Ah-nuld says "Who is your daddy? and what does he do?"

In hockey, we occasionally refer to the Gordie Howe Hat Trick in which a player in one game has a goal, an assist and a fight. Tonight, we had a Legwand Hat Trick with a goal, an assist and.... a baby? Congrats to the Legwands as they welcomed a son earlier today. Legwand must have been on an emotional high during the game, turning in an inspired performance, scoring a short-handed goal and also converting on his shootout attempt to help the Preds overcome the pesky Blue Jackets 4-3. There was a great crowd on hand tonight to encourage their favorite team on and they brought the noise often. The Blue Jackets opened the scoring early in the first as R.J. Umberger crashed the net and batted the puck out of midair. The goal was initially waived off by the official behind the net for being played with a high-stick, but after a lengthy video review the call was overturned and the goal was awarded. In order to overturn the goal, the war room in Toronto would have had to have been absolutely certain that Umberger's stick was below the crossbar. I am anxious to get home and see the highlights on On The Fly, because the only angles the in-house crowd was presented certainly appeared to be played off the high-stick. Nevertheless, the BJs took the early lead, but a short time later the Preds tied it up while on the man-advantage. The man-advantage has indeed been playing a lot better lately, having risen from being ranked 30th to 25th in the league. The Preds did a great job cycling the puck around the perimeter, Sully put it on a tee for Bouillon who fired off a slap-shot that Arnott was able to get his blade on and redirect it over the left pad of Mason for the equalizer. The crowd was very much alive after the goal, but the BJs reclaimed the one goal lead on the next shift. The BJs crashed the net, forcing Rinne to make a stellar right pad save. As on par with the rest of the game, Rinne's rebound control was spot-on, and he directed this shot towards the corner. Somehow, Umberger was able to fire it seemingly from behind the goalline, and and it threaded its way just over the goal line. That was the end of the scoring in the first, with the BJs carring a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. Coming into the second period, the Preds faced the task of killing off a Jason Arnott hooking penalty that he was forced to take in the dying seconds of the first period to prevent what almost certainly would have been a Columbus goal. Thanks to great checking by the penalty killers, Martin Erat was able to force the BJ's Voracek into turning the puck over just above the hash marks in the Jackets zone. Erat saucer passed it to Legwand who had snuck into the slot and lifted the puck over the glove hand of Mason to once again bring the Preds even with the Jackets. Around 2 minutes later, the Preds took their first and only lead of the night while on the power play, thanks to Brassard's hooking of Bouillon. Leggy relayed the puck to Weber on the point who already had his stick lifted high behind him, surely causing some small panic in the BJs penalty killers. Weber's blast stayed low to the ice, finding Erat's stick and redirecting into the twine behind Mason. That lead held for over 15 minutes until Belak had an epic fail, snuck his stick between the legs of a Jacket's skater and commited what I can only describe as a collosal man-check, causing every guy within sight to curl up with sympathy pains. As soon as the penalty kill began, I told my nephew with me that Columbus was going to get that back. It didn't take long for those words to ring true as Strolman was able to tuck the puck in back door after accepting a cross ice pass from the point, resulting in the two teams skating off the ice at the second intermission with 3 aside. I wouldn't be surprised to see some additional repurcusions of Belak's penalty to be handed down today or tomorrow before the Preds host the Dead Wings. The third period saw no additional scoring in spite of 4 power play opportunities for the Preds. They were able to generate several scoring chances, but Mason stood tall in net. Kevin Klein took a tripping penalty near the end of the period, but the penalty killers (and particularly Rinne) were able to withstand the penalty that had carried over into overtime. The Preds also failed to convert on their own power play opportunity in the extra session, leave an all-star competition to settle the outcome of the night's matchup. I won't waste the time of you loyal readers (both of you!) to enumerate the reasons I hate the shootout competition, since we have to simply accept that it is now a part of the game and not likely to ever change. As expected, the Predators elected for the visitors to shoot first. Rinne made the save on the first shooter (well actually, he just had to be there, as the shooter lost control of the puck), leaving Mike Santorelli with the opportunity to put the put the pressure on the BJs. Santos did not disappoint, sliding the puck under the left pad of Mason. Santos has turned into our very own Jussi Jokinen, having become very adept in the shootout so far. Santos has been up against 3 very top notch goaltenders in Turco, Brodeur and Mason, and is a perfect 3 for 3 this season. I think as long as he continues to have success in the shootout, he's going to be able to avoid being sent back down to Milwaukee. With it having such a common place in the game, a skater with a knack for the shootout is hard to find. With Columbus now under pressure, they turned to their captain Rick Nash. Nash deked Rinne out of the net and converted but it may have been a blessing in disguise, as Nash lost his footing and crashed into the net. Had Rinne not been out of position, he would have had big Nash crashing down on top of him. Now tied at 1, next up was new daddy, David Legwand, who simply came down the slot with speed and fired a quick wrist shot through the five-hole of Mason, retaking the lead. To the audience's delight, Rinne made the stop and the Jackets were left to buzz off home having only gained the loser's point, thanks for coming.

Next game for the NHL's hottest team is another that has been hot in their own right, the Detroit Red Wings, who come to visit the Sommet Center at 6pm. That game will be the only occasion that the Preds will be on Versus until the postseason (I said it), so for you unfortunate folks that, like myself, have Directv, you will need to come to the Sommet to see the action. Detroit has had a lot of injuries this season, and it was announced today that their headhunting defenseman Kronwall will miss the next 4-8 weeks with a MCL strain. Here's hoping the Preds can take advantage of the injuries and grab an early advantage to the season series. Look for me in 309. Until next time, Big Kev.