Arnott, Dumont Power Preds Past Stars in Home Opener

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On a night one former Preds captain was honored, the current Preds captain stole the show as Jason Arnott netted a pair of goals, including the game winner, as part of a three point night in Nashville’s 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars at Sommet Center on Saturday night. As part of the team’s Home Opener activities, Greg Johnson, the captain of organization’s first two playoff teams, was recognized prior to the game and dropped the ceremonial first puck.

Arnott’s line mate J.P. Dumont dished out three assists and goaltender Dan Ellis stopped 19-of-20 shots.

The Predators scored 46 seconds into the game when Shea Weber punched home a rebound for his first goal of the season. Dumont created the play, coming down the right wing wall and carrying the play below the faceoff dots before holding up to wait for assistance and then feathering a pass to Arnott cutting to the near side post. Arnott’s shot was turned aside, but the rebound popped out the far side where Weber won the battle to the loose puck for the game’s first score.

Dallas answered back 1:15 later on defenseman Trevor Daley’s second goal of the season, a snap shot from the left point in to the upper far corner.

Nashville prevented Dallas from gaining momentum as the line of Vern Fiddler-Scott Nichol-Joel Ward drew a power-play on the game’s next shift. The Preds created a couple of quality scoring chances during the man-advantage, including an opportunity by Weber early in the power-play.

Midway through the period, the Preds created a five-on-three power-play. Nashville wasn’t able to convert on the front end, but did net a five-on-four power-play goal. Dumont carried the play behind the net and snapped a pass to Arnott at the top of the goal crease for the jam-in with 9:06 left in the first frame. Martin Erat, skating on the power-play unit with Arnott and Dumont, picked up the other assist.

Arnott nearly scored two shifts later when his drive from the right wing snuck through Dallas goaltender Marty Turco’s pads, but trickled just wide of the far post. Turco made a pair of highlight reel saves in the final minute of the period, including a skate blade kick save, to keep the score 2-1 Nashville heading into the first intermission.

Neither team scored in the second period, but the Arnott-Dumont combination created a pair of quality scoring chances through the middle of the frame.

The duo combined for another power-play goal, this time with 3:47 remaining in regulation, to close out the scoring. Arnott converted a tick-tac-toe passing play by burrying a shot from the top of the goal crease. Erat snapped a pass from the left wing half-boards to Dumont in the right wing faceoff circle. Dumont quickly relayed the pass to Arnott in front.

Post-Game Notes:
Dan Ellis improved to 3-1-0 against his former team. Ellis has allowed one goal or less in three of those four appearances ... Nashville's top-two lines (Arnott centering Dumont & Hornqvist; Legwand centering Erat & Tootoo) combined for 22 of the team's 32 shots on goal. Arnott and Tootoo fired team-highs with 5 shots on goal, followed by Erat and Legwand with 4 shots a piece ... J.P. Dumont has 4 assists through the team's first two games ... Jason Arnott has 4 points (2g-2a) through the team's first two games ... Shea Weber skated a game-high 28:46 of ice time. Ryan Suter (26:05) also skated over 25:00 in the game ... Dan Hamhuis and Dallas forward Sean Avery were ejected from the game following a skirmish at the 8:36 mark of the first period, forcing the Preds to play the remainder of the game with five defensemen.

Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach Barry Trotz
On how the team responded after last night’s game…
“We talked about finding our energy. I talked to the leadership group and they responded. They took it as a challenge and said that we are better than we were yesterday.”

Responding to how other teams have tested Nashville’s grit…
“I think early in the season everybody comes at you hard and I don’t think there is anybody that doesn’t try to come at you. What you’re finding is everybody is trying to be tough. We don’t have the resident tough guy, but collectively there is a lot of grit and toughness. Our toughness is in being hard on the puck and tough on the boards.”

Regarding the personnel changes…
“I felt the personnel that I put in I felt there was an accountability factor. A few players didn’t play to my expectations so I made a switch. There’s good competition and you’re going to have to fight hard. You have to be on in terms of your focus and commitment. We have very capable guys. I think Radek Bonk did a great job for us tonight. He had some injuries and he didn’t play but I think he responded very well tonight. Those are really good, positive signs you want. I sent him a message and sent it right back.”

Defenseman Shea Weber
On his goal…
“It was just one of those situations where J.P. (Dumont) made a good play and the puck squared out and I got some momentum going.”

On being down a defenseman after Hamhuis left…
“We are a tight-nit group and we know how to stick up for each other and fill in. Everyone did a good job of sticking together.”

On getting the first win of the season…
“It’s always nice to get that first one out of the way but it is just a stepping stone. We’ve got to continue to play better. Chicago is a good team and we need to go in there and play well. “

Forward J.P. Dumont
On the team’s power play…
“We just tried to take shots and go to the net. It worked well for us today. We took a few shots, the lanes opened up, and we made a few tic-tac-toe passes. But we were taking shots first and that’s how we had success on the power play tonight.”

On supporting a young team…
“That is a role they gave to me last year and I really enjoyed it. This year I’m trying to do the same thing. It’s not that we played bad yesterday, it’s just that we didn’t play all together. Tonight we all worked hard—all the guys on the ice. It was a big two points. We didn’t like the way we played last night and we came home strong. We have a really good team and everywhere we go we are going to work hard. Yesterday was just a little mistake but we are getting back on track. We’ve got to play like we did tonight—play a full 60 minutes.”

Goaltender Dan Ellis
On his conditioning…
“Sometimes you get 50 shots and you’re not tired at all and other nights you get 20 shots like tonight and you are gassed. A lot of it really depends on puck possession and how long the other team is in the zone. When we played St. Louis it felt like they were in our zone all the time. We had a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone and they just really held on to that puck. That really drains your legs. I felt good with my conditioning and I really tried to push myself through training camp. I think the coaching staff gave me a lot of games to play—playing five out of the six exhibition games—so that really prepares you for an early stint of back to back games like today and yesterday.”