Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Preds Wild Recap

The head lines should read: Not even Suter can stop Preds. The Preds win their first game of the season beating the wild 3-1. The wild grabbed the first goal of the game. It was Heatley throwing a shot on from the blue line, the puck was then tipped by either Klein or Parise (still inconclusive). Nick Spaling would answer with a rebound from a Kevin Klein shot. Then in the third Marty Erat blocks an attempted clear by Backstrom and then scores on the vacated net. The Preds went on the power play with a minute left in the game where Legwand put one past Backstrom.

Notes
Colin Wilson again looked great. Wilson has shown improvement in each game this season. Wilson's stick handling has been amazingly impressive. Both his passing and use of body have shown growth, not to mention his awareness and confidence have both seemed high this season.
Klein played phenomenally in this game. Parise broke in for a one on one with Klein. Klein stripped the puck from Parise, and he made it look easy.
Bourque did not look like a player coming off of injury, he hustled like normal, and even received his own clear. I assumed Bourque would be a step slow, but he simply wasn't, he moved well and was a productive member of the team.
Craig Smith was invisible again.
Clutterbuck was an absolute wrecking ball on the ice today. He took big shots at both Halischuk and Gil. I felt Clune needed to step up and do something about them, but then again, there was no real strategic advantage to fight.
The Fisher Kostitsyn Erat line had some great chemistry tonight. There was a nifty set of drop passes one shift that really helped the cycling.
The Preds up to this point had not impressed me during 4 on 4 play. Both defense and offense seemed to click giving the Preds great scoring chances.
Ryan Ellis may make better break out passes than Ryan Suter. This will take more time to see, but Ellis's vision and passing lead to at least one break away for the Preds.
Finally Mason looked great. Mason handled pressure with ease including a point blank chance coming from a hard ricochet off the back boards.

1-0-2 gets the Preds four points in three games, again not a bad start. And man did it feel good to watch Ryan Suter post a -3 in a loss.

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