In yesterday’s column, I asked the question “has the Avalanche found their groove?” After last night’s 4-1 loss to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena, the answer may be… not yet.
Both teams came out sluggish in the Central Division showdown and after a first period that had the entertainment level a little above grass growing and a little below paint drying, you could forgive Pred Nation for thinking that this was going to be a Tuesday night snore fest.
Oh how wrong we were… Both teams came out for the second period with a little more spark and a lucky goal for Nathan MacKinnon to put the Av’s up 1-0 had sold out Bridgestone Arena concerned, because it really did look like one of those “first goal wins” kind of games as both goaltenders were on their game, then the wheels, slowly but surely, came off for Colorado.
Viktor Arvidsson, who had been denied by Av’s netminder Semyan Varlamov multiple times, finally broke through with his 3rd of the year, off a sweet feed from Filip Forsberg, tying the game and giving Pred Nation something to cheer about. The cheers got louder as the Predators hot power play converted with Roman Josi scoring his first of the year in his first game back after missing three with a lower body injury. The goal would hold up as the game winner, but not before Colton Sissons scored a back breaker goal with :45 seconds left in the period to give Pred Nation free Big Macs today.
The goal was accompanied by a bizarre call that I still haven’t figured out. Sissons was called for charging on the same play he scored on. See if you can figure it out…
Matt Duchene pushes Sissons into Varlamov and… ?????
Weird…
The only question left for the third period was the Frosty question… and Austin Watson took care of that four minutes in, giving the Predators their final victory margin and the 4th straight game with at least a point.
The team practices today, then heads to Philadelphia for a rematch of last Tuesday’s Opening Night madness. The Flyers have found their offense at home, pouring in a bunch of goals over the last two games…
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Tonight’s SlapShot Radio will be a good one… Kenny Albert will be joining us to help preview the Ranger game this weekend and as part of our 10th season and the 20th anniversary of the Predators, we are looking at the groups that make Smashville special… and we start with Section 303 with one of their organizers and day one members, Mark Hollingsworth.
Please join JP Dumont, Zack and me at 7pm tonight on 102.5 the Game.
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Random Notes
- Filip Forsberg posted his 200th NHL point last night with his second assist of the night on Josi’s goal
- Alexei Emelin posted two assists last night and has really stepped his game up.
- The Predators dominated in the faceoff circle last night, winning 65% of the draws as both Sissons and Johansen won 77%+.
- After a difficult first couple of games, Pekka Rinne has been on fire over the last three games, posting a 1.33 GAA and a .953 save percentage
- Ummmm… someone tell Vegas that expansion teams aren’t supposed to be doing what they are doing.
- KHL Watch – Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit club has now won 15 in a row, beating Ak Bars 3-1 yesterday with Tolvanen being held off the scoresheet an assist. Tolvanen has 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 19 games so far. The team is five wins away from the KHL record of 20 straight… and who holds that record? SKA St. Petersburg, who Jokerit plays next on Saturday.
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SlapShot Radio has an exciting season in store for our tenth anniversary season. As the longest running hockey show in the region, SSR feeds hockey fans what they crave… intelligent, fun, entertaining talk about their favorite sport and we do it from the opening of training camp all the way through UFA day… the only local hockey show that does that.
We are on every Wednesday night at 7pm on the Predators flagship station, 102.5 the Game. Our new co-hosts are ex-Preds Dan Keczmer and JP Dumont bringing a true insiders perspective to the show. JP is co-hosting tonight. We will get you ready for the northeast swing and… as part of our celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Predators, we are focusing on some of the groups that make Smashville… Smashville. We will be talking to the original hockey hooligan, Mark Hollingsworth, one of the organizers and ring leaders of the loudest section in the loudest arena on the planet… Section 303.
We have been delivering great hockey talk to the most energetic and engaged fans in radio and advertising with us drives results at a reasonable price. Just ask our sponsors… including day one sponsor
Dr. Jane Bacon at Hermitage Family and Cosmetic Dentistry … make your appointment at (615) 872-7762, Mark Lonsway at ReMax Fine Homes, call him for all your real estate needs at (615) 207-7799, and TurfMasters… check out their great service at
TurfMasters.com.
We are also welcoming a new sponsor to the SlapShot Radio family… The Crag… Nashville’s premiere location for indoor rock climbing. Newton Dominey and his awesome crew have a great location in Cool Springs and they are opening a new location in South Nashville at the corner of Old Hickory Blvd and Nolensville Rd. Check out their website at
ILoveRockCLimbing.com If you’ve never done it before… you need to try, they specialize on helping first timers.
Advertisers… reach out to me in order to access our activated listener base though great preseason advertising deals available for our tenth season when you email me at paul(@)slapshotradio(dot)com
You can also keep up with all the goings on with SlapShot Radio by following the show on Twitter @SlapShotRadio1 … Also... make sure to "like" SlapShot Radio on Facebook... here's the
link.
If you are outside of the listening area, listen live online at
The Game website or check out the podcast about two hours after the show at
on SoundCloud.
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