| ESPN Network: ESPN.com | NFL.com | NBA.com | NASCAR | NHL.com | WNBA.com | ABCSports | EXPN | FANTASY | INSIDER |
|
| |
Friday, Oct. 6 11:55pm ET
Walker's goal, assist power Nashville | |||||
|
| ||||||
|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
OMIYA, Japan (AP) -- So far, Japan has been good to the Nashville Predators. The Predators won the first season-opening game in their three-year history on Saturday, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 at the Saitama Super Arena. Cliff Ronning and Vitali Yachmenev scored to give Nashville a 2-0 lead and Scott Walker sealed the victory with an empty-net goal in the game's final seconds. Jan Hrdina cut the Nashville lead to 2-1 in the second period. Ronning took a pass from Randy Robitaille just inside the Pittsburgh blue line and fired a slap shot from the top of the left circle past Jean-Sebastien Aubin at 4:16 of the first period. Yachmenev scored a power-play goal at 8:01 of the second after being set up by Walker and Greg Classen. Nashville had the third fewest power-play goals in the NHL last season. Hrdina cut the deficit to one goal 8:26 later, assisted by Jaromir Jagr and Alexei Kovalev. Mike Dunham stopped 25 Penguins shots to earn the victory. The first of five slashing penalties in the game was called against the Penguins' Matthew Barnaby at 15:18 in the first period as the NHL continued to show a new crackdown on obstruction and stick fouls. The two-game series is the third time the NHL has opened its season in Japan. The last was in 1998, when the Calgary Flames played the San Jose Sharks. Nashville will serve as the home team in Sunday's game. Ice hockey's popularity in Japan pales in comparison to baseball and sumo, although it has been drawing more fans since the nation hosted the 1998 Nagano Olympics. Some of those fans proved their dedication Saturday. Maki Miyoshi, 28, traveled across the country and bought tickets to both games. Decked out in Penguins sweatshirts, she and her girlfriends waved a handmade "Let's go Penguins" sign. "It's fun," Miyoshi said." I like the speed and it's powerful. It's totally different from watching it on television," she said. On Saturday, the crowd of over 13,000 -- more than a few wearing NHL jerseys -- stood respectfully for the playing of the U.S. national anthem. When the game began, they watched the action in relatively quiet concentration. "Japanese fans tend to be quiet but you can't help it," said Takeshi Sato, 31. "Actually, though, they were wilder than I thought." Ohhs and ahhs arose whenever players tussled, and fans clapped plastic bats after dramatic plays, such as saves by Aubin in the first period. Aubin finished with 30 saves. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Nashville Clubhouse Pittsburgh Clubhouse RECAPS New Jersey 8 Montreal 4
AUDIO/VIDEO   Cliff Ronning fires the puck past Jean-Sebastien Aubin.avi: 485k k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 Jan Hrdina scores the power-play goal.avi: 351k k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 | |||||