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Photo Gallery   Game Highlights   Big Hit by Jordin Tootoo   Coach Trotz Press Conference   Player Locker Room Reaction

The Nashville Predators out shot the St. Louis Blues 47-17, but were unable to get a puck past St. Louis netminder Chris Mason as the Blues claimed a 1-0 shootout win at Sommet Center on Tuesday night. David Perron and Brad Boyes scored on similar deke moves in the shootout, while Mason turned aside attempts from Rich Peverley and Ville Koistinen to claim the shootout by a 2-0 margin.

The Predators carried the play for the majority of the game and had several quality scoring chances including six on a power-play during overtime. The Blues were whistled for tripping 43 seconds into the extra frame and the Predators kept the pressure for the duration of the man-advantage. Koistinen sparked a pair of flurries with J.P. Dumont setting a screen in front of the net. On the first, Koistinen’s shot from the point was saved and Mason got his right pad out in time to block Jason Arnott’s jam attempt on the rebound. On the second, Koistinen’s shot was saved and Dumont’s backhand flip on the rebound slid just wide of the vacated part of the net. The puck hopped over Dumont’s stick on a post-to-post pass from Arnott seconds later and Shea Weber hit the post with a drive from the left wing as the power-play expired.

David Legwand made a key defensive play on the shift after the power play, breaking up a pass by Keith Tkachuk from behind the net to the top of the goal crease, the last high-quality scoring chance of the overtime session.

Jordin Tootoo was especially dangerous with three great opportunities in the first period and an additional two in the second frame. Just 26 seconds into the game, Tootoo beat Mason clean high and over his glove hand, but rang the shot off the nearside post. 

Weber was also dominant in the game, registering a game-high seven shots on goal while blocking three shots on defense. He also played physical at both ends of the ice, getting credited for a game-high four hits.

Dan Ellis, though only seeing 17 shots, made some key stops in his own right. Midway through the opening period, Ellis made a sliding pad save moving from his right to his left to rob Cam Janssen at the top of the goal crease. Ellis was also sound positionally and calmed the play on the few sequences when the Blues applied steady pressure.

Post-Game Notes:
This marked the first time the Predators were shutout at home since January 15, 2004, a stretch of 148 home games ... Preds defensemen Dan Hamhuis and Greg Zanon were caught on a 2:07 even-strength shift during the second period. The defensemen got pinned into the Nashville zone at the end of a long shift; the Predators were able to clear the puck to the red line, which allowed the forwards to switch, but not the defensive pair.

Post-Game Quotes:
Head Coach Barry Trotz
Regarding Chris Mason…
“There is no doubt he was the first star of the game. In terms of coming back here there was definitely motivation. Anytime you get moved from a team you get extra motivation. You know he loved it here and he didn’t want to move. He was a big part of our success. I’m happy with the way we played and happy for Chris because he really helped us get a lot of places when he was here.”

The play of the team…
“From our standpoint, I thought it arguably was our best game. We had 47 shots and at least 35 scoring chances. We shut down the second-best power play in the NHL. We showed a lot of patience and maturity. We just needed one to go in and we had plenty of opportunities to do that. I’m proud of the guys tonight. We outworked them. Unfortunately we only got one point when there was no doubt we wanted two. We came out and did what we wanted to do. It was definitely our best game of the year tonight.”

On Antti Pihlstrom…
“I like Pihlstrom. He skates hard every shift and gets scoring chances. He was aware on the ice and he has great speed. I really liked the line with him, Legwand and Ward.”

Why Vernon Fiddler was scratched…
“It’s just a day-to-day situation. It’s just a flu-like situation. No injuries or concussion.”

Defenseman Shea Weber
On the team’s performance…
“I thought we did a pretty good job tonight. Everybody did a good job all around the ice, we just couldn’t get any pucks past Mason.”

On playing against Chris Mason…
“We’re friends off the ice but it’s still a battle – we wanted to win just as bad as he did. You give him credit, and his team played well. He’s a good goaltender; we know that because we’ve played with him. We know he’s capable of making big saves for 60-65 minutes.”

Defenseman Greg Zanon
On getting more playing time…
“I’m just trying to do a good job and keep the puck out of our net the best we can. Tonight we did it and it’s too bad our offense didn’t come out.”

On power play performance…
“The power play is moving it around well and we got a lot of chances in the overtime which is good to see. It’s too bad Mason played really well tonight. They’re moving it around – we’re getting better and that’s what counts, as long as we keep getting better it’s going to come for us.”

Goaltender Dan Ellis
On Chris Mason’s performance…
“He played an outstanding game – he was phenomenal in there. He never quit on any of his saves and we threw everything but the kitchen sink at him – I think we did throw the kitchen sink too and he stopped that also. There’s not much more we could have done tonight. We played an all-around game, we played unbelievable defensively, I didn’t really have any hard shots, and our power play was moving and shooting the puck. You can’t really take many negatives away except for the fact that we lost the game.”

On the similar goal-scoring moves in the shootout…
“That’s one of the moves that we talked to our guys about at times. When you can come down and sell the shot then make a hard fake and bring it back the other way and if you can tuck it in then it’s a tricky move to stop. I just missed them both by a hair.”