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Game Night in Philly - Let's Do It Again!

October 19, 2017, 8:43 AM ET [10 Comments]
Paul McCann
Nashville Predators Blogger •Predators Radio Network • RSSArchiveCONTACT
It’s Game Night in the City of Brotherly Love as the Nashville Predators and Philadelphia Flyers tangle for the second time in nine days… and if tonight is anything like opening night in Smashville, it will be a wild and wooly one. Both teams are playing well and Philly has been filling the net in the two games they have played since their loss to Nashville, dropping an 8 spot on Washington, then following up with 5 against Florida and are smack dab in the middle of a five game home stand.

For Nashville, that opening night win was the beginning of a four game point streak that the Predators are currently on. The team has found its identity, playing with speed, grit and confidence. Nowhere is that more obvious than with Viktor Arvidsson. Instead of settling in after a nice contract reward from his 30+ goal season, Arvy has stepped his game up even more, he seems stronger on the puck and has added a little feistiness to the Arvy hustle.

The other key to this seven points in four games streak is the play of Pekka Rinne. IN his last three games, Rinne has been… well… the Pekka that Pred Nation expects. He has posted a 1.33 goals against average and a .953 save percentage in the last three games. There are a couple of signs that you look for from Pekka… he has been flashing the leather and he has been simply outstanding positionally, square to the puck and playing inside the 4x6. Rinne playing this way is always bad news for the opponents.

From an injury perspective, the questions in Philly surround Wayne Simmonds, a decision will be made on his status at day-of-game skate later this morning. A big decision to be sure. For Nashville, beyond Ryan Ellis and Yannick Weber on IR, the story is centering on Nick Bonino. Bonino left Saturday’s OT loss to Chicago and did not play Tuesday night. The Preds are classifying him as day-to-day, but Adam Vingan of the Tennessean is reporting that Bonino’s agent is saying he will be out a couple of weeks. Bonino’s agent, Peter Fish also said that the injury was not related to the broken leg he suffered in last year’s playoffs.

It’s another speed vs. speed matchup between these two teams. Philly is a faster team than was expected, perhaps the fastest Flyer team in their history, but the Flyers seemed to struggle a bit with Nashville’s speed game. Don’t blink tonight… you may miss a good play.

The season series is done after tonight… Game time is 6pm central. Pregame gets going on 102.5 the Game at 5pm, pregame on Fox Sports Tennessee starts at 5:30pm. Game coverage begins at 6pm on both media.

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ICYMI – Last night’s SlapShot Radio with NHL on NBC/NFL on Fox/MSG play by play man Kenny Albert and the warden of the Cellblock, Mark Hollingsworth takes us inside the formation of Section 303.



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Random Notes

- Colorado GM Joe Sakic was in town Tuesday night… certainly set tongues wagging given the Matt Duchene situation.

- The Predators power play is converting at 28.6%, good for a second in the NHL tied with 3 other teams.

- Congratulations to the staff of Bridgestone Arena, recognized by the IEBA as 2017’s Arena of the Year. That gang knows how to run a tight ship and it is being recognized more and more in the industry.

- Don’t look now, but Ray Shero may need to be recognized as a really good GM… after a great job in Pittsburgh, he’s quietly putting the New Jersey Devils in a position to be really good for quite awhile.

- Pressure is building in a couple of O6 markets as the Rangers and Canadiens are off to very slow starts.

- Anyone who had LA, Vegas and Calgary in the top three spots of the Pacific division looks like much less of a dummy this morning…

- 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 co-hosts, Dan Keczmer and JP Dumont bring a true insiders perspective to the show. Our next show is Saturday October 28 as we step aside for the player’s show next week.

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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