Ryan Hartman of Nashville Predators[Photo courtesy of NHL.com]
As of late, the Predators have been calling for more secondary scoring from their bottom three lines. A pair from Hartman, and another from Calle Jarnkrok in the third, went a long way toward solving that problem, and it led to another win in the process.
“It feels like the last few games, everyone’s kind of been gripping the stick a little bit because we knew we had to contribute,” Hartman said. “Tonight, we talked about it – just get that off your mind, just play hard, move your feet, take the body, and opportunities are going to come out of that.”
Reilly Smith gave Vegas the first lead when he beat Juuse Saros on the power play for a 1-0 advantage after 20 minutes, but the second period belonged to Hartman.
Halfway through the stanza, the Preds winger scored one of the prettier goals of the season, when he dangled around a Vegas defender and then beat Malcolm Subban on the backhand for his second of the campaign. Just 57 seconds later, Kevin Fiala found Hartman again, and his one-time shot found twine once more to give the Preds a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
“He had great moves tonight,” Fiala said of Hartman. “I just put it on his tape the first time and he made a great move.”
In the final frame, Kyle Turris found Jarnkrok to finish off a 2-on-1, and Viktor Arvidsson was awarded an empty-net goal late in regulation to seal the win, Nashville’s fourth at home to close out the season’s first month.
“We’ve been talking about our starts at home and our overall games at home,” Hartman said. “We weren’t really happy with ourselves after one [period], that was pretty obvious in the locker room afterward. After the first few shifts, we started picking things up and getting chances and moving our feet a little more. We did a good job in the second period and that carried into the third period.”
As of 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday, the Preds found themselves not only first in their division, but also atop the League standings as their October slate came to a close. And while they’re just 12 games in with another five-plus months to go, it’s a good start for a team that believes they can do great things.
“We’re a more experienced group,” Turris said. “I know we’re young, but I feel like we’re experienced after the last couple of years we’ve had. We just can’t lose two in a row in this League.”
You Have to Have Hart:
For a moment, it seemed plausible that Filip Forsberg had dressed as Ryan Hartman for Halloween.
However, it was indeed No. 38 himself who brought the house down on Tuesday with a goal worthy of League-wide praise, before he got another less than a minute later.
“Unbelievable,” forward Colton Sissons said of his teammate’s first marker. “I need to take a page out of his book and watch some video on it because it was a spectacular goal.”
Hartman’s teammates were as impressed as anyone with his first two-goal game in Nashville, but more importantly, his head coach saw a player who has the ability to put the puck in the net with regularity show signs of doing just that.
“It was really good to see him get going,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said of Hartman. “It’s been a little bit of a difficult summer for him. He got a little banged up in training camp and had to take a little more time off. There’s been a few games where he had an impact in earlier in the season and then has gone quiet for a little bit, but he had a really good game, especially on the rush.”
Notes:
Hartman scored twice in 57 seconds, but the Preds record for fastest two goals by the same player belongs to Scott Hartnell who had two in 23 seconds back in February of 2007.
With a goal in the third period, Viktor Arvidsson (5g-2a) is now on a five-game point streak.
Kevin Fiala now has four career points (1g-3a) against Vegas.
Defenseman Matt Irwin appeared in his first game of the season for Nashville, logging three hits in 11:16 of ice time.
The Predators will now jet off to Tampa Bay for a meeting with the Lightning on Thursday before returning home to host Boston on Saturday for Hockey Fights Cancer Night at Bridgestone Arena.
Pete Weber’s Postgame Report
