Thanks to everyone who came out to Blue Restaurant in the ‘Boro yesterday for our Watch Party. We raised some good bucks for the Predators Foundation and had a blast cheering on the Preds!
The Nashville Predators established another first Sunday as they got their first playoff road win at the Joe, a 3-2 victory that wrests home ice advantage back from the Red Wings and gives the team an opportunity to come back to Smashville with a chance to close this series out on home ice. That is getting a bit ahead of ourselves but the opportunity is there.
The scary part of this entire Predators/Red Wings series so far is that we haven’t even seen close to Nashville’s best yet. The power play finally got off the schnide, scoring early in the first to get the team out to a much needed lead. Pekka Rinne was… well… Pekka Rinne and the team finally stepped up with a solid performance on national TV.
Some big props have to be sent Kevin Klein’s way, it seems that every year there is one defenseman that is the target of fan’s derision… this year it has been Klein, but frankly, since his return from injury in January, he has been rock solid on the blueline and tonight he scored the critical second goal and was a beast in front of Pekka Rinne, coming up with a critical blocked shot on a play where Rinne was out of position.
The team practices at the Joe today, preparing for Tuesday’s game four.
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Playoff Look
East
NYR vs. OTT – Series tied 1-1 – Next game is tonight
BOS vs. WSH – Series tied 1-1 – Next game is tonight
LA vs. NJD – Series tied 1-1 – Next game is Tuesday
PIT vs. PHI – Flyers lead 3-0 – Next Game is Wednesday
West
VAN vs. LAK – Kings lead 3-0 – Next game is Wednesday
STL vs. SJS – Series tied 1-1 – Next game is tonight
PHX vs. CHI – Series tied 1-1 – Next game is Tuesday
NSH vs. DET – Predators lead 2-1 – Next game is Tuesday
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Random Notes…
- On NBC Sports Network Saturday, in studio analyst Mike Milbury called out Shea Weber. He stated that the captain had to step up and play better if he wanted to be mentioned in the same company as Zdeno Chara and Chris Pronger. Done. Weber was, in the words of head coach Barry Trotz, a “monster” yesterday. Perhaps the references to "waking a sleeping giant" were directed in the wrong direction.
- Finally a game made sense in this series. The Preds power play got on track, finally breaking Detroit’s long kill streak, the top line got on the scoresheet with SK74’s beauty of a goal and Pekka Rinne was incredible in net.
- I am wondering why there is no outrage for Johan Franzen spearing a player on the Nashville bench in yesterday’s game, anyone… anyone??? Yup, as I thought… crickets from the same gang that was screaming for Weber’s head.
- While David Legwand has been playing a solid series thus far, yesterday was a rough game for the Preds center. Three penalties, one killing a chance for a Nashville power play and one leading to a Detroit power play goal, a very atypical undisciplined performance from Legwand. I don’t expect to see that from the veteran again.
- Key point in yesterday’s game… The Red Wings missing a tying goal by .1 second at the end of the 2nd period… That goal counts and there is no question in my mind that the Predators would be down 2-1 in this series right now. Whew!
- You knew it was only a matter of time… Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg has begun the whining about the officiating in his Monday column. Funny thing is… in the body of the column he admits that the offenses happened, but they weren’t “vicious” enough to warrant the calls… Huh?
- Repeating this one from yesterday… A professor at the University of Pennsylvania has written a provocative article on youth hockey on MSNBC.com. The headline grabbed my attention “Youth hockey injuries border on child abuse.” It is a fascinating read and we will have the author on Wednesday’s SlapShot Radio… Read it for yourself
here.
- Sidney Crosby made no progress toward getting over his complaining reputation yesterday. Crosby came unglued in game three, losing his temper, getting into fights and acting out… it did not help his team one bit. A captain does not have the luxury of setting that kind of tone, when that isn’t what your team is about. Pittsburgh shouldn’t be in a street fight with Philly, and Crosby needs to lead that effort. The Pens look like they are trying to win in the alley… but they are losing where it counts.
- Thirty eight penalties in yesterday’s Penguins/Flyers game three, including a match penalty and multiple game misconducts.
- In the other upset special, the LA Kings took a 3-0 lead on Vancouver. The Canucks seem to be shaking apart. I appreciate Alain Vigneault’s decision to change goalies, but can you really point the finger at Roberto Luongo as the reason the Canucks are down in this series?
- You can point to Jonathan Quick as the reason the Kings are winning the series against Vancouver. A 41 save shutout will cause that kind of comment.
- Congratulations to the Florida Panthers… they jumped out to a quick lead and held on for their first playoff win in 12 years. The series heads to the Rock for game three all tied up at 1 game apiece.
- Tough choice tonight as the Rangers/Senators game three is on CNBC and the Bruins/Capitals game three are on NBC Sports Network. Both are scheduled to start at the same time… I was kinda hoping they would stagger the start times so you could flip to more hockey at intermissions.
- I might have to brew up the coffee tonight, I really want to watch game three of San Jose / St. Louis… mainly to see how the Blues handle the playoff craziness in the Shark Tank.
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On the next
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We'll be back on Wednesday night at 6 on 102.5 the Game. Our guests include Jeff Marek from Sportsnet, Dr. Art Caplin, Professor of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania and an in depth preview of Game Five of the Predators / Red Wings series with Red Wings radio analyst Paul Woods.
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