A solid win for the Nashville Predators last night at Bridgestone Arena as they held off the Colorado Avalanche for a 4-2 victory in a game that sent Pred Nation home on a sugar high, supplying Frosty’s and a Goo Goo Cluster to the sellout crowd, thanks to Sergei Kostitsyn’s last minute goal in the second period and Martin Erat’s empty netter with :44 seconds remaining in the game.
A lot of buzz on social media during pre-game on two different subjects… First, Twitter exploded after TSN’s Bob McKenzie tweeted some tantalizing information about the Prodigal Pred himself, Alexander Radulov. I will say, I have been hearing rumors about this for weeks, his North American agent has been in Nashville several times over the past few months and Radulov’s dad has been spotted in Nashville quite often over that same timeframe. Not sure if A-Rad wants to come back… but it would not surprise me if he does. As I write this, Radulov’s team is done in their KHL Quarter-Final series, Salavat Yulaev lost today and their season is complete. Twitter is blowing up again… this speculation will get crazy, fast.
Oh and by the way… for those whining about how unfair this situation is, keep this in mind… this is a player that is under a legal contract to Nashville. A team that has been without his services… the right thing is being done here by not requiring waivers, if he decides to return.
The second buzz last night involved the scratch list. Kevin Klein is still battling his upper body injury, Brian McGrattan and Jack Hillen being scratches certainly wasn’t a surprise, but Colin Wilson and Craig Smith being scratched was. Preds head coach Barry Trotz indicated that he would be making a few lineup changes and perhaps sending a message or two… You can probably consider that mission accomplished. Considering how Colin Wilson was scratched for almost the entire playoffs last season… well… I’m looking forward to his reinsertion into the lineup. The backseat drivers were out in force with this, questioning the decisions of the coach but it is hard to argue with the results. These decisions will continue to be difficult for Trotz, and should be beneficial to the team in how these players will push each other.
On to the game… The Predators survived another slow start, giving up a goal just 74 seconds into the game as David Jones undressed Roman Josi and hit a wide open Jamie McGinn in front of the net for an easy re-direct. You could almost hear the collective, “Oh crap, here we go again.” But, 1:20 later, the Preds answered with a nice goal from Mike Fisher, his 20th of the year. Then four minutes later, Brandon Yip, no, Roman Josi, no Brandon Yip put the Preds up to stay with a nice tip-in. The goal was changed twice, but it was clearly Yip’s on the replay.
Frankly, the only reason Colorado didn’t get run out of the rink was the play of netminder Semyon Varlamov. He was under siege all game and made some excellent saves to keep his team in the game. He should’ve been named one of the three stars of the game for his outstanding play.
More practice today in preparation for the Detroit game tomorrow. It’s a double header at Bridgestone Arena as the Predator’s Cup, the Tennessee High School Hockey Championship game is at 1pm, the Preds and Wings drop the puck at 7.
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“A Long March” – Tracking the stretch run…
Points Available – 30
Points Gained So Far – 4 out of 6
3/03 – @ Florida – W 3-1
3/06 – Los Angeles – L 5-4
3/08 – Colorado – W 4-2
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 15 games remaining in the regular season, the Predators remain 5th in the Western Conference standings with 83 points, trailing conference leading St. Louis by eight points and Detroit by four points. The Predators lead Chicago by six points. Nashville has one game in hand over St. Louis and Chicago.
- Pekka Rinne etched his name into the franchise record book last night, posting his 37th win of the season, eclipsing Tomas Vokoun’s mark of 36 set in 05-06. Rinne leads the NHL in victories.
- Talked to Kevin Klein for a few minutes post-game last night and he is itching to get back into the lineup.
- Popular former Predator Shane O’Brien made his first appearance in Nashville since signing with Colorado. He took a couple of penalties and was stoned on a golden scoring opportunity by Rinne.
Tonight’s Impact Games
Los Angeles @ Detroit – The uneven LA Kings visit the Joe in a battle for their playoff survival. Coming into Detroit after a bad loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on the back half of a back-to-back is a bad situation for the Kings… but… Detroit has been struggling a bit, battling injuries and generally trying to get back to Red Wing hockey. The Wings are trying to avoid a three game losing streak before they head to Nashville for a critical divisional showdown tomorrow night.
NY Rangers @ Chicago – The Rangers lead the East and are trying to stay interested until the playoffs start and you know that can’t please head coach John Tortorella, the Blackhawks are trying to maintain some separation in the tight Western Conference playoff race. The Blackhawks train Nashville by six and only lead 7th place Phoenix by three points. A loss tonight can draw the chase group even closer and put their current six spot at risk.
SportsClubStats Update
Predators Playoff Chances – 99.9%
Highest % Potential Playoff Opponent – St. Louis 24.3%, Detroit 67.9%
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No SlapShot Radio next week… we’re being pre-empted by extensive March Madness coverage on 102.5 the Game.
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