Well, thank heavens the Predators are done on the west cast for a little while so I can get some sleep.
The team finished their very successful CMA Week road trip with a 4-2 dismantling of the Anaheim Ducks last night, sending them down to their sixth straight defeat on this season and their tenth loss out of their last thirteen to Nashville including playoffs. The Predators are playing with a confidence that belies their youth, being led by a makeshift line of rookie Craig Smith, Colin Wilson and Patric Hornqvist. That line was responsible for all three even strength goals last night, accounting for eight totals points. It was born out of necessity when David Legwand went down in the first period of Tuesday night’s game in LA.
The game wasn’t quite as nasty as the one in Nashville in October, Josh Cooper has an outstanding Barry Trotz quote in his blog on Tennessean.com…
“They have some guys who aren’t exactly lily-white, some of their tough guys,” Trotz said. “You watch them behind the play when the ref’s not looking, they do a lot of (stuff). That’s just whining to me. Go on the ice, play and if you have a problem with someone, take care of it. Don’t go through the paper. That’s all.”
That was pregame yesterday… the Predators did exactly was Trotz wanted… showed it on the ice.
The breaks went Nashville’s way last night, I’m not one to condone the Ducks whining, but they had a point on the penalty shot call in last night’s game. That being said… this is a team playing without discipline right now, too easily knocked off their game, not willing to impose their will on other teams. That’s a culture problem, a problem that needs to get fixed before they fall too far out of the Western Conference race. A 1-6-3 run over the last ten games have dropped them to 14th in the west, but only 3 points out of 8th… all is not lost for this Ducks team, but they need to get their act together and quick.
The win put a bow on a Nashville road trip that saw victories over San Jose, Anaheim ad Phoenix and an OT loss to Chicago. Seven points in five road games is a record any team will take and be very happy with. The success on this trip has the Predators one point out of the Central Division lead.
The team got back into town at around 5am this morning. Catching up on sleep is the order of the day as the team has the day off before returning to practice tomorrow, 11am at Centennial Sportsplex.
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Random Notes
- Craig Smith has taken over the NHL rookie scoring lead with 7 goals and 14 point… both leading NHL rookies, his 7 assists is tied for first with Buffalo’s Luke Adam.
- Smith was also named first star on the night on NHL.com
- Colin Wilson needs a shoutout for his steadily improving play, and more importantly, on ice leadership. His playmaking was key to last night’s win.
- Barry Trotz will be on Sirius/XM’s NHL Hour tonight at 5pm central.
- I wondering when we will get another creative column from OC Register column Jeff Miller… his cliché filled rant published Tuesday in the paper was … well… barely readable… Hicksville Hee Haws? Is that the best you got??? Come back when you work in a real city.
- Aaron Portzline from the Columbus Dispatch pulled no punches in his appearance on SlapShot Radio last night. He was highly critical of the team’s lack of action during their horrendous start.
- Toronto is holding closed door meetings after a couple of blowout losses. Heading into a tough game in St. Louis tonight with questionable netminding isn’t exactly a recipe for success.
- Things got really weird in last night’s Flyers/Lightning game. Just play the game boys… if you wait out the trap, it will still be there.
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On the next SlapShot Radio
The podcast for last night’s show is posted… We had a very special interview with hockey fan and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Alice Cooper! We discussed the bad situation in Columbus with Aaron Portzline from the Columbus Dispatch and previewed Nashville's 1,000th game with The Voice of the Montreal Canadiens, John Bartlett
That’s all on this week’s podcast of SlapShot Radio.
More past episodes are also posted on the SlapShot Radio website.
Click
here to listen or download.
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