I’d like to invite you to tune in to the Stadium Series Game tomorrow night in Annapolis. I am very excited to let you know that I will be doing the PA for the game. Game time is 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central on NBC.
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The Nashville Predators won their sixth consecutive game, overcoming some seriously bad officiating that helped them to a two goal deficit in the first period, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 4-2, completing the season sweep of the Oilers. The victory gave Predators GM his 1320th career win as a general manager, passing Glen Sather as the winningest GM in the 100 year history of the NHL.
Think about that… more wins than any other GM in the league’s history. It does boggle the mind… especially given how horrendous the Washington Capitals were when he took them over… I was in college when he did that, I used to go to Caps games at Cap Center and it was just a little hockey amongst a few close friends and Flyer fans would take over every time they hit town … attendance was bad, the team was bad… never really building from their expansion season, until David Poile took over. Poile built the Caps into a contender, but never could seem to push them over the edge from contender to champion… The Caps team that went to the Finals was David Poile’s team, only the year after he left the team. The genesis of how Washington is packing Capital One Center started with David Poile.
His next job was building an expansion team from scratch… and my, what a job he has done to where 20 years later, the promised land is in sight. He came so close last year he could touch it, smell it, a tantalizing taste of the ultimate goal that he is so laser focused on. It’s the only thing missing from an incredible resume… a sure fire Hall of Fame resume.
After the win, the team awarded him the Wolf mask as player of the game in recognition of his stunning achievement. It was somehow fitting that GMDP set the record in Edmonton… Poile lived in Edmonton from the ages of 3 to 13 and he passed the architect of Edmonton’s Cup run in the 80’s.
So let’s talk about the game… Edmonton got spotted a two goal lead off of some… shall we say unfrozen caveman refereeing? The complex rules obviously frightened and confused them… The Preds dominated the first period everywhere but the scoreboard.
As the second period started, Edmonton really shut the Predators down, playing with discipline and with structure that was highly frustrating to Nashville, but the Preds kept working… looking for the opening to ignite the offense. The ignition began with a saveas Pekka Rinne stoned Connor McDavid on a breakaway which led to the opening that came in the 16th minute… The Bonino/Hartnell/Jarnkrok line has been a sparkplug for this team lately… and they did it again last night as they combined for some fancy passing down low as Bonino found Jarnkrok who fed it right back to Bonino who found Hartnell in the slot… and the lead was halved.
It looked like things were going to end 2-1 going into the second break but Filip Forsberg found a streaking Viktor Arvidsson who poked home the game-tying goal with 10 seconds remaining in the period for a back breaker.
In a lot of respects, it was game over right there, the Oilers have a bad habit of blowing two goal leads and they just did it again but they came out with a little fire in the third. More up and down play until Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson combined again for the go ahead goal with a little more than five minutes to go and Austin Watson put the final nail in the coffin, converting a sweet pass from Ryan Hartman.
Here are the highlights…
The Predators are in Vancouver tonight, completing the second half of the back-to-back. The Canucks had a solid start to the season, but the rebuild is definitely on in Canuck country. Vancouver has two less points that the Oilers, but they seem to be finding some new talent in names like Brock Boeser and Bo Harvat.
Boeser leads the Canucks in goals and overall points, posting 29 goals and 25 assists on the season. He is the real deal and will be one of the building blocks for this franchise as they move past the Sedin era. The twins are still contributing, but Vancouver looks to be ready to turn the page.
No idea who will get the start for Vancouver tonight, you can expect Juuse Saros to get the nod between the pipes for Nashville. Game time is 9pm central with pregame starting at 8pm on 102.5 the Game and 8:30 on Fox Sports Tennessee.
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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 89 points, leading Winnipeg (0 GIH) by six points and ten points ahead of Minnesota (1 GIH.) The Predators lead the Western Conference by two points over Vegas (0 GIH) and trail the Tampa Bay Lightning (2 GIH) by three points.
Impact games tonight (all times Central) – 7pm – DET @ WPG. 9pm – OTT @ VGK.
Playoff Odds Courtesy SportsClubStats.com - The Predators playoff chances are at 99.99%, they need 7 points in 19 games to get to the 96 point line.
The Playoff Point Line - I look at the point level needed for at least a 75%+ chance to make the playoffs… the weekend’s play saw a shift here… right now, 96 points gets you at 74.4% chance of making the playoffs, 95 gets you a 52.5% chance.
Playoff odds and playoff point line courtesy of SportsClubStats.com
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Random Notes
- Last night was Nashville’s 12th consecutive win over Edmonton incluiding six straight in Edmonton.
- Ryan Hartman continues to rock it… he had an assist on Watson’s goal adding to his game winner on Tuesday.
- The question is still out there… When does Mike Fisher make his return?
- That the Predators have a wait list for season tickets is something to wrap your head around… the fact that over 1000 fans have made their first payment and are on it is simply stunning!
- Eeli Watch – Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit team dropped its’ season finale against Dinamo Riga 3-1. Tolvanen scored the lone goal for Jokerit. Tolvanen finished the regular season with 19g, 17a for 36 points in 49 games The KHL playoffs begin tomorrow with Jokerit playing HC Sochi in the first round.
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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 March 10th at 8am due to Predators Live players show on Wednesday.
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. 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.
We are also happy to welcome our latest sponsor… Patrick Brown’s Farmer Insurance Agency in Mt. Juliet… I switched to them a few years back and their service has been incredible! Give Pat and his team a call at 615-288-2086.
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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