Yesterday my question was why? Why wasn’t Mark Fistric suspended for his filthy hit on Shea Weber in last Friday’s Predators game against Dallas. After seeing the explanation, my question now becomes… huh?

Today’s Tennessean states that “According to the NHL, the replay of Fistric’s hit on Weber wasn’t clear enough, and the referee who was in position didn’t deem the hit worthy of a penalty at the time.”

Huh?

A player who was suspended only three weeks ago, commits another suspension worthy infraction with two angles of replay clearly showing the high hit. And the NHL does nothing but try and cover their miss.

I said it before I’ll say it again… shameful.

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Game night in Smashville as the Predators and Wild, two teams that are struggling to remain in the top eight meet for a 7pm faceoff at Bridgestone Arena. The Wild has lost their last seven. The Predators are looking to avoid a three game losing streak, two on home ice.

Shea Weber and Kevin Klein are both out tonight, Klein on IR. Weber is not, so Weber will be on the scratch list tonight… not the injury list. Minnesota is listing Jared Spurgeon and Clayton Stoner as out and Greg Zanon as questionable, so the Wild are having their own defensive health problems.

Nashville has traditionally been very successful against the Wild on Bridgestone Arena ice, posting a 12-5-3 record and sweeping last year’s home portion of their season series.

The question in Pred Nation’s mind going into this game is… where is the scoring going to come from? The blueline has been the catalyst over the past month or so, but without Weber, other players have to step up.

Game time is 7pm… coverage on 102.5 the Game and Fox Sports Tennessee.

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Random Notes

- The Bourque call up makes sense now as Blake Geoffrion has been assigned to Milwaukee.

- Today’s fun fact… the Predators have never lost in regulation when Nick Spaling scores, posting an 11-0-1 record.

- Key to tonight’s game… score more than two. The team is 15-2-2 when scoring more than two goals in a game.

- If there is anything positive about the Weber injury it may be this… at least it has stopped all the silly “Weber to Philly” talk.

- Vancouver / San Jose should be a good one tonight at the Tank.

- The Flyers are looking pretty bad right now… last night’s 5-1 loss to the Lightning was not good. Looking forward to how much of that we see on 24/7 tonight.

- Team USA is back in action against Finland today in the WJC, 2:30pm faceoff on NHL Network. Team USA completely destroyed Denmark in their opener but should see a better test against the Finns.

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On the next SlapShot Radio, built by RiverBirch Homes

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Past episodes are posted on the SlapShot Radio website.

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