leading 25-18 at the end of the first quarter and 44-32 at halftime. The Lady Bucks connected on 46.2 percent of their shots from the field, including hitting 7-22 three pointers and 24-35 free throws.

The Coffee County Middle School basketball teams traveled to McMinnville on Monday night for a conference doubleheader with Warren County.  The Lady Raiders held off a late Warren County rally to win 34 to 32 in overtime.  Against an aggressive defensive pressure, the Red Raiders fell 38 to 27.

Leading by 6 entering the 4^th quarter, Coffee County was held to 1 field goal and went 4 for 14 from the free throw line in the final frame to be pushed to overtime.  In overtime, the Lady Raiders were 3 for 4 from the free throw line to get the win.  Alivia Reel had 2 free throws in overtime and led Coffee County in scoring with 12 points.  Nikki Graham added 7 points and Olivia Vinson finished with 6 points.

In the boys’ game, Warren County’s aggressive defense saw the Pioneers open up a tight game in the 4^th quarter to drop the Red Raiders.  Coffee Middle trailed by 3 points entering the final frame, but Warren County exploded for 20 points in the final 6 minutes to hand the Raiders their first conference loss.  Coffee County was led in scoring by Hayden Garr who had 10 points.  Jacob Holder added 7 points and Ethan Hargrove finished with 6.

Coffee County is back in action on Thursday when they welcome South Franklin to the CCMS Gym.   Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you the broadcast as Lucky Knott will have the play by play as part of the 1^st National Bank Hometown Sports Series.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM, Thunder Radio’s live coverage begins with the pregame show at 5:50.

The Westwood Rockets hosted Community on Monday night at the Joel Vinson Gym.  In a pair of games you heard here on Thunder Radio, Westwood dropped both games to the more experienced Community squad.  The Lady Rockets fell 44 to 11 while the Rockets lost 37 to 16.

In the girls’ game, Community closed out the first half on a 7 to 0 run to take a lead they would not relinquish.  Westwood was held to 2 points in the 2^nd half.  The Lady Rockets were led in scoring by Leonora Moreno who had 4 points to be named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Anna Johnson added 3 points while Rylee Clark and Maddie Sullivan each scored 2 points.

The Rockets got off to a strong start too, but Community dominated the 2^nd and most of the 3^rd period.  Brayden Dixon led the Rockets in scoring with 6 points as he was named the Crazy Daisies player of the game.  Izick Sierra added 5 points and Caiden Warren and Konor Heaton each finished with 2 points for Westwood.

Westwood will travel to Eagleville on Thursday night to take on the Eagles.  Tip off for the girls game will be at 6 PM.

Download the broadcast at: http://www.thunder1320.com/downloads/

A goal from Kevin Fiala and a behind-the-back save from Pekka Rinne helped the Nashville Predators force overtime, but the Anaheim Ducks prevailed, 2-1, in a shootout on Monday night at Honda Center.

With a point earned in the standings, Nashville’s point streak on the road reached the nine-game mark. Seeing its franchise-record and near-NHL-best road winning mark come to an end, however, wasn’t easy to accept.

“We had a lot more to give,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “[Anaheim] played well. Give them credit, they were moving their feet, they were making plays, but I thought we weren’t the best version of ourselves tonight. It comes down to a shootout, and it wasn’t our way this time.”

Similar to their rally in the third period on Saturday afternoon, the visitors hit another gear in the final frame to even the score. Roughly three minutes into the third, Fiala aimed a feed from Kyle Turris toward the Ducks’ net with one fluid motion to tie the game, 1-1. The quick release was Fiala’s second goal of the season, his first at even strength and his first in nearly a month (last on Oct. 19 vs. Calgary).

Defense was the storyline of the night by a longshot, as Rinne and John Gibson surrendered one goal apiece through 65 minutes and combined for 63 saves.

Rinne’s best – coming in the final moments of the game with the score knotted – will likely stand as one of his finest saves from the entire season. Brandon Montour’s point shot deflected at least once before it seemed destined to beat Rinne over the shoulder for a goal that would have delivered the Ducks a dramatic win.

The Preds’ goaltender did something next that’s still difficult to describe: reaching back to twist and hit the puck with the back of his blocker, a flailing effort that ultimately earned Nashville a point.

The first 39-plus minutes of the contest were scoreless, but with 30 seconds to play in the middle period, Ducks Captain Ryan Getzlaf directed a shot past Rinne to give Anaheim a 1-0 advantage.

Fiala then answered in the third to force extra time. Nashville was unable to score on a 4-on-3 power play and scored once in their first shootout of the season thanks to Turris, but Rickard Rakell netted the decisive marker in the breakaway competition.

Nashville finished 0-for-7 with the man advantage, including an opportunity in overtime that saw Gibson make save after save.

“The first half of the game, we tried to switch the units, and it’s really tough to do without practice time,” Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “I’d take that one on me. It was trying something different here and we switched back in the end. I thought we started to get some looks in overtime. We could have won the game a bunch of times on the power play, and it just didn’t go for us… It’s got to be better, but there were an awful lot of looks.”

The point earned by the Preds on Monday was a little consolation, but they won’t have much time to dwell on the loss with a meeting in San Jose looming in less than 24 hours.

“We’re finding ways to get points, but we want two every game,” Ellis said. “We’ve been fortunate in getting points and timely goals, but we have a difficult back-to-back, and hopefully we’re a better version tomorrow.”

Notes:

Nashville’s 10 shots in the overtime session set a regular-season franchise record.

Prior to Monday’s game, the Predators placed forward Viktor Arvidsson on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury.

Forward Calle Jarnkrok missed his second consecutive game due to a lower-body injury. Defenseman Matt Irwin re-entered the lineup with Jarnkrok out, while blueliner Anthony Bitetto spent time on the fourth line as a forward for part of the contest.

The Predators will head to northern California to face the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (at 9:30 p.m. CT) before finishing their five-game road trip on Thursday in Arizona.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report

The Coffee County Middle School Lady Raider basketball team finished off the Rockvale Tournament on Saturday.  On Saturday afternoon, the Lady Raiders captured a 40 to 16 win over Christiana.  The win gave Coffee County a 3^rd place finish in the tournament.

Leading by 7 at the half, the Lady Raiders shut down the Lady Cougars in second half to power to the win.  Coffee Middle outscored Christiana 21 to 4 in the 2^nd half to coast to the win.  Eight different Lady Raiders scored in the win.  Maggie Crouch, Nikki Graham and Alivia Reel tied for the scoring lead as each scored 7.  Holli Hancock adds 6 points and Olivia Vinson chips in 5 in the win.  After the game, Reel was named to the All-Tournament team.

Coffee County is back in action on Monday when they travel to McMinnville to take on Warren County.  The girls’ game will tip off at 6 PM.

The Temple Baptist Christian School basketball team closed out play on Friday night in Cleveland, Tennessee at the Shenandoah Baptist Academy tournament.   After going 1 and 1 in pool play on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, the Eagles were knocked out in the quarterfinal round on Friday night.

The Eagles opened up on Friday with a 58 to 25 win as the rolled past Philadelphia Baptist Academy.  Temple jumped out to a 32 to 14 lead in the first half to grab the win.  The Eagles held Philadelphia to single digits in each period of the game.  Cody Swayze led Temple in scoring with 41 points.  Alex Gloden chipped in 6 points while Mich Gloden and David Tran each added 4.

On Friday night, a 50 point game from Cody Swayze was not enough to capture a win over Chattanooga Calvary.  Temple fell by a final score of 73 to 61 to end their tournament run with a 5^th place finish.  The Eagles went toe to toe with Calvary through 3 periods but a slow start put Temple in an 11 point hole after 1 quarter.  In addition to a 50 point performance from Swayze, Alex Gloden added 8 points.

Temple will be back in action on Tuesday when they travel to Shelbyville to take on Victory Baptist Academy.  Tip off is set for 6 PM.

The Titans welcomed the New England Patriots to town, and then sent them packing with a dominating performance.

The Titans won 34-10 on Sunday at Nissan Stadium in a game they never trailed. They took control early, and never looked back.

Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota completed 16-of-24 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns in the game, and posted a passer rating of 125.0.

Titans receiver Corey Davis caught seven passes for 125 yards in the contest, and running back Derrick Henry ran for two touchdowns as the Titans pulled away.

The Titans (5-4) have now won two straight heading into next Sunday’s game at Indianapolis.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completed 21-of-41 passes for 254 yards in the game before being replaced late by back-up Brian Hoyer.

Return man Darius Jennings started the game with a bang, returning the opening kickoff 58 yards to put the Titans in good field position, at the New England 40.

Seven plays later, Mariota connected with tight end Jonnu Smith for a four-yard touchdown pass to give the Titans a 7-0 lead with 11:29 left in the first quarter. The Patriots cut the lead to 7-3 on a 52-yard field goal by kicker Stephen Gostkowski.

The Titans stretched the lead to 14-3 on a beautifully thrown, 23-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to Davis, which capped off a nine-play, 78-yard drive. The Titans then made it 17-3 on a 33-yard field goal by kicker Ryan Succop.

The Patriots cut the lead to 17-10 on a one-yard touchdown run by fullback James Develin.

But the Titans gained some momentum back before halftime, as Henry scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 1:09 left in the second quarter to make it 24-10. Henry’s run capped off an eight-play, 37-yard drive that included a big third down catch to tight end Anthony Firkser.

On defense, the Titans pressured Brady, and made him look uncomfortable in the first half.

The Titans stretched their lead to 27-10 on a 31-yard field goal, which came with 4:15 left in the third quarter.

Then came another scoring drive for the Titans, which was capped off by another run by Henry – this one from 10 yards, from the Wildcat. It made it 34-10 with 7:13 left, and sent a bunch of Patriots fans headed to the exits.

The Titans have now beaten both participants in last year’s Super Bowl after earlier defeating the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mattias Ekholm scored in overtime to help the Nashville Predators remain undefeated on the road this season with a 5-4 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday.

The eight-game road winning streak is the third longest to begin a season in NHL history; the Buffalo Sabres won their first 10 games away from home in 2006-07, and the New Jersey Devils won their first nine in 2009-10.

Ryan Hartman, Ryan Johansen, Yannick Weber and Roman Josi scored, and Juuse Saros made 20 saves for Nashville (13-3-0), which trailed 3-1 in the second period and has won five straight.

“We just don’t give up,” Ekholm said. “You can see it today, 3-1, they’re close to getting 4-1. We just dig one out pretty much.”

Tyler Pitlick, Tyler Seguin, Jason Spezza and Denis Gurianov scored for the Stars (9-6-2), who are 1-1-2 in their past four games. Ben Bishop made 29 saves.

Ekholm scored at 2:27 of overtime, 41 seconds after leaving the penalty box. He was penalized for cross checking at 19:46 of the third period.

“I guess a little bit of karma coming into that,” Ekholm said. “Good job by the guys killing it. I was just determined when we got out there.”

Josi tied the game at 4-4 with 43 seconds remaining in the third on a 6-on-4 advantage, with Nashville on a power play and Saros pulled for an extra attacker.

Following the Ekholm penalty, 1:46 of the Nashville penalty kill came during the 4-on-3 overtime.

“They have a great power play,” Josi said. “You have to try to get in shooting lanes, and Juuse obviously made a couple huge saves.”

Pitlick gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 13:05 of the first period on a wrist shot in the slot following a give-and-go from Radek Faksa.

Hartman tied the score at 1-1 on the first shift of the second period at 12 seconds. He stole the puck in the neutral zone from Julius Honka and scored on a wrist shot.

Dallas took a 2-1 lead when Seguin scored at 6:47 of the second period off a cross-crease pass from Honka, who skated the puck in from the right point.

Spezza gave the Stars a 3-1 lead at 14:32 of the second with a power-play goal from the left face-off circle on a rebound. It was the 899th NHL point for Spezza, who was honored by the Stars for playing his 1,000th NHL game on Oct. 30.

Nashville pulled within 3-2 when Johansen tipped in a shot 17 seconds into the third period. Weber tied the game at 3-3 with a wrist shot from the right point at 1:54 of the third.

Gurianov redirected a shot from the right point by Ben Gleason at 8:58 of the third to give Dallas a 4-3 lead. It was Gurianov’s first NHL goal and Gleason’s first NHL point.

Gurianov was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, defenseman Joel Hanley on Friday, and Gleason on Saturday.

“It would have been a nice game to win with the way those guys came in,” Spezza said.

Dallas lost defenseman John Klingberg for at least four weeks after hand surgery Friday, and defenseman Roman Polak missed the game with an illness.

“You could tell that we were young on the back end,” Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. “We weren’t as crisp on a lot of things, but I liked the fight.”

They said it
“It builds confidence when you’re in those situations going into the third period to know you can go out and turn the game around.” — Predators coach Peter Laviolette

“I woke up this morning with a phone call at 7:30. In about 15 minutes, I jumped in the shower and packed a bag. I don’t even know what I’ve thrown in there.” — Stars defenseman Ben Gleason on making his NHL debut

The Predators, who entered Saturday last in the NHL on the power play at 13 percent (7-for-54), went 1-for-5. … Honka replaced Klingberg on the first defense pair and had an even rating playing a season-high 17:49. … Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson returned to the lineup after missing two games. He had an assist in 19:00 of ice time. … Nashville forward Calle Jarnkrok was scratched with a lower-body injury. … Dallas on Saturday acquired defenseman Taylor Fedun in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. Fedun didn’t play.

The Predators travel to take on the Anaheim Ducks on Monday.  Faceoff is set for 9 PM and Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network.  Nashville Predators hockey is brought to you locally by the law offices of Burch and Lockhart.

Pete Weber’s Postgame Report