For at least one night, Pekka Rinne was the best goalie on the ice in the Nashville Predators-Phoenix Coyotes series. A Mike Smith puckhandling gaffe opened the door for scoring and the Predators built an early 2-0 lead they never relinquished to get back in the series. Phoenix’s series lead shrinks to 2-1.
- Here’s the unavoidable question: should Barry Trotz indeed sit Alex Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn once again? If so, why?
- Coyotes fans: do you just have to live with Smith’s occasional miscues because he’s so talented at handling the puck or should he “rein it in” a bit?
- This was probably the first game in the series that really followed the script we expected in this series: one team (the Predators) built an early lead and managed to nurse it to victory. Which team is better suited for such a style? (I know it’s splitting hairs.)
- Where do you rank “throwing catfish” in the fan interaction power rankings?
- Finally, how “back in” the series do you think Nashville really is. Will they turn it around and win the series or will the Coyotes overwhelm them?