Craig Smith scored two goals and Pekka Rinne made 42 saves to lead the Nashville Predators to a 5-1 win against the San Jose Sharks at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday. Rinne earned his NHL-leading 34th win of the season; he is 15-1-1 in his past 17 games. He was credited with five saves during a three-second span on a San Jose power play in the second period. Nashville (39-12-6) is 25-3-1 and has won 14 of the past 15 games at home. The Predators have won six straight games overall. San Jose (29-22-8) is 2-5-2 in February and 1-4-1 in its past six games. Defenseman Matt Irwin gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at of the first period on his fifth goal of the season. Irwin was sprung by a pass from forward Melker Karlsson for a breakaway, and he beat Rinne on stick-side.
Nashville defenseman Shea Weber tied the game 1-1 at 13:42 of the first period on a slap shot from the point. Weber took the puck off of a faceoff win by Mike Fisher and took a shot that beat San Jose goaltender Alex Stalock for his 14th goal of the season. Smith gave Nashville a 2-1 lead at 16:02 of the first period on a rebound of a shot taken by defenseman Mattias Ekholm. Smith batted the puck out of mid-air past Stalock for his 16th goal of the season. Mike Ribeiro made a turnaround pass through three defenders to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Smith scored another goal 52 seconds into the second period on the power play. There was a scrum in front of Stalock and Smith was able to tap the puck past him for his 17th goal of the season. Paul Gaustad gave the Predators a 4-1 lead at 1:43 of the second period. Gaustad took a pass from Gabriel Bourque and shot into a wide-open net for his second goal of the season. James Neal made it 5-1 at 10:31 of the second on a wrist shot while on a rush. Neal took a pass from Ribeiro and beat Stalock through the five-hole for his team-leading 20th goal of the season, marking the seventh time in his career that he's scored 20 goals. Defenseman Anthony Bitetto was recalled by Nashville from the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League on Tuesday, but his equipment did not arrive in time for the start of the game. Nashville had to start with five defensemen until Bitetto arrived on the bench at 6:26 of the first period. Anton Volchenkov was placed on injured reserve. Nashville hopes to have defenseman Cody Franson and forward Mike Santorelli for the game at the New York Islanders on Thursday. The Predators acquired Franson and Santorelli from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.
Sharks Quotes
Todd McLellan: "[Rinne] was very tough to beat, obviously. He stood his ground and played a tremendous game. The number of saves he made on the power play where we had a chance maybe to crawl back into the game, he did an exceptional job. Offensively, we created a number of chances, maybe more than we have in a long time against a pretty good defensive team. That's a positive, but they didn't go in. We've still got to clean up a lot of things defensively."
It was a miracle the game went ahead at all, given the current weather situation in Nashville. All of Tennessee remained at a state of emergency on Tuesday as crews worked to clear roadways, address power outages and help stranded motorists. The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency declared a state of emergency and activated the Tennessee Emergency Management Plan on Monday night. As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, 61,000 customers were still without power in 17 Tennessee counties. According to TEMA, the highest number of outages were reported in Bedford, Knox, Coffee and Monroe counties. With the threat of roads re-freezing overnight, emergency officials once again urged people to stay home if they can. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean held a press conference on Tuesday to update the city's response to the weather.
"If you don't need to be out on the roads, then please don't."
Dean focused on the cold weather and transportation. He asked everyone not to stay outside for extended periods of time and to look out for the homeless.
Dean said on Monday night, city shelters were either full or over capacity. He said the Nashville Rescue Mission is always open and thanked churches for their efforts to house the homeless. There have been three deaths related to the weather, including two in Williamson County. TEMA officials said interstates in Middle Tennessee remained hazardous with reports of slow-moving traffic, stranded motorists and lane closures. Roads and bridges are still slick across the state, with secondary roads being the most hazardous. Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesperson Heather Jensen said crews focused on interstates on Tuesday. Jensen said all lanes of travel have been plowed and salted on I-24, I-40 and I-65 in Middle Tennessee. Jensen said possible snow in the next 24 hours will bring its own challenges. Crews are prepared to continue their operations for clearing the roadways. Monday night, the National Guard, the Tennessee Department of Transportation, TEMA, the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and other agencies responded to a 12-mile back up on Interstate 40 eastbound in Humphreys County.
TEMA said more than 675 vehicles were stuck at the time. Traffic has since reopened but is still moving slowly.
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/02/16/tennessee-declares-state-emergency-roads-deteriorate/23534741/
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