James Neal scored two goals in regulation and had the deciding goal in the shootout to lead the Predators to a 4-3 victory against the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre. Neal skated in and scored on a forehand shot to the stick side of Senators goaltender Craig Anderson for the victory. Nashville goaltender Carter Hutton, making his first start of the season, made 38 saves through overtime and stopped two of three shots in the shootout. Anderson made 22 saves in 65 minutes but was beaten twice in three shootout attempts. Ottawa's Mike Hoffman tied the game 3-3 at 16:28 of the third period with his second goal of the game, both on slap shots from near the blue line. Mark Stone also scored for Ottawa. Hoffman and Stone each had an assist and Kyle Turris had two assists.
Neal scored twice for the Predators on the power play on remarkably similar plays in which he powered his way out of the corner to Anderson's left and jammed the puck into the net. The second one, at 11:36 of the third period, gave the Predators a 3-2 lead. The first one opened the scoring, with Predators defenseman Roman Josi sending the puck down low to Neal. It worked that time; why not try it again later? Craig Smith also scored for the Predators. He tied the game 2-2 at 17:57 of the second period after Nashville center Mike Ribeiro won a battle for the puck inside the Ottawa line. Ribeiro got the puck to Smith in the slot, and Smith beat Anderson for his third goal of the season. The Senators had taken a 2-1 lead on goals by Stone 15 seconds into the second period and Hoffman at 12:47. Stone took a pass in the slot from Turris on the left wing boards, made a nice move to his backhand to go around Hutton and put the puck into the net on the stick side for his second of the season. Hoffman scored his second of the season when he took a pass from Stone in the neutral zone and skated just over the Nashville blue line. His slap shot appeared to deflect off the stick of Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis and eluded Hutton's glove. It was the first time in five games this season that the Senators outshot an opponent. Senators defenseman Marc Methot missed the game because of the flu. He was replaced in the lineup by rookie Chris Wideman, who played in his first NHL game. Ellis left the game in the third period after blocking a shot with his right leg. He was helped off the ice and didn't return. The Predators said he has a lower-body injury and will be evaluated after the team returns to Nashville.
James Neal: "It was a good road trip. We talked about it going into the third period; you can have one win and two losses going home, so that was a huge third period for us. We had a good win in New Jersey (3-1 on Tuesday) and I thought we played our best game of the year in Long Island and didn't get a win, so to come in here and pull one out was good. [Josi] made a good play to get it down to me, and I think [Anderson] went for the poke check on the second one. I think he was anticipating I was going to do it again. It worked. It was nice to see it go in."
Peter Laviolette said those goals were Neal at his best, using his size and strength to get to the net.
"He's been picking up his pace, moving his legs. He's been physical on pucks, strong on the puck and those were two good examples, getting it down low and slamming it to the far post. Those were good power moves for a guy like him. He's been really noticeable the last few games."
Carter Hutton: "At some points tonight we were kind of back on our heels, but we stuck with it. At this point, just getting the win and going home 2-1 instead of 1-2 is a big difference. For the first one of the year, it's definitely nice to get a win under my belt."
Columbus Blue Jackets @ Chicago 1-4The Blackhawks are still looking for somebody to fill Brandon Saad's spot on their top line, but that didn't slow them down against their former teammate and his new team at United Center on Saturday. The Blackhawks won for the first time in three games, 4-1 against the Blue Jackets, who have lost six straight to open the season. Four Blackhawks scored goals, and Corey Crawford made 22 saves in the win. Former Blue Jackets center Artem Anisimov opened the scoring in the second period, and Chicago also got goals from Teuvo Teravainen, Marian Hossa and Patrick Kane. Saad finished without a point in his return to Chicago after being traded to Columbus in offseason. He screened Crawford on defenseman Jack Johnson's goal at 16:21 of the third, but it was too little, too late in another loss for the Blue Jackets. Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves in his first start of the season for Columbus. The Blue Jackets are off to the worst start in their history and can't seem to carry momentum through an entire game. They played well in the first period, drawing penalties that led to two power plays and outshooting the Blackhawks 9-6, but got outplayed for most of the second and third. Chicago outshot Columbus 15-3 in the second, when the Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead on goals by Anisimov and Teravainen. The Blackhawks acquired Anisimov as part of the Saad trade. The 27-year-old Russian has provided exactly what they wanted so far playing between rookie Artemi Panarin and Kane on the second line. That puck support led to Chicago's first goal, which Anisimov scored at 15:35 of the second. After getting the puck from Panarin in the offensive zone, he beat McElhinney with a backhand shot from the low slot. Teravainen followed it at 16:40 on the power play for his second goal, making Columbus pay for an interference penalty called on defenseman Cody Goloubef at 16:17. Teravainen got the puck in the right faceoff circle, attempted to hit Anisimov with a cross-ice feed and watched the puck deflect into the net off Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout's left skate.
The Blackhawks almost broke the scoreless tie twice earlier in the period, but McElhinney made two big saves. The first was a diving glove save to keep a one-timer by Kane out of the net, and the second, 35 seconds later, prevented Panarin from scoring on a breakaway. Chicago carried the two-goal lead into the third, and Hossa stretched it to 3-0 at 7:48 during a 5-on-3 power play. After Chicago lost the puck near the Columbus blue line, Hossa chased down Matt Calvert in the neutral zone and stripped the puck from him. He carried it back into the offensive zone, faked a pass and sent a low wrist shot past McElhinney from the right circle. It was the 14th third-period goal allowed by the Blue Jackets, who have given up 30 goals through their first six games. Kane scored an empty-net goal with 1:27 remaining. Hossa assisted on Anisimov's goal for his first two-point game of the season.
Marian Hossa: "The last two games we only scored one [total] goal, and for this team, that isn't good enough. We know we've got so much firepower here, but I think we have to learn how to play better defensively. That's what creates offense. It still wasn't great, but we were much better, and that's important, because we've got lots of new pieces coming together."
Joel Quenneville: "He's playing with two special players, and I think with his thought process on both sides of the puck, he positions himself well. He sustains a lot of pucks, he's available, and he lets the other guys do their thing as well. Not just that he's the guy defensively that they rely on, but there is a lot of support there on both sides of the puck."
Corey Crawford: "That was a pretty special play. He didn't quit on that one. We lost the puck at the blue line and he came back and did the rest."
Scott 'More Cow Bell' Hartnell: "I don't know if we're looking for someone else to do it, if we're easing ourselves into games to wait for something bad to happen. That's what I sense when we get playing. We're just waiting instead of doing and doing the right things. This is getting old. This is getting frustrating. I don't know what else to say. It's a tough start. It's embarrassing. A lot of people picked us to be there at the end, to make the playoffs, and we're doing a pretty good job of ruining that right away."
Brandon Saad: "I think we got away from our game after the first period. For some reason, in the second and third, we were too fancy. Yeah, it's tough on a back-to-back night playing a good team, but at the same time, we've got to be smart with the puck. It's not about working hard. It's about working smart, and every time we had turnovers it cost us. We've got to learn that."
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