Hornqvist Leads Preds Past the Avs

By Buddy Oakes

After two periods of sometimes ragged and uneven play, the Nashville Predators found another gear to come from behind and defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2, at the Sommet Center home opener.

Patric Hornqvist, the game's first star, scored two goals 2:17 apart late in the third period, to propel the Predators to victory.

A couple minutes before Hornqvist's first goal, the game seemed to be tied, but the officials waived it off. After the game, Hornqvist indicated that "non-goal" to be the turning point in the game saying, "After that, we took over the whole game and showed a good effort in the third. It was a great two points for us."

Hornqvist felt relieved after his penalty, for running over Colorado Goalie Craig Anderson earlier in the third period. This penalty led to a Marek Svatos power play goal, giving Colorado the 2-1 lead.

Dan Ellis played well in goal and stopped 22 of 24 Colorado shots, giving him a 2-0 record for the season. When asked if he would like to play again Saturday, Ellis proved to be the ultimate team player, "Pekka has played great, and was outstanding last year and he has earned a game. The coaches have decided on a certain rotation and you respect whatever they do.

"My goal is not to worry about being a number one or two but to play well when I'm in the net. If you play well, you will get noticed and if you win games you will continue to play. You play the best when you are out there and when you are sitting then cheer the team on."

Barry Trotz creditted the defence for spurring the attack in the third period, "The defence was getting the puck on net and getting traffic. We saw a lot of pucks get into that area. On a good night you might score three or four of those instead of just two."

All of the offence came with the same five skaters on the ice. The first line of Jason Arnott, Steve Sullivan, and Patric Hornqvist along with the defensive pairing of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter, accounted for all three goals and six assists.

When questioned about the lack of contribution from the Legwand line, Trotz explained, "Leggy's line the last two games has been put in more of a defensive role so he's had to carry a little more of a defensive responsibility. I'm looking for secondary scoring throughout the lineup but that is sort of the role that they have been given."

Late call up, Triston Grant, saw plenty of action in the first two periods, but was whistled twice for penalties that were not the kind the Predators need. His first interference penalty led to the games first scoring, when Colorado took a 1-0 lead on a Kyle Quincy power play goal at 4:40 of the second period.

Barry Trotz commented on Grants saying, "[He was] trying to make some impact today and bang a little. I said come in here and be a little of that Smashville because that's what he does and I thought he played pretty well. Obviously, I'm not happy with him taking two penalties but for the most part last year he wasn't in the mix to be here and now he's in the mix. He a tough kid who can play the game and he earned the right to come up here and play and I thought he did a good job."

Most likely Grant will return to Milwaukee, as Trotz confirmed that Joel Ward will play the next game on Saturday against Buffalo. It doesn't appear that J. P. Dumont, Jordan Tootoo or Colin Wilson will be available for the the next game.

Pekka Rinne is set to make his season debut in Saturday's contest. Trotz explained his strategy in goal, "They are both good goaltenders. I have really a lot of faith in both and I think we have as good a goaltending as anyone in the league, one, two."

Further he said that he had not made a choice on Monday's starter, "I'm really not going to think too far ahead. Both of them are going to play a lot of hockey for us. If someone gets really hot then we will go with him but they are both really capable goalies."

With all the injuries and several new players, the Predators are still feeling out how the team will develop. They are fortunate to have two wins under their belt, and look for ongoing improvement over the next few weeks, as the team attempts to find its identity.

The Predators have little time to savor the victory. Buffalo comes to Nashville on Saturday and then Edmonton will follow on Monday.