Family Trip To Nashville Ruined As Minnesota Wild Goaltender Seems To Take Cavalier Approach To Stopping Opponent's Shots On Goal...
Our passionate and unwavering support of the Minnesota Wild was the reason we made the trip to Nashville to watch a hockey game. Despite our one-sidedness as fans, we did have to admit that Bridgestone Arena has a great atmosphere and is a great place to take in the game of hockey.
W/W's Five-Hole Fanatics Hockey Tour
Game XX: NHL Regular Season Game (2/29/24)
Location: Nashville (Bridgestone Arena)
Score: Nashville Predators (6) Minnesota Wild (1)
W/W Team: Minnesota Wild
W/W Fan Record: 7-3
Player Of The Game: Roman Josi (Predators)
At 33 years of age during the contest, Roman Josi isn't necessarily a lock right now for the Hockey Hall of Fame. But, with a few more seasons like his last few, Josi will provide a strong argument for getting a call for induction after the end of his career. A consistent presence in the Norris Trophy race (awarded to the NHL's top defensemen), Roman won the award in 2019-20, has been named to the NHL First Team twice, and has played in four all-star games.
Josi, who was easily the "first star" of the game, assisted on the Predators' first and third goals of the night and added one of his own to lead Nashville's dominance of the visiting Wild. The win was the team's seventh straight and put them in an even more solid position in the playoff picture. Josi commented about the quicker pace the club has implemented lately and how it has led to increased success.
Roman, a native of Switzerland, has played his entire NHL career with the Predators after being drafted 38th pick in the 2008 NHL Draft. As a part of the 2016-17 Nashville team that advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals (losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins), Josi's stellar play and quality leadership led him to be selected as the franchise's captain the following year, a role he still fulfills.
Favorite Player: Kirill Kaprizov (Wild)
With the possible exception of Marián Gáborík, the greatest and most exciting player in Minnesota Wild history is Kirill Kaprizov. Taking little time to make a dramatic impact on the franchise, Wild fans quickly understood why the team was so patient with his arrival to the NHL. Drafted in the fifth round of the draft in 2015, Kaprizov didn't debut with Minnesota until the 2020-21 season. Continuing to play in the KHL before his NHL arrival, the Russian sensation even picked up an Olympic Gold Medal in 2018.
Kirill wasted very little time making his mark with the Minnesota Wild. In his debut (1/14/21 v. the LA Kings), Kaprizov scored three points and put home the game-winning goal in overtime, making him the Calder Cup (top rookie) favorite for the entire duration of the season. Along the way to being the Wild's only recipient of the award, Kaprizov broke the franchise rookie records for goals and points. Kirill's superior talents, coupled with his exuberance for the game of hockey, made it impossible for the Four Nomadic Hippes not to become passionate fans.
Kaprizov continues to rewrite the franchise's record books each year. From season marks for points, assists, and goals to the most points in a game, the overall team success hasn't met his individual prosperity thus far. As four passionate Wild fans, we know the future of the franchise's success largely rests on continuing to build around Kirill, so don't judge us too much that we wake up in the middle of the night after nightmares of his departure as a free agent when his current contract expires.
W/W Future HOF: Ryan O'Reilly
Roman Josi was already awarded player of the game (no duplicates here)... Marc-Andre Fleury had the night off... Kirill Kaprizov is on a Hall of Fame trajectory but has only played a few seasons... Looking up and down the rosters of both clubs, Predators center Ryan O'Reilly appears far and away the player who is putting together a career that ends with enshrinement in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
O'Reilly is not currently a player that the Four Nomadic Hippies exactly like... he has played for three of our least favorite teams during his career (Avs, Blues, Preds), and when the Wild face him head to head, we often mention our disdain in a loud and angry voice. Despite our personal bias, we are smart enough fans to put his success as a player in doubt.
Ryan is perhaps one of the best two-way skaters in the NHL at this point, and if he continues to put up something close to his offensive numbers from the last few seasons, O'Reilly will have little issue breaking the 1,000 career points barrier. Already winning the Stanley Cup (Blues in 2018-19), Ryan also took home the Smythe (Stanley Cup Playoff MVP) during the cup run and was also awarded the Selke (top defensive forward) for his work in the regular season.
Dickhead Move Of The Night: Hearing Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It" Blaring... Seemingly on Repeat
We really don't have anything against Tim McGraw and his 2% body fat. While we aren't big country music fans, we certainly don't throw a fit when it is on. In fact, some of McGraw's tunes are quite catchy, and I rather enjoyed Tim's work as Sean Tuohy in the movie The Blind Side.
When in Nashville, hearing country music is a certainty. Broadway, where Bridgestone Arena is located, is packed with bars and restaurants, all seemingly specializing in country music, with lots of people wearing cowboy hats and western-style wear. It's a fun place to hang out, but we weren't there for the music. We were there to watch our all-time favorite hockey team, the Minnesota Wild.
As we entered the arena for the game, the Wild were in playoff contention (sitting a few points out of a playoff spot), and many hockey pundits were labeling this a must-win type game for Minnesota. We were fired up, to say the least. The team was reasonably healthy and playing well. Winners of eight of their last eleven, the Wild looked to be on a charge. Confidence was high.
Our confidence took a bit of a hit when we found out Filip Gustavsson was getting the call for the Wild to be in goal. We knew how great Gus could be if he was "on." In fact, the season before, Filip was on most of the time, and he was among the best netminders in the league. This season had not been like the last, and to put it nicely, Gus was not reliable. Coupled with the fact we really wanted to see all-time great Marc-Andre Fleury, it just wasn't what we had hoped to see. But the Wild scored the first goal of the game.... so perhaps not playing from behind would relax Gus a bit, and he would have a good game in between the pipes.
It didn't... almost immediately after that goal, Filip gave up two to the Predators in eight seconds. He was not sharp, but not to hurt feelings... Wild Head Coach John Hynes kept Gus out there for all 60 minutes. If he didn't, we couldn't have enjoyed the Predators' goal celebration multimedia presentation several times (Gus gave up six goals on 31 shots). When the home team lit the lamp, Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It" began to blare all over the arena, accompanied by a video of him doing cool country music dude stuff. After that mess was all over, the crowd began to chant Gustavsson's name in unison, over and over, before they finished with, "It's all your fault! It's all your fault!" In all fairness, we may have joined in with the Preds fans after goal number six.
The Statue: Pekka Rinne
How often do NHL eighth-round picks spend their entire career with one franchise and end up with a statue in front of the arena? To top that off, the player was the last pick of the eighth round, a round that doesn't even exist in said draft any longer now has Hall of Fame credentials. Yes... Pekka Rinne was selected with the 258th pick of the 2004 NHL Draft by the Nashville Predators, finished his career winning 369 games, posting a .917 save percentage, and holding a 2.43 gpg. Who scouted this all-time greatest steal of any sports draft... ever?
Winning the Vezina during the 2017-18 season, Rinne led the Predators to their only Stanley Cup Finals appearance the season before. He also holds the most NHL wins of any Finnish-born goalie and is one of fifteen NHL netminders to score a goal. The four-time all-star is also the franchise all-time leader in wins and shutouts.
Pekka Rinne was on the taller end of the continuum of NHL goalies at 6'5, his length, without a doubt, aided his exemplary reach. Renne's great footwork in goal, coupled with this great glove hand, allowed the goalie to leave an indelible mark on hockey and the Nashville Predators franchise.
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