Last night at Bridgestone Arena there was sound equipment and lighting trusses strewn all about near the media room and locker rooms, ready to be installed for tonight's beginning of Garth Brooks’ run of shows to benefit Nashville Flood Relief. For the second period and a good chunk of the third, it appeared that the Predators had mentally packed it up as well, until Shea Weber pinched in perfectly and put a nice pass rigth on Sergei Kostitsyn's stick, who tapped it in to tie the game… and set off one of the quickest momentum swings that I have seen at 501 Broadway.

It was an ordinary play that happened at exactly the right time. An ordinary play that was followed 44 seconds later by a 3 on 1 conversion that sent the 14,000+ Pred fans that ignored the hysterical weather forecasts into a screaming fit of joy.

The debate after the game centered around the Sharks and their struggles with closing out games. I didn’t feel like the Sharks went into a prevent defense, I simply thought they were playing a solid road game and were doing a fairly good job in protecting a third period lead. A couple of third period defensive miscues by the Sharks gave the Predators their opportunity.

On the penultimate play, Jason Demers learned a hard lesson about NHL hockey last night. After the Predators tied the score, Demers made a critical error in judgment, pinching in at the wrong time and allowing the fateful 3 on 1 break to happen. Sharks coach Todd McLellan was none too pleased with the youngster and let it be known in no uncertain terms.

The Predators head to New Jersey today for a Friday night game with the Devils, who are showing some signs of life after their win over Phoenix last night.

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Random Notes

- Note to David Pollak of the San Jose Mercury News… the goalie that beat the Sharks last night, his name is Anders Lindback… not Lindmark.

- After last night’s play, the Predators remain 4th in the conference, second in the division, extending their divisional lead over Columbus and Chicago.

- Caught the premier of 24/7 last night and really enjoyed it, especially Bruce Boudreau doing his Rex Ryan impersonation… plus… didn’t anyone tell Bruce he had some BBQ sauce on his mouth before his extreme close up shot??? If you haven’t seen it yet… I highly recommend it, HBO has done an awesome job on the premier.

- Sergei Kostitsyn’s goal marks his seventh consecutive game with a point.

- Funny how some folks are trying to create a goalie controversy in Nashville. Coach Barry Trotz put that to rest in last night’s post game comments, he stated clearly that Pekka Rinne is the number one in Nashville.

- That being said… I saw a tweet from @dgutzman last night asking when does Anders Lindback start getting some mentions as a Calder candidate? Excellent question.

- After winning 12 straight, the Pens have dropped two in a row… the Caps dropped their seventh in a row as well… this should make some very interesting viewing on next week’s 24/7.

- Good piece on Puck Daddy from Sean Leahy regarding expectations for the Predators.

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COMING UP ON THE NEXT SLAPSHOT RADIO…

This week’s SlapShot Radio podcast is posted. Next week’s show is a pre-game for the Blackhawk game on Wednesday 12/22.

For the most updated guest information go to the SlapShot Radio website.

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