First off, top of the mornin’ to ya! This is the day where there are two kinds of people in the world, those that put on silly accents, drink strangely colored beer and do enormous damage to their livers… and the people who do it every day of the year! :-) A Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you.
Second, I have a confession to make... For those who have wondered where my blog has been for the last couple of days. Well… I’ve been seeing another sport.
I’m sorry… March Madness didn’t mean anything to me… I mean it just happened…
I’ll never let it happen again… really…
Although, seriously… I have been having a blast calling the Nashville games in the 2nd/3rd round of the NCAA Men's Tournament. A couple of great upsets last night and a good compliment of Predator fans at Bridgestone Arena taking in the games. How did I know there were Pred fans in the house? The tell-tale "Thanks Paul!" after the one minute warning! :-)
But now… back to hockey.
The Predators are in La-La-land for a back-to-back with Los Angeles and Anaheim. Always a tough set with one team in the five team smozzle battling for the last two playoff spots and one team now playing out the string. Los Angeles has played the Preds tough this year and Nashville is looking to even the season series and gain two very valuable points.
LA is still missing Scott Parse and Simon Gagne, Nashville injured list is growing, adding Paul Gaustad to the group of wounded Preds that include Kevin Klein and Roman Josi. All are listed as out for tonight’s match.
In looking at March in three game increments like Coach Barry Trotz likes to do, you want to see the team pick up four out of every six points. In the first two three game segments the team has done just a little better that that.
Look for Jonathan Quick in net for the Kings, it is a bit of an open question for Nashville. With a back-to-back, expect Pekka Rinne to start one and Anders Lindback to start the other. Speculation is that Lindback will be in net tonight. The challenge for Nashville is to play better in front of him. Lindback’s record is not a good one this year, he has started seven games, only one at home and has only posted two wins (one in relief of Rinne.)
Game time is 9:30 central, Pete McWeber and Terry O’Crisp has the call on Fox Sports Tennessee, Tom Callahan will be on the job for the Predators Radio Network flagship 102.5 the Game.
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“A Long March” – Tracing the stretch run…
Points Available – 30
Points Gained So Far – 9 out of 12
3/03 – @ Florida – W 3-1
3/06 – Los Angeles – L 5-4
3/08 – Colorado – W 4-2
3/10 – Detroit – W 3-2
3/12 – @ Phoenix – W (SO) 5-4
3/15 – @ San Jose – OTL (SO) 2-1
3/17 – @ Los Angeles –
3/18 - @ Anaheim –
3/20 – Edmonton –
3/22 - @ Pittsburgh –
3/24 – Winnipeg –
3/25 - @ Chicago –
3/27 - @ St. Louis –
3/30 - @ Detroit –
3/31 – Chicago –
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Random Notes…
- With 12 games remaining in the regular season, the Predators remain 5th in the Western Conference standings with 90 points, trailing conference leading St. Louis by eight points and Detroit by one point. The Predators lead Chicago by four points. Nashville has two games in hand over St. Louis and Chicago and one game in hand over Detroit.
- No updates on the #RadsWatch.
- Gotta love the chanting of Jets fans “Crosby’s Better” at Alex Ovechkin… that’s 303-worthy!
- Chicago’s Jonathan Towes may have suffered a setback in his recovery from his “uipper-body-injury”… bad news for the Blackhawks.
Tonight’s Impact Games
St. Louis @ Tampa Bay – The Blues have cooled a bit and the news of losing Andy McDonald for two weeks doesn’t help. Tampa has 12 games to go and are seven points out of the playoffs, they must win out to even have a prayer.
Detroit @ San Jose – The Red Wings road record now stands at 16-20-1 and they are holding a slim one point lead over Nashville, their most likely first round opponent. With that road record, the Wings will want to hold on to the 4th spot. San Jose is in 9th as play begins today, coming off a desperately needed shootout win over the Predators. The battle for the 7 and 8 spot is between five teams and the Sharks can’t waste a point.
SportsClubStats Update
Predators Playoff Chances – 99.98%
Highest % Potential First Round Playoff Opponent – St. Louis 7.3%, Detroit 80.8%
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