Rinne Gets Shoutout To Beat Coyotes

Added on Dec 01, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

Nashville’s Pekka Rinne made 33 saves for his third shutout of the season in Nashville’s 3-0 victory over the Coyotes. On Tuesday night Rinne wrapped up his 17th career shutout to hand Phoenix their second straight loss after coming off a seven game winning streak. More importantly for the Predators, they were able to end a four game losing slump of their own.

“We had a desperation in our game tonight,” Rinne said after the game. He concluded “The penalty killing did a good job. The power play did a good job. All of the areas we have been practicing have improved.”

The Coyotes will try to bounce back tonight, but Phoenix captain Shane Doan said “This was a big game for us, but that is part of what the NHL is. You get lots of chances to respond, and we have a great chance tomorrow night.” The Coyotes have lost two straight in regulation for the first time this season.

Shea Weber and Cal O’Reilly each scored on the power play, and Jordin Tootoo scored an empty netter to give the Predators the win. Tootoo was happy to get the goal because it ended his 4 game scoring drought.

A two-man advantage was created when the Coyotes took three consecutive penalties in the middle of the second period. The Predators first had a five-on-three for 9 seconds, followed by another five-on-three for 50 seconds. O’Reilly’s goal came with three seconds left on that five-on-three. Steve Sullivan sent a pass from the left of the Phoenix goal across the crease to O’Reilly, who had an open net of his own at 12:48 of the second. “We just went through our options,” O’Reilly said. “Sullivan did all the work, and I had an empty net there.” The goal was O’Reilly’s fifth of the season.

Phoenix coach Dave Tippett was frustrated with his club, and the mistakes they made. He said after the game “We had some guys really play hard, but in the end, you can’t take penalties like that and expect to be successful. That’s something that will be addressed.”

Nashville entered with the league’s 27th-ranked power play, with only 11.1 percent. But now, the Predators have two power-play goals in two of their last three games. Nashville coach Barry Trotz thought the 5 on 3 was a huge moment as well. He said “The five-on-three goal can really be a momentum-changer, and for us, it really gave us some breathing room. I thought Sully made two great passes on the power play and that’s what clicked tonight.” The Coyotes had not allowed a power-play goal in their previous three games.

Both teams will get right back on the ice on Wednesday night when The Phoenix Coyotes(11-7-5, 27pts) will face the Minnesota Wild (11-10-2, 24pts), and The Nashville Predators (10-8-5, 25pts) will face the Columbus Blue Jackets (14-8-0, 28pts).