Flames 3, Predators 2
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Todd Bertuzzi scored with 23.4 seconds remaining in the third period to lead the Calgary Flames to their fifth straight win with a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon.

Nashville's loss was its fourth in a row.

With time winding down in the third, Bertuzzi capitalized on a turnover by Nashville defenseman Dan Hamhuis deep in the Predators' zone. Bertuzzi skated toward the net from the right side and snapped a shot by Nashville goaltender Dan Ellis.

The teams traded first-period goals with Nashville's Jerred Smithson opening the scoring at the 9:11 mark. Curtis Glencross answered at 18:44 for Calgary.

Smithson's goal was his second of the season. He beat Calgary goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff with a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot.

PK Units Steal the Spotlight

The PK units for both teams came up huge and allowed both teams to generate momentum at then-crucial moments. Each team killed off five power-plays against, Nashville limiting Calgary to just three shots on goal, while Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff stopped all eight shots the Preds power-play fired his direction.

Calgary got the first key “kill” of the game. With the Preds already holding a 1-0 lead and the crowd buzzing, Eric Nystrom clipped Kevin Klein with a high stick to draw a four minute double-minor. The Preds carried the play for much of the man-advantage and had the Flames scrambling early in the second minor, but were unable to net the insurance goal. Calgary used the PK to change the momentum and held the puck in the Nashville zone for much of the remaining time in the first frame, eventually netting the equalizer just 1:16 before the intermission.

The Flames carried the momentum from the end of Period 1 into the start of Period 2 and drew three power-play opportunities in succession through the early-to-mid portion of the period. At one point the Preds were shorthanded for 6:00 out of a possible 7:58 of game action. Still the Nashville PK came up with back-to-back-to-back “kills” to keep the game tied. Then as the third penalty expired, Jason Arnott just missed hitting Martin Erat coming out of the penalty box. Erat continued to hustle and got to the loose puck behind the Calgary net, feeding a pass back to the trailing J.P. Dumont. Dumont drew Calgary netminder Miikka Kiprussoff out of the net and slid a pass back-door to Arnott to put the Preds up 2-1.

And then it was Calgary’s PK coming up big again in the third period, holding the Flames within one goal on a full two-minute man-advantage for Nashville starting just 39 seconds into the final frame and then holding the fort again for an abbreviate kill midway through the period. Two and a half minutes after the last kill, the Flames tied the score at 2-2.
--Jay Levin, NashvillePredators.com

Glencross drove from behind the Nashville net and beat Ellis with a backhand high to the stick side.

Jason Arnott broke the 1-1 tie at 11:57 of the second period.

In the left corner of the Calgary zone, Martin Erat sent a pass to J.P. Dumont at the left faceoff dot. Dumont faked a slap shot, freezing Kiprusoff in the process, and then slid a pass to Arnott skating in on the right side. Arnott put the puck into the vacated net for his 15th goal of the season.

Arnott, the Nashville captain, has three goals and two assists in three games against the Flames this season.

Daymond Langkow's goal at 12:46 of the third tied the game 2-2.

Calgary managed five shots on goal in the second period despite having four power plays. The Flames and Predators were both 0-for-5 on the power play.

Notes: Glencross was playing in his second game back after missing six with a knee injury. ... Smithson's goal was his first since Oct. 25, a 29-game drought. ... After ending an 11-game stretch without a goal, Arnott has two in his past three games. ... Craig Conroy recorded his 500th career NHL point.

Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach Barry Trotz
On any miscues in the third period…
“No, they came hard, we came hard. They only had four chances to score and we probably had the same. The third period was real even, we just didn’t capitalize on our chances. There’s not a whole lot that I can say.”

On turnovers resulting in goals…
“Yes, partial turnovers and a little bit of a hard forecheck were the result.”

On Calgary playing behind the net…
“Yes, they play against the grain a little bit. They do a lot of net cycle, like jamming the net and crashing the net. That’s how they score their goals. Their three goals were typical of how they usually score their goals. They score them from there, they score them from the power play and they score them from a crash the net type of thing. Their goals against us were against the grain types of goals. I think with the second one, Ellis made the save, it hit his pad and for whatever reason it looked like it went off his back.”

On forwards supporting more in that type of situation…
“You can’t have all of your forwards at the goal line, there are other options. You’ve got to protect the net and if they try to wrap around, you’ve got to protect the crease, so there’s a lot of emphasis on boxing out, tying sticks up, low coverage, and a low forward helping out a little. When your off-side forwards have an attacker, you can’t put all your forwards at the goal line, so it’s just a matter of being real strong and they have a big team. They are No. 1 in the Northwest and we haven’t had a lot of success against the Northwest for some reason. I think we are 3-10 against that division. We’ve had strange games against Calgary this year.”

On this being a more frustrating loss…
“Yes, it is. You feel like going into the third, you feel like because you have two goals, that you might get one and they scored with 20 seconds to go. We moved the puck, but Bertuzzi just jumped on it and our low forward didn’t have a good position and didn’t read and lost position. He tucked it under the bar and it was close so it’s one of those things. When I went in the locker room, I didn’t have a whole lot to say.”

On what they did right…
“I thought we did a lot of good things. We played a very good team and we played hard. I thought penalty killing was excellent, especially in the second period. We killed a lot of penalties and we fought through that because we had a couple back-to-back. And we came back and scored a goal right after that. It is disappointing. I think we should have had one point for sure and we’d be playing in overtime right now.”

Forward Jerred Smithson
On losing four straight…
"We have to pick it up, find a way to win and play some good hockey."

On the penalties…
"They are a good team. We had penalty trouble—which didn’t help—in the second and a little bit in the third. We managed to kill them off but like I said we need to find a way to win."

On stopping Calgary from scoring…
"It is difficult and they are good at it. We talked about it before the game… they are good at getting pucks to the net and obviously we didn’t learn."

Goaltender Dan Ellis
On playing well until just before the end of the game…
"We did play well defensively; it’s just the little key errors that are really costing us. We play a second and third period like we did and then we have one little bad play that turns out to be the game-winning goal. Those are the little things that we really need to bear down on—those errors—because that is what is costing us. The D was outstanding, we played a great team game and we came up short."

On the play of the team…
"We played the third team in the conference hard and we gave them difficulty coming into our building to win the game. We played strong as a group, we got pucks to the net, we got an early lead and we defended very well until the last couple seconds."

On having to play desperate now…
This past month that we just played was our month to make some headway. We played the teams that were little lower in the standings or the middle of the standings and now we are playing the tough teams—Calgary, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Montreal—those are the teams where we are really going to need to bear down on. Our power play is really going to need to pick it up and get us points, our PK needs to continue to be strong and everyone has to step up and elevate their game.
 


Three star selections
1st:   TODD BERTUZZI
2nd:   JERRED SMITHSON
3rd:   VERNON FIDDLER
Winning Goaltender
Miikka Kiprusoff

Losing Goaltender
Dan Ellis

SCHEDULE

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39

STATS

2012-2013 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
S. Weber 48 9 19 -2 28
D. Legwand 48 12 13 -6 25
M. Fisher 38 10 11 6 21
C. Wilson 25 7 12 1 19
R. Josi 48 5 13 -7 18
G. Bourque 34 11 5 6 16
S. Kostitsyn 46 3 12 -5 15
P. Hornqvist 24 4 10 -1 14
K. Klein 47 3 11 -1 14
N. Spaling 47 9 4 -10 13
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
P. Rinne 15 16 8 .910 2.43
C. Mason 1 7 1 .873 3.73

 


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