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Peverley, Ellis help Predators end struggles in Detroit

Mar 16, 2008 - 2:47 AM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DETROIT (Ticker) -- Rich Peverley scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Dan Ellis made 34 saves to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 victory over the Red Wings on Saturday.

Defenseman Dan Hamhuis also tallied and Jerred Smithson added an empty-netter for Nashville, which won at Joe Louis Arena for the first time in seven games dating to March 21, 2006.

"There couldn't have been a better time to get a win here," Hamhuis said. "Detroit has been taking us apart all year on the power play. We had an extra long meeting on how to stop them."

With the win, the Predators (36-29-8) remained two points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

"It was a big win for us," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We had lost three in a row, but we got a little bit of momentum and put pressure on Vancouver, Minnesota, Calgary - teams like that."

In last Sunday's 4-3 loss to Detroit, the Predators allowed three power-play goals. Detroit was 0-for-6 on Saturday, and Nashville killed off a four-minute high-sticking penalty to defenseman Greg Zanon in the third period.

"When we got through that, I knew we were going to win the game, one way or another," Trotz said of Zanon's infraction.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock said that the Predators' ability to win faceoffs while killing penalties was a key factor.

"It's hard to cycle the puck when they're winning the faceoffs," Babcock said. "(Scott) Nichol and Peverley won draws and that put our guys without the puck."

A mixup behind the Detroit net led to Peverley's goal at 6:10 of the second period that snapped a 1-1 tie. Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood left the puck behind the net, but Peverley beat defenseman Niklas Kronwall to the loose puck and tucked it into the corner of the net before Osgood could recover.

"I'll have to look at the video on the plane (to Columbus) and see what actually happened," Kronwall said. "I had the puck on my blade and I don't know if it bounced over the blade or what. (Peverley) got the puck about an inch away and put it in an open net. It's frustrating. It all happened so fast."

Peverley wasn't complaining.

"It was a bit of a lucky goal," he said. "It went high off the glass and I thought it would maybe bounce over his stick. It didn't but I got lucky."

Smithson sealed the victory with an empty-net tally with 18 ticks left in the contest.

Hamhuis opened the scoring at 10:27 of the opening session when he skated in on Osgood and slipped the puck between his left skate and the goalpost. It was Hamhuis's fourth goal of the season and first in 31 games.

Detroit tied the game on a goal by defenseman Niklas Kronwall with 2:17 left in the first. Johan Franzen sent a cross-ice pass to Kronwall, who was cutting to the right faceoff circle, and he one-timed a shot past Ellis.

Other than that tally, Ellis was stellar for most of the contest. He turned aside nine shots in the first period, 13 in the second and 12 in the third to help the Predators snap a three-game losing streak.

"That's the most difficult team to play in the NHL - and in their building," Ellis said. "It was a good time for us to get the two points. I just tried to battle through the screens and just give us a chance to win. Our PK was outstanding tonight. The entire game I don't think they had a lot of open shots."

Kronwall gave Ellis credit but he also thought the Red Wings could have made life a bit more difficult for the rookie netminder.

"I think we made him good tonight," Kronwall said. "A lot of times he could see the puck. Other times when we didn't have a real good shot, instead of hitting his pads and maybe getting a rebound, we shot it into his gut."

Osgood made 24 saves for the Red Wings, who had a five-game winning streak stopped.