Game Night in Smashville as the Nashville Predators look to solidify their hold on the lead in the Central Division as they welcome the San Jose Sharks to Bridgestone Arena. Tonight’s opponent is similar to plenty of the last few week’s opponents… locked in a pitched battle for the playoffs. The Sharks are second in the Pacific with 74 points, with LA and Anaheim coming up fast behind them. The Pacific is starting to look a lot like the Central as the race tightens below division leading Vegas.
San Jose has stayed in the race, despite injuries to Joel Ward, Tomas Hertl and Joe Thorton… all are listed on IR. The Sharks are led in scoring by Logan Couture with 24 goals so far and backed up by a committee of four… Joe Pavelski has 15, Tim Meier and Chris Tierny with 14 and Mikkel Boedker with 12. Boedker has been hot, currently on a four game goal streak, two them game winners. The Sharks are on a bit of a roll, winning 3 straight and 5 of their last six.
In net, Martin Jones has also been feeling it… in his last nine games, Jones has posted a sparkling .940 save percentage and a GAA of 1.88.
The Predators have recovered nicely from their two week swoon with back-to-back wins over Eastern Conference foes and now find themselves with a tough two game homestand before heading out on a four game roadie that will take them to Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver and Colorado.
Nice to see the offensive output over the last two games and especially the effectiveness of the JoFA line. When that line clicks, the entire team fires off it. It must drive opposing coaches crazy to scheme against the Predators team when they play on their toes.
In net for Nashville tonight should be Pekka Rinne, who will be going for his 300th career NHL win, every single one of them in Pred colors. He will be looking to avenge the Preds 4-1 loss back in November and even the season series.
The key to victory is fairly simple for Nashville, forecheck, forecheck, forecheck and play with the speed they have. When the team plays like that, there isn’t a team in the league that can stop them. The dog days funk appears to be over… should be a good one tonight at Bridgestone Arena.
Game time is 7pm, coverage on 102.5 the Game starts at 6pm, Fox Sports Tennessee pre-game begins at 6:30pm… see you at the Bridge!
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“Where We Stand” update… a daily tracking of where the Preds are in the standings and the games that impact them most, brought to you by Mark Lonsway - THE real estate professional for hockey fans!
After last night’s play the Predators are first in the Central Division with 81 points, two points ahead of Winnipeg (1 GIH) and nine points ahead of Dallas (1 GIH) … the Preds lead St. Louis (2 GIH) by nine points and Minnesota (0 GIH) by ten points. The Predators trail Vegas (1 GIH) by three points for the Western Conference lead.
Impact games tonight (all times Central) – 6pm – MIN @ NJD. 9:30pm – DAL @ LAK.
Playoff Odds Courtesy SportsClubStats.com - The Predators playoff chances are at 99.9%, they need 16 points in 23 games to get to the 97 point line.
The Playoff Point Line - I look at the point level needed for at least a 75%+ chance to make the playoffs… right now, 97 points gets you at 83.2% chance of making the playoffs, 96 gets you a 64.8% chance.
Playoff odds and playoff point line courtesy of SportsClubStats.com
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Random Notes
- Congratulation to the Team USA Women's team for bringing home the gold... first one in 20 years. A game definitely worth losing sleep over... someone pass me the toothpicks for my eyelids...
- If you don’t subscribe to The Athletic, you missed an outstanding article from Craig Custance on the Predators plans for Eeli Tolvanen and Mike Fisher’s return. All of those hockey writers that were laid off last year have found their way to The Athletic and I will say… their coverage is well worth the cost.
- According to Custance, the Predators will “have a contract in place to be able to execute” when Tolvanen is done with his KHL season… that quote is from Paul Fenton, Preds AGM. Anyone that thinks they can pry Tolvanen away from the Predators as part of the trade deadline is kidding themselves.
- Interesting how it took Pekka Rinne a little more than nine years to get his first 200 wins… it has taken him less than three to get to the cusp of 300.
- Viktor Arvidsson is on a point-per-game pace in his last 15 games.
- Eeli Watch – Eeli Tolvanen finished his Olympic tournament with 3 goals and 6 assists in 5 games. He will return to the KHL to finish their season. Tolvanen is the tournament's leading scorer as I write this.
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SlapShot Radio’s tenth anniversary season is on. 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 at 8am with Dan Keczmer in the co-host chair, we will preview the Sunday morning St. Louis game with Blues TV Color Analyst Darren Pang and talk to the Voice of the Predators, Pete Weber.
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
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TurfMasters.com. Also… 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 have opened 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.
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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
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