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From Nashville vs Vancouver February 21, 2012

Courtesy DLM/SlapShot Radio

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Can a 6’7” defenseman make that big of a difference? That is the question as you look at last night’s game at Bridgestone Arena where the Nashville Predators beat Vancouver 3-1 for their first home win over the Canucks since February 17, 2011. In last year’s second round playoff series, the Predators had bottled up the Sedin twins well but had no solution for Ryan Kesler. If last night was an indicator, they may have found that solution in Hal Gill. Granted, it is only one game, but it does look to be a solid indication of the reason why Gill was acquired.

The other reason Gill was acquired can be found in the ice time stats. Both Shea Weber and Ryan Suter have been munching up close to 29 minutes a game prior to Gill’s acquisition. Last night, the dynamic duo was just a shade under 24 minutes each. Gill picked up a little over 16 minutes.

The game was a battle of special teams, and on that side of the ledger, Nashville dominated, posting a power play marker and a shortie along with a perfect night on the penalty kill, keeping the number one power play unit in the league off the board.

An important win for Nashville as not only does the team keep pace with the rest of the Central Division, but it also sends the message that the Canucks will be in for a fight if they meet up again this spring. The way Vancouver won all three on Music City ice last spring has not set well with the team. From the final score, to the captain body slamming Alex Burrows to the ice late in the second period, messages were clearly sent. As Stu Grimson noted on the post-game show last night, keeping the Burrows/Weber encounter to offsetting minor roughing calls was a real positive for Nashville.

Vancouver heads up to Motown to see if they can be the ones to break Detroit’s 23 game home winning streak while the Predators lie in wait for the St. Louis Blues. The Blues play tonight in St. Louis before heading to Music City for tomorrow night’s Central Division battle. Game time is 7pm at Bridgestone Arena, limited tickets remain.

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“Murderer’s Row” – Tracking the toughest 10 days of the Predator’s season…

2/14 – Chicago – W 3-2
2/17 – @ Detroit – L 2-1
2/19 – @ Dallas – W 3-2
2/21 – Vancouver – W 3-1
2/23 – St. Louis –
2/25 – San Jose –
2/27 – Los Angeles –

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Random Notes…

- The Predators remain 5th in the Western Conference standings, trailing conference leading Detroit by 8 points. Nashville trails the Blues by three points. The Predators lead Chicago by three points. St. Louis has one game in hand over Nashville and two games in hand over Chicago and Detroit. The Predators have a game in hand on Detroit and Chicago.

- Need to give a shout out to Colin Wilson who really had an outstanding game last night, playing with speed and fire, he was generating a lot of chaos on the ice last night.

- With his 33rd victory in last night’s game, Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne took over the league lead in netminder wins. Jimmy Howard has 32, Marc-Andre Fluery has 31.

- An interesting officiating error last night as Tim Peel and Rob Martell allowed the teams to play five-on-five to close out the second period after the Burrows/Weber wrestling match. It was corrected to start the third period.

- Tough night for Sami Salo, he was on the ice for all three Predator goals.

- Bad injury news for the St. Louis Blues… Jamie Langenbrunner broke his left foot in Sunday’s Blues loss to the Blackhawks and will be out for at least four weeks.

- Big win for Chicago last night, beating Detroit 2-1 for their fourth straight win. Detroit continues to lead the league with 84 points, but there has to be the tiniest bit of concern with their sub .500 road record.

- In the WTF department… who was that team that showed up in Columbus last night? The Blue Jackets scored four first period goals, got a hattie from Jeff Carter and chased Antti Niemi in their dismantling of the San Jose Sharks by a final score of 6-3. The Sharks are trying to avoid a Chicago-like road trip, they have lost four in a row and are 1-4-1 with three games left on their current roadie.

- Goaltending anyone??? The Flyers and Jets finished their season series last night as Philly took a 5-4 overtime decision. The four games between these two teams featured a total of 39 goals!

- Pavel Datsyuk is out for the next two weeks following arthroscopic knee surgery.

Tonight’s Impact Game
Boston @ St. Louis – The defending Stanley Cup champs are visiting Scottrade Center tonight where the St. Louis Blues are almost as unbeatable as Detroit at the Joe. The Blues own a 26-3-4 mark at home so far this season.

SportsClubStats Update
Predators Playoff Chances – 99.5%
Highest % Potential Playoff Opponent – St. Louis 51.2%, Detroit 24.8%

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On the next SlapShot Radio

We’ll be on the road again as SlapShot Radio will be coming to you live from Blackstone Restaurant and Brewery on West End Ave. with special guest co-host Jim Diamond from The Examiner. Our guests include Joe Yerdon from NBC Sports.com’s Pro Hockey Talk and we may have a visit from San Jose Mercury News Sharks’ beat writer David Pollack. That is all tonight at 6 on SlapShot Radio, live from Blackstone on 102.5 the Game.

Click here to listen or download any of our previous episodes.

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