The Nashville Predators have officially recalled defenseman Anthony Bitetto from his conditioning assignment with the Milwaukee Admirals. Bitetto played in last night’s 5-2 victory over the Rockford IceHogs at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and earned a power-play goal and an assist on the evening.

It seemed that this was always going to be a one-and-done scenario for Bitetto given how the Admirals schedule plays out this week. It didn’t seem likely that Bitetto was going to be tasked with joining the team on their first trip out to California this weekend. After how he played last night? He pretty much guaranteed there was no chance of that being required.

The first few shifts it appeared that there was some clear coming to grips with game speed once again. He said himself after the game that his decision making was a little slow. He did get better and better as the game progressed and he and his defensive partner last night, Trevor Murphy, were outstanding. The two combined for 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists).

Hopefully 2017’s side of the 2016-17 season will be much kinder to Bitetto. The year started off with a nasty upper-body injury that had him out for a good chunk. He returned on a conditioning assignment with the Admirals briefly before going back up and almost instantly breaking his hand. He even took a high stick in a practice in Nashville just before heading to Milwaukee on this most recent conditioning assignment that narrowly avoided direct impact to his right eye. He has played a total of 7 games this season between the NHL and AHL. It’ll be a pleasant sight to get that kid playing for the rest of the season as he can be a plus-defender for the Predators down the stretch.

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