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James Neal of the Nashville Predators
James Neal scored twice in regulation, then tallied the winner in the shootout, and the Nashville Predators finished off their three-game road trip with a 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
The Preds are now 4-1-0 on the season and head home after capturing four out of a possible six points on the East Coast trip.
“It was a good road trip,” Neal said. “We talked about it going into the third period, you can have one win and two losses going home and it was a huge third period for us. We had a good win in New Jersey, and I thought we played our best game of the year on Long Island and didn’t get a win, so coming in here and pulling one out was good.”
Nashville struck first on Saturday, a constant through five contests this season, as Neal tallied his second goal in as many games to give the Preds a 1-0 advantage. The man-advantage goal came as Roman Josi fed Neal with a pass on the goal line before the Preds forward walked to the net and drove the puck far side to beat Craig Anderson.
Mark Stone tied the contest for Ottawa just 15 seconds into the middle frame before Mike Hoffmann gave the Senators a 2-1 lead. The Preds got it back though, as Craig Smith took a Mike Ribeiro pass in the slot and sniped it past the blocker of Anderson for a 2-2 tie headed into the second intermission.
“[Smith’s] goal was a real big goal because it puts you into the third period at an even score and you can sell a different message as you head out to the third period,” Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “You talk about winning 20 minutes and having a great road trip and the guys really played hard for that 20 minutes.”
Neal then replicated his goal from the first period, enacting the same move from the same spot on the ice to put the Preds up 3-2 with another power-play goal. With time winding down in regulation, Hoffman recorded his second of the night to send the game into overtime.
The Predators faced their first 3-on-3 overtime session in franchise history, with neither team capitalizing on the open ice.
After Bobby Ryan scored for Ottawa in the second round of the shootout, Filip Forsberg answered for the Preds before Neal finished the deal, beating Anderson on the forehand for the victory.
Preds netminder Carter Hutton recorded the victory for Nashville, turning aside 38 shots in regulation, plus two more in the shootout, for his first win in his initial start of the season.
“At some points we were back on our heels but we stuck with it,” Hutton said. “At this point, just getting the win and going home 2-1 instead of 1-2 is a big difference.”
The Predators will now head home to host Tampa Bay, Anaheim and Pittsburgh this week at Bridgestone Arena and the success on the first road trip of the season only provides confidence with three challenging opponents on the docket.
“It’s early in the season, but we’ve got a real good group of guys in there; they play hard for each other and I think that’s evident in the third period tonight with a good road win,” Laviolette said. “You’re going home with four out of six points and you like the way the team played in the loss [against the Islanders], you just didn’t like the result, so it’s good we’re going back in a good spot and we’ve got to win some home games now.”
THe Predators open a 3 game home stand on Tuesday night against Tampa Bay. Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast beginning at 7 PM
