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 In the shootout, Rinne paid them back.
Stuffing all three of Tampa Bay's attempts, Rinne helped Nashville
pull out a 5-4 win Tuesday night in a highly entertaining game at
Bridgestone Arena between two of the NHL's top teams.
After left winger Filip Forsberg started the shootout by deking
Lightning goalie Ben Bishop almost to the roof before scoring, Rinne
stopped right winger Ryan Callahan, left winger Jonathan Drouin and
right winger Nikita Kucherov.
"It seemed like a midseason game out there," Rinne said. "A lot of
fast guys out there, a lot of chances going forward. It was a fun
game to play in, but a little hard for a goalie ... a lot of ups and
downs."
The teams' best intentions aside, defense seemed almost optional at
times as the Predators (5-1-0) swapped end-to-end rushes with Tampa
Bay (4-2-1). The Lightning owned leads of 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 but
couldn't hang on to any of them.
The third blown one-goal edge was the one that stuck with Tampa Bay
coach Jon Cooper. At 14:30 of the third period, red-hot left winger
James Neal one-timed Forsberg's cross-ice pass past Bishop for his
fifth goal -- all in the last three games.
"Bottom line is, you have a one-goal lead with 10 minutes left and
it's time to shut the door," Cooper said. "We didn't."
Not that there weren't glorious chances for both teams before the
shootout. Nashville squeezed off four shots during a late power play
in regulation, with Bishop (4-2-1) denying defenseman Shea Weber on
a wrister from the slot for the biggest of his 29 saves.
Late in overtime, Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman got a
breakaway, but fanned his shot over the crossbar.
"I don't think you have a choice," Predators coach Peter Laviolette
said about the game's rapid pace. "They have a lot of skill, a lot
of speed. It was back-and-forth. I thought both teams played really
well."
Center Mike Fisher initiated scoring with a rebound goal at 19:07 of
the first period, marking the sixth straight game in which Nashville
scored first.
It was a prelude to a wide-open second period. Tampa Bay center
Steven Stamkos tied it with a power-play tally at 3:25, followed by
Kucherov's odd goal at 8:51 which saw his wrister strike the skate
of Predators center Paul Gaustad and then flop over Rinne's head,
landing just behind the goal line.
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Weber blazed a slapper by Bishop at 10:29 for his first goal to even
the score at 2. Callahan's point blast gave the Lightning a 3-2 edge
at 17:41, but Neal responded 74 seconds later with a wrister off
Forsberg's pass.
Tampa Bay regained the advantage at 5:24 of the third when right
winger Erik Condra ripped a one-timer past Rinne off a nice feed
from behind the net by center Brian Boyle.
However, Neal, Forsberg and Rinne constructed one more comeback.
"They're a really fast team and so are we," Forsberg said. "So it
was probably a really fun game to watch for the crowd. There were a
lot of goals and a lot of chances. But I like the shootout. I like
the chance to go one-on-one with the goalie."
That didn't work so well for the Lightning as Rinne (4-1-0), who had
25 saves in regulation and overtime, made up for his frustration.
"You don't want to give up four goals every night," Rinne said with
a smile. "We just stuck with it. There's a lot of confidence in this
locker room. We came up with a really big two points tonight."
NOTES: Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman (concussion) returned Tuesday night
after missing Saturday night's 2-1 win over Buffalo. Hedman was
injured in a 5-3 loss Thursday evening against Dallas. ... Nashville
D Ryan Ellis (knee) and D Barret Jackman (upper-body) didn't play
and were replaced by D Victor Bartley and D Anthony Bitetto. Jones
was hit by a shot during Saturday night's 4-3 shootout win in
Ottawa. ... Lightning RW Erik Condra was back in the lineup after
being a healthy scratch Saturday night, with RW J.T. Brown being the
odd man out. ... Predators LW Austin Watson (upper-body) was
scratched and replaced by LW Viktor Arvidsson, who sat out the last
three games as a healthy scratch.
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