In front of 17,113 crazy, berserk, gold-clad fans, the Nashville Predators beat the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1. In doing so, they won their first round Stanley Cup Playoff series four games to one and became the first team to advance in this years postseason.
Pekka Rinne was stellar, as usual. He collected just 21 saves but was solid when he needed to be, stopping pucks through traffic, making key saves at key times and even taking abuse from Tomas Holmstrom without giving it back and taking a needless penalty. Rinne, in a phrase, was “Conn Smythe-like.”
“The big guy between the pipes was unbelievable,” Patric Hornqvist said. “He’s our MVP so far. He’s the best goalie in the league and he’s shown it in all five games.”
In the first frame, David Legwand created a turnover behind the Red Wings net and fed a backhand pass to Alexander Radulov. From nearly point blank range, the Russian sniper showed why he earned that moniker, wristing a laser over Howard’s blocker, tucking it under the cr...
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April 21, 2012
