Andreas Thuresson had an up and down Saturday with the Predators

November 1, 11:26 PMNashville Predators ExaminerJim Diamond

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Nashville Predators Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Predators prospect Andreas Thuresson had somewhat of an interesting weekend.

When word reached Milwaukee that the Predators were looking to recall a wing to replace the injured Martin Erat, surely he had to be thinking, “This could be my chance.”

Friday night would be his last opportunity to show what he had before the call came from Nashville with which player would be needed to fly southward and suit up for the Predators in their Saturday night game against the Dallas Stars.

So all the 21-year-old Swede did was put five shots on goal, finish with a plus/minus of +1, and score the game-winning goal in the Admirals 2-1 win over the Rockford Ice Hogs. Following the game, the Nashville Predators recalled a wing from Milwaukee – Peter Olvecky. 

What does a guy have to do to get a call up?  In his third season with the Ads, surely he has earned an opportunity. After scoring eleven goals in his first North American season in 2007-08, he increased his goal total to 14 last season. In nine games this season, he has three goals and two assists.

Is Thuresson doomed to toil in relative anonymity in Milwaukee forever? Microsoft Word doesn’t give Thuresson any respect, it tries to auto-populate his last name as Thursday.

But in a game day development, Predator right wing Joel Ward may not be available for the game against the Stars because he “tweaked something in his upper-body,” according to Predators head coach Barry Trotz.

And the Predators recall Andreas Thuresson. Hooray!

When game time rolled around Ward decided he wanted to play in Saturday night’s contest, but Trotz inserted Thuresson into the lineup anyway. If Ward was unable to complete the game, Trotz wanted Thuresson available as an additional penalty killing forward. That’s high praise for a guy who would be making his NHL debut that night.

In that debut Thuresson saw 8:48 of ice time, playing mostly on the fourth line with Olvecky and Marcel Goc. Thuresson tied for the team high in hits for the game with three.

Trotz liked what he saw from Thuresson in the game.

“I thought in Andreas’ first NHL game, he didn’t look out of place. He’s a big body, and he’s pretty strong on the wall.”

The reward for having such a strong NHL debut?  The team reassigned both Thuresson and Olvecky following the game. With the Predators not having a game until Thursday, and the team hoping to get some banged up players back by then, it made sense to send them back to Milwaukee.

On the bright side, playing in your first NHL game and collecting an NHL paycheck for one day must have made for a pretty good Saturday for Thuresson afterall.