Hope everyone is recovering from their turkey hangover and ready for some holiday hockey in Smashville as the Winnipeg Jets are in town for a Friday evening Central Division showdown. Tonight’s 5pm game time is the front half of a weekend home and home for the teams with four critical points on the line. As play starts in the NHL today, the Predators sit in the second wild card spot, a key because the standings on Thanksgiving can be a real first look at the playoffs in April.
The Preds have been on quite a run in November, managing to make up ground after a terrible start to the 2016-17 season and an abundance of home games between now and the end of 2016 will give the team a great chance to move up in the Central. Winnipeg comes into tonight’s game a single point behind the Preds and owners of a 4 game losing streak.
Winnipeg is led by a couple of names you know, and a few you may not… Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien are certainly ones you know. Scheifele leads the Jets in points with 23 (11g, 12a) but the names you may not know are having a large imapact on this team. Rookie Patrik Laine is leading the team in goal scoring with 12 and Mikolaj Ehloers has become a prime setup man with 14 assists so far this season.
The matchup in net should be an interesting one as Pekka Rinne has been on fire, his save percentage standing at .934 with a sparkling 2.04 goals against. For the Jets, Connon Hellebuyck has gotten the lion’s share of the starts and has decent numbers, 2.58 GAA and a Sv% of .912.
A few roster moves were made over the holiday as Anthony Bitetto and Juuse Saros were recalled from Milwaukee. Cody Bass and Marek Mazanec were reassigned to the Admirals as well. Both Bass and Matt Carle cleared waivers prior to Thanksgiving, no word on any action taken with Carle, but after being a healthy scratch for 12 consecutive games, it’s pretty clear that he may not figure in future Preds plans.
The Predators top lines appear to be finally getting their groove on as Wednesday night saw goals from Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen Craig Smith and James Neal. Defensively the team seems to be tightening things up and both sides are being a bit more responsible with the puck. It has been the recipe for success.
Don’t forget, tonight’s home stand finale is a special 5pm game time, door open at 3:30. Coverage on 102.5 the Game and Fox Sports Tennessee.
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Random Notes
- Nashville heads out of town for a quick two game roadie, completing the home and home with Winnipeg on Sunday then going to Colorado before a home back to back to start off December.
- Keep an eye on Ryan Johansen over the next two games… he has 3 goals and 5 assists over his last four games against the Jets.
- Sending good wishes to Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom who has left the team and heading to Sweden for family reasons.
- It was pretty telling that the Dallas Stars had a practice yesterday instead of taking the holiday… Lindy Ruff was none too pleased with his team after Wednesday’s loss.
- Jonathan Toews injury has Blackhawk fans worrying, he is listed as questionable for today’s game at Anaheim as Chicago tries to avoid a three game losing streak. The Hawks depth ain’t what it used to be.
- The Vegas Golden Knights… OK, I kinda like the logo but the team name, at least to me, sounds a little ECHL-ish…
- Eleven games in the NHL today, all times central – Noon – NYR @ PHI. 3pm – CHI @ ANA, NYI @ SJS, PIT @ MIN. 4pm – BUF @ WSH. 5pm WPG @ NSH. 6:30pm – CGY @ BOS, CBJ @ TBL, DET @ NJD. 7:30pm – VAN @ DAL. 8pm – EDM @ ARI.
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SSR’s season nine is on, our next show is tomorrow at 8am on 102.5 the Game. SlapShot Radio is the longest running hockey show in the mid-south and Pete Weber and I bring you the best in hockey talk all season long. Our guest list is taking shape as the Puck Daddy himself, Greg Wysynski will be joining us as will Winnipeg blogger Peter Tessier to help get you ready for the Jets game on Sunday.
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