Preds Ice Thrashers 4-3

Readership,

For those of you who braved the weather to get to Sommet tonight, you earned yourself a helluva game!

The pre-game included a corner of Atlanta Kovalchuk, I mean, Thrashers fans, making more noise than the PA down by the ice as Preds fans slowly (and carefully) made their way to the arena.  Once the game began, the Bluelanders made their way to the opposite side of the arena, two levels underneath our sacred 303,  and continued to challenge the crowd.  The crowd didn't disappoint, however, with NHL.com showing the attendance ended up at 16,646 (though there were prolly 3000 or so that didn't make it through the snow).  Preds fans are die hard, what else can I say?  I'll give credit to the ATL fans and their 4 giant tour buses and marching band mentality - you trudged through the snow too...but it was all for naught.

The Preds jumped to an early lead with Ward notching one 4 minutes into the 1st.  Smithson wristshot  one from his knees at the midway point of the 1st to make it 2-0.  Then Bryan Little decided to step up and be the thorn in the Preds' side for the remainder of the game, scoring on the powerplay.  The 2nd saw Martin Erat answer back, but that was all she wrote for the Preds in the 2nd.  Turnover after turnover, a minute and a half long 5-on-3 wasted, then Chris Thorburn gets the shorthanded goal.  That momentum was kept alive by Little again just a few minutes later to make the 2nd a 3-3 tie.  Poor defense and turnovers cost us the 2nd period and nearly the game...so thank Pekka for making the 2nd not as bad as it could've been.

Something happened during that intermission.  I wonder if Trotz informed Jason Arnott that he'd chose the new captain next week with a Ouija board, because the first 7 seconds of the 3rd saw Capt'n Arny breakaway and score, marking his 13th of this season.  I hope to see THAT captain from here on out, and if I don't, I might bring Trotz a Ouija board, or at least a dart board with all of the players names on it to try out.  After that, it was a game of keep away, while trying to take chances every now and again.

"Dogboy" Jones will shoot the puck when he's near the net - that is awesome - give him more minutes.  If Klein doesn't turn it over, he will shoot on net because he knows he's not good with the puck thus he gets rid of it as soon as possible.  Franson will shoot the puck or try to make a smart pass (though half the time, his target isn't paying attention).  I don't even need to explain what Hornqvist does cos you already know he does what is called of him.  Sullivan needs to learn to shoot.  Cal O'Reilly needs to learn how to shoot.  Both had chances to bury it and both hesitated or threw it away in attempts to pass it for someone else to shoot.

But hey - the boys played another hard game well (the 2nd of a back-to-back) and this time came out on top.  This game wasn't plagued with penalties (unlike Detroit), though the few called on Arny in the 3rd were rather bogus - the PK finally woke up in the 3rd, so hopefully they'll stay awake - and Pekka made amazing saves when the D broke down.  Whatever - keep on keeping on and keep yourselves in that Top 8!

As far as those Thrashers fans go...Preds goals might be dirty, but at least our city is cleaner!


Cheers.