Island Park native hits Nashville ice

An injury to Nashville Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm in Sunday’s shootout win over Florida led to the recall of Anthony Bitetto from the Milwaukee Admirals prior to the Feb. 10 contest.

The Island Park native played in just his second NHL game and first at Bridgestone Arena, logging 10:09 of ice time and registering his first career fight. A few minutes into the middle period, Bitetto dropped the mitts with Connolly and connected with a few rights before being escorted to the penalty box.

Bitetto did a good job,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “He played a lot of minutes and he had to go against quality opposition the entire night. I thought his fight was terrific and well timed and he jumped in there for his teammate. I thought he played a really strong, good game.”

He played again on Feb. 12, for 13:44, tallied three hits and one blocked shot.

On Feb. 14 Preds blueliner Ryan Ellis joined the team at morning skate for the first time since suffering a lower-body injury in a Jan. 8 game against the Dallas Stars. Anton Volchenkov missed the contest (lower-body, day-to-day) and was replaced in the lineup by rookie Anthony Bitetto.

Bitetto, 24, made his NHL debut on Jan. 17 at Detroit, logging 11:01, before being reassigned to Milwaukee the following day. He has amassed 25 points (2g-23a) in 46 games for the Admirals this season; his assist total ranks third among AHL blueliners, while his point total is good for 12th. A season ago, his first full campaign at the AHL level, the 6-foot, 215-pounder tied for sixth among AHL defensemen in goals (11), and for ninth in power-play goals (6).

He was Nashville’s fourth choice (168th overall, sixth round) in the 2010 NHL Draft.

On Feb. 15 Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced the team has reassigned defenseman Anthony Bitetto to Milwaukee (AHL). On Feb. 17 he was called back to Nashville.