In Nashville, Pekka Rinne made 30 saves and the Predators defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-0, on Monday night.
“Overwhelming, I guess is the right word,” Rinne saidt. “Pretty special. I don’t know if I can find the right words for how much I appreciate our fans. My relationship with the fans, this city, it means the world to me. I never want it to be about me. This team is going to the playoffs and we have big things ahead, but I truly, truly, appreciate what happened tonight, and it goes very high on my personal list and my experiences in hockey.”
Matt Duchene had two goals in the win.
“Goals are one thing, but I think our process has been good,” Duchene said. “Everyone is committed to playing hard. We’re a four-line team and we roll four and everyone is expected to play the same way and has the same criteria. I think that’s an adjustment for a lot of us, but a lot of guys are making that commitment. The last two games speak volumes.”
Rocco Grimaldi scored early in the opening frame for a 1-0 lead to Nashville.
“We’re putting that game behind us,” Carolina’s Max McCormick said. “We’re moving forward and looking ahead to Game 1. We’re just going to head back home and regroup and get ready for the playoffs.”
Tanner Jeannot and Ryan Johansen also scored for the Predators who clinched the fourth playoff spot over the weekend n the Central Division.
“It’s been a weird stretch almost since I got here in terms of weird bounces,” Duchene said. “That one in the second for the hat trick was kind of more par for the course than the first two. It was good to put a couple in.
“It’s been a tough year for me in terms of being hurt. At times you don’t feel like you’re a part of it when you’re hurt, and you come back and it’s like jumping on a moving train. It’s good to feel good going in [to the playoffs]. For me, I’m just focusing on doing the little things and playing the way that this team wants to play.”
Petr Mrazek made 22 saves in the loss.
“We’re going to flush it,” Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I think we played 56 games. In 55 games we were in every one. In some of the losses, we were in every one of those, and then this is the one game the whole year that we weren’t in, so it’s kind of flushed for me, to be honest with you. I mean, obviously, we’re going to look at it and pick some things system-wise from the game, but overall we’re just going to move on.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.