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Nashville Predators visit Columbus Blue Jackets

March 18, 2013 |

Nashville Predators at Columbus Blue Jackets

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013 | 6:00pm (CT)
Columbus, OH | Nationwide Arena

Nashville, TN - The Nashville Predators wrap up their five game road trip with a visit to the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday night. The two teams face-off at 6:00pm CT at Nationwide Arena.

These teams will play again in Nashville on Saturday, then 12 days later at Bridgestone Arena.

NHL – Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne (35). (Photo by Don McPeak, USA TODAY Sports)

Ryan Ellis also notched a power-play goal late in the first period, but a shootout was required to determine a winner for the ninth time between Columbus and Nashville. Though the Predators fell 3-2, they hold a 6-3 record in those nine shootout games. The shootout loss marked the 21st consecutive game dating back to November 18th, 2006 that the Predators have earned a point on home ice against the Blue Jackets; they are 19-0-2 in that span.

Nashville Predators Patric Hornqvist

At Nationwide Arena a season ago, the Predators posted a 3-0-0 record, winning on opening night by a 3-1 score, on December 8th when they overcame two-goal deficits twice, the last coming when they scored two extra-attacker goals in the final 1:36 of regulation to force overtime – where the Predators topped the Jackets 4-3 on a Patric Hornqvist goal, and on January 19th, 2012 courtesy of a Pekka Rinne 38-save shutout.

Shea Weber has more career points against Columbus than any other team, posting 30 (8g-22a) in 37 games, including a career-high four points (1g-3a) on October 18th, 2008. Martin Erat has 51 points (16g-35a) in 55 career games against Columbus, the second-highest point total by a Predator against a single team in franchise history.

David Legwand has 19 goals against Columbus, tied with his total against Chicago for the highest by a player against a single team in club history. Mike Fisher has eight points (6g-2a) in nine games against the Blue Jackets since joining the Predators. Pekka Rinne is 14-4-2 with a pair of shutouts against Columbus all-time, while Chris Mason has a 16-4-2 career record with a 2.05 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.

A season ago, the Predators had the second-best intra-conference record, going 40-19-5 against the West versus 8-7-3 against the Eastern Conference. More importantly, Nashville posted a 16-5-3 record (.729) against the Central Division, which along with the Atlantic, became the first two divisions to have four teams reach the 100-point plateau since the NHL went to its current format for the 1993-94 season.

That was good for the third-best intra-divisional winning percentage behind Boston (19-4-1, .813) and Vancouver (18-5-1, .771), each of whom were the lone 100-point teams in the Northeast and Northwest Divisions, respectively.

With his fourth-career multi-point (1g-1a) game on Sunday night, Roman Josi has points (1g-3a) in back-to-back games for the first time this season after recording two assists last Friday in Calgary. He also played 23:20, and has led the team in ice time in the six games that Weber has not. Josi’s 2012-13 average ice time is up by more than four minutes from his rookie season (from 18:23 to 22:33).

Nashville Predators Forward Craig Smith

With points in three consecutive games (2g-1a), Mike Fisher is riding his longest points streak of the season. Matt Halischuk has registered points/assists (1g-3a) in three of his last four outings since returning from a conditioning stint with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals last Monday. David Legwand has been a point-per-game player after posting six points (3g-3a) in his last six games. Prior to the current streak, he had registered two points (1g-1a) in his previous 10 outings.

Craig Smith has three points (3a) in four games after tallying an assist on Shea Weber’s power-play goal in Edmonton. He has eight points (3g-5a) in his last 14 after recording one point/assist in his first 15 games of 2012-13. Nick Spaling has recorded three points (2g-1a) in Nashville’s last four games. Four of Spaling’s five goals this season have come on the road.

Nashville went one-for-four on the power play on Sunday in Edmonton, and is now 7-for-20 (35 percent) in its last six games after going 1-for-14 in the six games prior. The recent hot stretch has elevated the power play into the top half of the NHL.

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