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An (almost) Perfect Homestand

September 25, 2013, 9:18 AM ET [29 Comments]
Paul McCann
Nashville Predators Blogger •Predators Radio Network • RSSArchiveCONTACT
A nice two game win streak has Pred Nation drooling over the beginning of the regular season. Last night’s 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning capped a homestand that saw over 119 minutes of shutout hockey, tight checking, aggressive defense and opportunistic offense.

Yup… after a year long hiatus, the Predator Way appears to be back.

OK, it’s only two preseason games, but there plenty of things to please a Pred fan.

First and foremost? The play of Pekka Rinne. In a game that featured almost 26 foot of goaltender between the two teams, Rinne stood tallest. The big Finn hasn’t given up a goal this preseason, featuring four shutout periods over the past two games. He is moving well, getting good blueline play in front of him and seems to have recovered from his off season hip surgery .

The 4th line was a star last night… The Gaustad-Clune-Hendricks line really sparked things up. Clune was big in assisting on Simon Moser’s goal to crack the scoring, flying out of the penalty box, picking up the loose puck and then picking up his own rebound to feed Moser for the score. The adds of Matt Hendricks and Eric Nystrom have upped the pest factor with this team, and that was on display last night.

Moser is making a case for a two-way contract with this organization. He was all over the ice and made the most of his opportunity, he may not crack the Nashville lineup, but he could be a solid add in Milwaukee.

Of course… it wouldn’t be the Predators if we didn’t have a little bad news to go with the good. Viktor Stalberg went down with an injury early in the first period and did not return to the game. He will be held out of the remaining preseason games as a precaution and re-evaluated today.

Camp now moves to Annapolis, MD for the next few days as the Predators travel to Washington for a tilt against the Caps tonight and finish the preseason against the Islanders this weekend at Nassau Coliseum.

Tonight’s game against the Caps will start at 6pm Central and will be covered by the Predators Radio Network. Flagship station 102.5 the Game will have Tom Callahan’s call.

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Random Notes

- A little lighting issue last night as a computer malfunction delayed the start of the game a few minutes.

- It was nice to see former Pred Anders Lindback last night. Just a great guy that we wish well. Lindy had a solid performance last night.

- Well… two games in three days get the pipes all ready for the season… and now I gotta wait two weeks for the next game… darn.

- Not sure when the next roster cuts are coming, the team does not need to get down to 23 until opening day.

- The suspensions for Sunday's brawl at the ACC has the hockey world... well at least the Toronto-based hockey world buzzing. Big whoop.

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