It’s Game Night in Smashville as the Colorado Avalanche hit town. It’s the third consecutive divisional game for Nashville as they are 1-0-1 against the Central so far. Colorado is off to a surprising start considering the low expectations for this team in preseason, they are 4-2-0, good for 2nd in the division. They are undefeated at home, but .500 on the road, coming off a loss in Dallas on Saturday.
The Av’s are led by future Predator/Canadien/Blackhawk/Sabre/Islander/Blue Jacket/Flyer/Penguin Matt Duchene. A tip o’ the hat to Duchene for putting all of the trade rumor craziness aside, putting his head down and just playing hockey. He is on a point-per-game pace right now with three goals and three assists… he is getting help from Nail Yakupov and Sven Andrighetto along with Nathan McKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog.
Have the Avalanche finally found their groove?
Well… it doesn’t hurt that goaltender Semyon Varlamov has been lights out in his four starts, going 3-1 with a 1.76 GAA and a .944 Save Percentage. Believe it or not… tonight will be a difficult test for the Predators after Saturday’s heartbreaker in Chicago.
The story in Nashville continues to be injuries with Ryan Ellis on IR until the holidays. Roman Josi appears to be close to a return after missing three games with a lower-body injury. Nick Bonino went down in the second period Saturday night and did not participate in yesterday’s practice. Neither did Yannick Weber who took a filthy hit from Martin Hanzal in the Dallas game. He is reported to have an upper body injury.
Time for the Predators depth to show itself again. Counting Josi, the Predators have 20 healthy players to ice tonight, but no wiggle room is Weber and Bonino can’t go. The Predators may call someone up from Milwaukee, but no word on that yet…
Pekka Rinne seems to have it dialed in, the defense has been solid. The team played their fastest game of the year Saturday and appears to have their focus back… all good signs for Pred Nation.
Game time is 7pm, some tickets are available, if you purchase at the team’s website, you can get a $10 discount by using the pormo code “Dunkin.” That also gets you a promo item from Dunkin Donuts. Pregame coverage begins at 6pm on 102.5 the Game, 6:30pm on Fox Sports Tennessee. Game coverage starts at 7pm, Willy Daunic and Chris Mason have the call on TV, the Voice of the Predators, Pete Weber and Hal Gill will be describing the action on the Predators Radio Network.
See you at Bridgestone Arena…
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The SPHL is doing something really creative for their playoffs… they have initiated a “Challenge Round” for their playoffs this season. The top three seeds will choose their first round opponent. The #4 seed will get whoever’s left.
A fascinating idea that certainly adds a new level to the phrase “pick your poison.”
Watch this one… the SPHL has generated quite a few ideas that were labeled crazy to start with, then eventually got adopted by higher leagues.
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Random Notes
- Filip Forsberg is tied for the NHL lead in power play goals with four.
- Tonight is Colin Wilson’s first trip back to Nashville since being traded to the Avalanche. He is off to a slow start with 1 assist so far this season.
- The Predators take off tomorrow for Philly to close out the season series with the Flyers, then head to New York for a Saturday matinee at MSG against the Rangers.
- A resurgence for Nail Yakupov? After flaming out with the Oilers and Blues, Yakupov may have found a home in the Rockies… he is off to a great start to the season.
- Glad to see Eddie Olczyk will be back in the NBC booth tomorrow night.
- KHL Watch – Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit club has now won 14 in a row, beating Salavat Yulaev 2-0 yesterday with Tolvanen posting an assist. Tolvanen has 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points in 17 games so far. Jokerit plays Ak Bars later today as they go for the 15th consecutive win.
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At long last, SlapShot Radio is available on iTunes!
Here is the link!
Just one more way to catch SlapShot Radio whenever you want!
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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 tomorrow night. 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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