March comes in like a lion is the old saying, in the Preds’ case, it is a different kind of cat as they open the month in Florida against the Panthers. The month gets no easier as it progresses for these Nashville Predators as 13 of the 15 games in this long March is against team in the playoff mix as of this writing… and that is not including Anaheim who may be there as well. Only six games are inside the friendly confines of Bridgestone Arena due to a lot of March Madness going on at 501 Broadway.
These next two days will be critical practice time for Nashville, and critical rest time as well. Integrating the Preds new acquisitions will be the theme of the week as Paul Gaustad and Andrei Kostitsyn need to learn the Preds system. AK46 needs to adapt to a more uptempo game and get used to his new teammates and Gaustad will do the same, although the system differences are not as great in his case.
After their brief trip to Florida, the Preds are home for three before heading out to their last west coast trip of the regular season.
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“A Long March” – Tracking the stretch run…
Points Available – 30
Points Gained So Far – 0 out of 0
3/03 – @ Florida –
3/06 – Los Angeles –
3/08 – Colorado –
3/10 – Detroit –
3/12 – @ Phoenix –
3/15 – @ San Jose –
3/17 – @ Los Angeles –
3/18 - @ Anaheim –
3/20 – Edmonton –
3/22 - @ Pittsburgh –
3/24 – Winnipeg –
3/25 - @ Chicago –
3/27 - @ St. Louis –
3/30 - @ Detroit –
3/31 – Chicago –
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Random Notes…
- With 18 games remaining in the season, the Predators remain 5th in the Western Conference standings with 81 points, trailing division leading St. Louis and Detroit by 6 points. The Predators lead Chicago by 6 points. St. Louis, Nashville and Detroit all have one game in hand over Chicago.
- TSN has done a simply amazing profile of Jordin Tootoo, watch it
here. What an awesome success story… we continue to be behind you Jordin!
- Tennessee boy Blake Geoffrion makes his home ice debut with Montreal tonight.
- I’m having a hard time buying the defense of Scott Howson’s throwing his captain under the bus on trade deadline day. It was self-serving and doesn’t help his team. There was a time to tell his version of the truth… but it wasn’t at the time he did. What is it with Columbus GM’s and the scorched earth theory?
Tonight’s Impact Game
St. Louis @ Vancouver – No walk in the park for the Blues as Vancouver is a tough place to win. The Canucks have taken over the conference lead are are looking to hold onto it.
SportsClubStats Update
Predators Playoff Chances – 99.6%
Highest % Potential Playoff Opponent – St. Louis 43.7%, Detroit 44.0%
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