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Revenge Week Continues

January 18, 2018, 11:15 AM ET [1 Comments]
Paul McCann
Nashville Predators Blogger •Predators Radio Network • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Revenge Week continues at Bridgestone Arena as the Predators welcome the Arizona Coyotes to Smashville. The boys in gold are looking to atone for their overtime loss to Arizona two weeks ago. Arizona is looking to get off the schnide as they have gone 0-3-1 since that win on January 4th in Glendale.

Nashville is gunning to continue the win streak they have been on since that desert loss, the Preds are 3-0-0 since then, coming off the bye week with a stirring 1-0 win over Vegas. After a tough stretch over the holidays, the Predators appear to have righted the ship and are surviving without Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson. The question tonight… will Ryan Johansen be able to go after taking a nasty hit from Vegas forward William Carrier. The hit was controversial in Pred Nation, but ultimately drew no consequences from the officials or the league. For a really good explanation as to why the hit was not penalized… check out Preds Insiders from last night. I co-hosted with Ryan Porth and we had former NHL official Kerry Fraser on to explain the hit and the differences with the Cogliano hit that drew two games from the DoPS.

Here's the whole show, the segment with Kerry Fraser begins at the 12:20 mark…


Moving on to tonight… Johansen practiced yesterday… a good sign, and we are keeping fingers crossed that RyJo is able to go tonight.

In net, expect Antti Raanta to start in net for the Desert Dogs, for Nashville… I expect Pekka Rinne back between the pipes. We spent some time talking about this in last night’s show and the play of Juuse Saros will be nothing but good for the unquestioned starter for this team. Saros performance certainly drives Rinne and I’ve said and written this many times… that back pressure in the roster does push the guys getting the playing time… it’s no different in net.

Fascinating the difference in philosophy between coaches… former coach Barry Trotz traditionally rewarded a shutout with the next start, Coach Laviolette is definitely different, summed up in this quote from yesterday, “I think we've already stiffed a couple goalies who have gotten shutouts and planked them after they did get a shutout this year, so I guess we don't care much about that." Indeed.

Arizona has struggled inside the friendly confines no matter who has been between the pipes, they have lost their last six at Bridgestone Arena, being outscored by a count of 20-10 in those six games. The biggest key to a Preds win tonight is to contain rookie Clayton Keller who is the Coyotes team leader in goals, assists and points.
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Game time is 7pm at Bridgestone Arena… coverage on 102.5 the Game begins with pregame, live from the Barrell House at 6pm… Fox Sports Tennessee’s pregame is live from the Fox Sports Zone at 6:30pm. Limited tickets remain…

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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 stand second in the Central Division with 58 points, one point behind Winnipeg (3 GIH) and one point ahead of St. Louis (4 GIH) … the Preds lead Dallas (3 GIH) by three points and Los Angeles (1 GIH) by five points.

Impact games tonight (all times Central) – 6pm – DAL @ CBJ. 6:30pm – STL @ OTT. 9pm – PIT @ LAK.

Playoff Odds Courtesy SportsClubStats.com - The Predators playoff chances are now at 97% after yesterday’s play.

The Playoff Point Line - I look at the point level needed for a 75%+ chance to make the playoffs… right now, it stands at 97 points.

Western Conference Teams on Bye Week - Winnipeg, Calgary, Minnesota, Chicago, Edmonton, Vancouver.

Playoff odds and playoff point line courtesy of SportsClubStats.com

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Random Notes

- One of the best parts of Tuesday night’s win was seeing Pekka Rinne make sure that a game puck went to Juuse Saros. He made a point to skate after the off-ice officials to get it. Good team mate…

- Coach Laviolette shook up the lines a bit in yesterday’s practice… not sure if that is what will go tonight, but you can see him trying to find new combinations to get the offense back on a more consistent track.

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- The market for goaltenders may get nuts as the Blackhawks are dealing with the loss of Corey Crawford, perhaps for the entire season…

- Wow… the NHL is getting all kinds of grief on social media for selecting Kid Rock to perform at the All-Star Game.

- Vegas begins an interesting back-to-back tonight in Florida, taking on Tampa tonight and the Panthers tomorrow… a loss tonight give Vegas their first three game losing streak since late October.

- Eeli Watch – Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit team dropped a 2-1 decision to Ak Bars yesterday. Tolvanen had one shot on goal and was held off the scoresheet. He has 17 goals and 16 assists in 43 KHL games.

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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, except when we are on Saturday mornings at 8am… like this week. Our co-hosts, Dan Keczmer and JP Dumont bring a true insiders perspective to the show. Dan Keczmer is back in the co-host chair for our next show on Saturday at 8am. Greg Wyshynski is joining us and we will have a preview of the Panthers game as well.

We have been delivering great hockey talk to the most energetic and engaged fans in radio and advertising with us drives results4 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. 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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