10/3/09 - Nashville at Dallas: W 3-2 SO

THE GOOD:

Getting a power play goal right off the bat. This is exactly what I need to keep seeing.

Strong offensive pressure in the first 7 minutes or so. All I ever seemed to hear last season was how we needed to get a strong start and we seemed to do that tonight.

Francis Bouillon is a nice addition to the defense. Having never seen him play before, I liked what I saw tonight; especially his hard hitting style.

Marcel Goc was a nice off-season pickup for us. He fit in well on both the third and fourth lines tonight.

After finding out about Ellis getting the start early this morning, I was really hoping he'd be able to make a strong showing tonight. For the most part, he did. The second Dallas goal was clearly his fault but other than that, he had a strong game. He was quick to cover the puck and did not give up many rebounds. He's still got fight left in him, like I knew he would.

I liked the Jerred Smithson/Marcel Goc pairing on the first PK unit. I actually thought our PK looked pretty good throughout the night (even with the PP goal by Dallas because again, that was much more Elly's fault). With so many of the usual suspects gone from the penalty killing units, we held our own tonight.

Watching the guys stick up for each other is always nice to see. Jason Arnott and Steve Sullivan were quick to defend JP Dumont's honor (so to speak) after the hit from Robidas.

Patric Hornqvist's late third period try on the Dallas goal was pretty. I think the kid finally gets it!

Mike Santorelli's scoring on the shootout for the win. If that goal didn't instill some extra confidence in him, I don't know what else could.

THE BAD:

For some reason, Coach Trotz played all different wings with Martin Erat and David Legwand at the beginning of the game. Is this a sign that he's unsure of Mike Santorelli's ability to be a second line scorer or was this just Trotz being Trotz?

Where'd our defense go? We didn't look so hot after about halfway through the first. Both Teemu Laasko and Kevin Klein were non-existent to me tonight. This is not a good way to start the season.

Dan Ellis's rebound that lead directly to Dallas's second goal during their third period PP. Sadly, I saw that goal coming.

The third and fourth lines were pretty much interchangable tonight. Was this good? Bad? I don't know yet but our scoring came from the top line only...and that is not okay.

When I only notice Ryan Jones during the game as he takes a penalty, someone's not having the best night. The interchangeable third and fourth lines are not going to serve him well in furthering his game.

I was expecting a 20 minute intermission between the end of the third and the start of overtime. I apparently got stuck in a time warp and thought that it was the playoffs again.

THE UGLY:

JP getting checked hard into the boards by Robidas. I didn't really need to see replays of the hit from every possible angle.

The hits from Dallas were just brutal. BRUTAL. Dallas is never afraid to go to the body and they kept it up all night.

Did we really need to send the game to a shoot out? Shoot outs are ALWAYS ugly. Going to a fifth round of it didn't help either.


So, game one is done and now there are FOUR FREAKING DAYS OFF until the Predators play again on Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche in our home opener. I am not a big fan of having such a long break right out of the gate. With the dynamics of this team still settling in, I hope this doesn't make things more difficult. However, this was just the first game, so I know it's going to take a few more games to get into a groove.

Hockey season is back, kids! Doesn't it feel great?