Redden's late goal sends Ottawa to sixth straight win
OTTAWA -- Wade Redden helped the Ottawa Senators claim an elusive
record.
Redden's goal with four minutes remaining lifted Ottawa to a 3-2
victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, extending the
Senators' winning streak to a team record six games.
Ottawa had won five straight games four previous times, including three
times last season en route to a franchise record 109 points.
"It's good to get that one," Redden said following his fifth goal of
the season. "I saw an opening, the loose puck and poked at it. We came
on in the last half of the game with a lot of intensity and took care
of it."
Chris Herperger and Todd White also scored for the Senators.
Predators Bubba Berenzweig and Andy Delmore replied to tie the score at
2.
Redden then poked in a loose puck after a shot by Daniel Alfredsson for
the game-winner.
The Predators were coming off a frustrating 3-1 loss in Montreal on
Thursday, in which they outshot the Canadiens 32-13, allowing the
fewest shots in franchise history.
"We're losing games that we should be winning," Nashville coach Barry
Trotz said. "We were playing with Ottawa. We should have had at least
one point tonight."
Ottawa's Andre Roy, who has five points in his past four games, whipped
a great backhand pass to Herperger, who beat Nashville goaltender Tomas
Vokoun from close range to open the scoring 5:18 into the contest.
White followed up with his seventh goal of the season on a backhand
shot from the slot midway through the opening period.
Predators defenseman Berenzweig was left unattended and took Cliff
Ronning's pass across the slot, popping the puck into the open side
past Senators goalie Patrick Lalime to make it 2-1.
The goal ended Lalime's shutout streak at an Ottawa-record 148 minutes
and 17 seconds. Damian Rhodes held the club's previous mark of 127:24
set in 1995-96.
"We wanted (the record) tonight," said Lalime. "We stood our ground and
found a way to win. You know the (shutout) streak is not going to last.
It was a flukey goal but we played hard after that."
Predators defenseman Delmore snapped a shot past Lalime high to the
glove side 3:28 into the final period to tie the score 2-2.
Nashville entered the game with the NHL's second-best penalty-killing
record, while Ottawa has scored only one power-play goal in 30 attempts
at home and was 0-for-4 Saturday.
"It's nice to be able to win even without the power play," Ottawa coach
Jacques Martin said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to get it going and use
it to win some more games."
Vokoun turned back a breakaway by Magnus Arvedson with five minutes
left.
The Senators outshot the Predators, who managed only two shots in the
third period, 30-18.
Notes: Ottawa hired Bob Berry as its Western professional scout. Berry,
57, was an NHL head coach for 11 years (1981-92) with St. Louis,
Pittsburgh, Montreal and Los Angeles, compiling a 384-355-121 record.
In an eight-year playing career, Berry scored 350 points with Los
Angeles and Montreal and ranks 10th on the Kings' all-time scoring
list.