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Vokoun's 19th career shutout keeps Predators hot at home

Feb 4, 2007 - 5:51 AM NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- It did not take defenseman Dan Hamhuis long to put the Nashville Predators on the right track to another favorable outcome at Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Hamhuis scored 4:52 into the game and Tomas Vokoun made 36 saves en route to his third shutout of the season as the Predators tied a franchise record with their seventh straight home triumph, a 3-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks.

Jason Arnott and Steve Sullivan extended their goal-scoring streaks to four games for Nashville, which also won seven straight at home from February 13-March 1, 2006.

"We did a great job early in the year to create this opportunity for ourselves by being very solid on the road and getting some timely and key wins to give us an opportunity to come home and battle in front of our home crowd," Sullivan said. "We definitely have to take advantage of that."

The league-leading Predators, who also play seven of their next nine games at home, improved to 19-3-3 here this season and 51-11-4 on home ice since the start of the 2005-06 season.

Anaheim controlled the action for most of the contest but could not solve Vokoun, who stopped seven shots in the first period, 11 in the second and 18 in the third for his 19th career shutout.

"I thought Tomas was really strong," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "Getting a shutout against Anaheim was huge. They had a lot of shots, but not a lot of second chances."

"We played a smart hockey game," Vokoun said. "They are a good team, so you want to beat them; it is a big boost. They took a lot of shots, but most of them were outside shots. Sometimes it is misleading how many shots you have against how many good scoring chances they had."

Hamhuis opened the scoring when he fired a slap shot from the left point that deflected off Anaheim's Teemu Selanne, who was standing in the left faceoff circle, and over netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere's left shoulder.

"I saw that we had a good screen in front, so I was just trying to get it on net," Hamhuis said.

Arnott doubled the advantage on the power play with his 20th goal of the season 56 seconds into the second period off a perfect cross-ice pass from captain Kimmo Timonen.

"Kimmo saw me in the open," Arnott said. "It was a good goal and a good boost for us, but the win was huge for us, especially after two losses. The last two games, we haven't played well 5-on-5."

Sullivan capped the scoring with his 20th tally with 13 seconds remaining in the third, when his shot from behind the net bounced in off Giguere.

Giguere recorded 17 saves for Pacific Division-leading Anaheim, which has dropped five of its last seven.

"The puck wasn't rolling our way, and it didn't seem like we had the energy we usually have," the former Conn Smythe Trophy-winning netminder said. "It was a frustrating night. We have to focus about our game, not where the other teams are at.

"We know they are going to show up, they are going to work hard, and it is up to us to do the same. I think if we play at the highest level we can as a team, we will have a better chance of winning."

The contest turned into a slugfest in the final period, as a total of 18 penalties were handed out.