New York. The Nashville Predators are at it again.
They picked up their third straight win last night, against NJ itself, and suddenly it’s just one point at stake.
“It feels so good that we had this winning streak together before the break that now awaits us,” goalkeeper Philipp Forsberg told Sportbladet after the 5-4 victory.
For much of the fall, it seemed unlikely that Nashville would have anything to do with this year’s playoff race. They were generally ambushed and lost most of the time.
But there has been a drastic change in the landscape since the turn of the year and after three straight wins against Los Angeles, Winnipeg and New Jersey, they are on the cusp of a stomp, just one point behind Colorado for the last wild card spot.
The defensive game, I think we’ve been good all season and since Christmas the attack has become more intense. We didn’t have the results with us right away when the turnaround came, but we do have them now, says Philip Forsberg when we spoke to him after the Devils game.
continued:
– Now we’ll have a long ‘break’ and it feels so good we’ve got this group together, against three of those advanced opponents, before then.
Philip himself scored his 19th goal at the end of the third period. The Devils’ backs uncharacteristically slid down the offensive blue line and the playmaker suddenly found himself in a free position – and he doesn’t miss times like this.
At least not if you get two chances. “I got sucked into a similar situation earlier in the game,” he says, laughing.
Now a break awaits The Predators, which thanks to the All Star festivities in Florida next weekend will be eleven days and Filip intends to take the opportunity to rest.
– My wife and I are going to Barbados. You will be fine. I just wish we could watch football on Sunday. They are, to say the least, important games in the NFL playoffs, he says.
Jesper Pratt scored one of the visitors’ goals at Bridgestone Arena – and in his case, also his 19th goal of the season – while Fabian Zetterlund contributed the assist.
