JP Dumont had three goals last night to give Nashville its first hat trick of the season, and the Coyotes fell to the Predators 5-2. This game was a strange one to say the least, and I believe that inconsistent nature of both teams made this game what it was. In front of 8,326 at Jobing.com Arena, Patric Hornqvist also demonstrated his capabilities with two goals for Nashville, and Matt Halischuk came away with two assists.
The first period was by far the strangest. JP Dumont scored at 08:16 to put the Predators up 1-0. While I was listening to the radio broadcast in my car, feeling very content for the moment, the PA announcer in Phoenix was announcing the goal. All of a sudden, Tom Callahan sounded like he was being attacked by the Coyotes mascot. I heard a loud unrecognizable utterance, and then "They Scored!". Patric Hornqvist had put one in the net at 08:28, just twelve seconds after JP's goal. While Nashville was up 2-0, Phoenix was not about to lay down. The Coyotes called their time out, and came back ready to play. After Alexander Sulzer was called for hooking, Radim Vrbata was able to trick the Nashville defense to make the score 2-1 at 10:31. At 14:01, Lee Stempniak was able to tie the game with his eleventh goal of the season, and the period ended at 2-2.
I'm going to officially change my mind, and call the second period of play the strangest of them all. JP Dumont came out of the intermission determined to beat the bad press he has gotten lately. He scored at 11:25 and 17:35 to give him his first hat trick in over nine years. Why so strange? Dumont's three goals tonight were his seventh, eighth, and ninth for the season. If he had 25 goals I would not be so impressed, but something or someone has ignited a fire under this man, and I'm glad he is playing for us.
For the third period, Patric Hornqvist scored his second goal of the night at 14:29 to give him 15 for the season. Steam rolled out of Ilya Bryzgalov's mask because the goal wasn't his fault. The Coyotes defense let Hornqvist have too much time, and the shot was perfectly placed. The game ended with Nashville over Phoenix 5-2. Hands went up.
I believe that Ilya Bryzgalov, who started in goal for Phoenix, had a really bad night last night. He made mistakes, and the defense did as well, but I personally believe he is due a little more credit than what has been given. The Coyotes defense could have saved him on at least two goals first of all. Second, Nashville's shot total seemed to be incredibly low. I am in no way saying that Nashville usually has more shots on goal in a game; trust me they do not. I'm saying that some of Nashville's shots that went under the "blocked" column should have went under the "shots on goal" column. I, however, do not make those calls, but hopefully the league will change the way that statistic is tallied in the future. Even though shots on goal has been a gripe of mine for over two years, Bryzgalov ended up with a grueling 0.762 save percentage for the evening, stopping 16 of 21.
Off of the statstic topic, Nashville travels to Denver and Phoenix travels to LA. Both play on Thursday night, both look for two more points, and Nashville prays for the month to end as they stare into four more games on the road before returning home on Feburary 1 to host Calgary.
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