The Preds lines to open the game were:
  Fisher centering Erat and S. Kostitsyn
  Legwand centering Radulov and A. Kostitsyn
  Spaling centering Bourque and Hornqvist
  Gaustad centering Halischuk and Yip

Defensively:
   Suter and Weber
   Josi and Klein
   Bouillon and Hillen

Nashville took advantage of a fortuitous bounce to claim a 1-0 lead, Paul Gaustad's first goal as a member of the Preds. But the Preds were victimized by some unlucky bounces later in the period -- Martin Erat rang one off the post later in the period and Mike Fisher had the puck hop over his stick twice when he was open back-door on the power-play. All-in-all a good first period of action for the home team, heading into the first intermission with a lead.


Three Musings
1) Heading To The Box -- For two of the lowest penalized teams in the league, Period 1 had a lot of penalties --- all totaled, six power-plays for the two teams. Neither PP unit was able to generate many high-quality scoring chances, but Nashville's second power-play of the period did generate momentum for the Preds. The team responded with three very solid five-on-five shifts right after that PP with solid scoring chances on each shift.

2) Depth Pays Dividends -- During the morning skate coaches press conferences, Coach Babcock said he liked his third and fourth line match-ups against Nashville's third and fourth lines, but in the first period Nashville's Spaling and Gaustad lines were the team's most consistently effective units. The Spaling unit created the game's first good scoring chance when Hornqvist snuck behind the Detroit defense and had a partial break 1:40 into the game from the red line in. The Gaustad line backed that with a scoring chance off the ensuing faceoff. Later in the period Gaustad netted the lone goal of the period, fending off two Detroit defenders curling around the Wings net and throwing the puck out to the top of the goal crease where it banked off a Wings defender and inside the far post.

3) Injury? -- Detroit forward Darren Helm appeared to be injured in a battle along the boards during Nashville's second power-play. Helm, a key to Detroit's third line as well as top PK contributor, dropped his glove and stick and went directly to the bench. He did not see action in the final 6:18 of the period. Helm was making his first appearance back in the lineup since March 17; his return was viewed as a major boost to Detroit's depth, forechecking, and penalty kill. If he can't go, it could be an early turning point in the series. (Note: Detroit issued an injury report on Helm --- Upper Body Injury/Will Not Return)