I wrote this on December 18th
10-3-1 in November… and just when you thought the team couldn’t get any hotter… the team is 6-0-1 in December heading into a critical week of two divisional showdowns sandwiched around a revenge game before the Christmas break.
Three losses later… the Preds are 6-2-2 in the month and have fallen out of first place in the division and conference. Now let’s face it… no team gets that kind of run to continue forever, but the way this team lost… two of three at home… that’s a bit of a different story.
So, the team looks to get back on the horse tonight as they leave for St. Louis at 9am this morning, a rare game day travel scenario driven by the Christmas break. They jump back in with three divisional games, including a weekend home and home with Minnesota before a New Year’s west coast swing that sees the team heading to Vegas for the SlapShot Radio Road Trip, then Arizona and LA before returning home for five in a row sandwiched around their bye week. After the West Coast roadie, The Preds will only leave Smashville once, a pre All-Star Break trip to New Jersey.
The biggest advantage the Nashville has going into the middle of the season is games in hand. They hold 2 games over Winnipeg, Dallas and Anaheim and 3 games over St. Louis who they trail by a single point in the standings. Those games in hand make tonight’s showdown even more important. It gives the Predators an opportunity to jump ahead of the Blues and maintain those games in hand to extend it.
St. Louis deserves a lot of credit for their performance so far this season, they are missing Robby Fabbri, Jaden Schwartz and Jay Bouwmeester and they continue to hang in there. The Blues have lost 157 man games to injury… some teams won’t hit that number in a season, they have done this in 38 games. The Predators continue to list Ryan Ellis on IR, but his return is expected within the next week.
The key for St. Louis… score first… they are 17-3-1 in games where they scored first. They also get great goal production from their blueline and they are tied for 4th in the league in defenseman goals… Nashville ranks first. . Who will be in net? For Nashville, I expect Pekka Rinne… for the Blues, it should be Jake Allen… but don’t be surprised if Carter Hutton gets the nod… Hutton is 5-3-0 with a 1.63 GAA and a .948 save percentage, although one of Hutton’s losses came to Nashville back in November.
Should be a good one, 7pm faceoff at Scottrade Center. Coverage gets going with pregame on 102.5 the Game at 6pm, Predators Live at 6:30pm on Fox Sports Tennessee.
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ICYMI - The holiday edition of SlapShot Radio
Thanks to 102.5 the Game and SiriusXM’s NHL Network Radio for the multiple plays!
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Random Notes
- PK Subban continues to lead the Central Division in All Star voting.
- Kevin Fiala’s nine game point streak was snapped against Dallas
- Congratulations to Team USA on a dominating performance to get their tournament started, spanking Team Denmark 9-0. Pred prospect Patrick Harper had a goal and an assist.
- Eeli Watch – Eeli Tolvanen is participating in World Juniors, Team Finland was beaten by Team Canada yesterday 4-2, Tolvanen posted an assist in the loss Team Finland takes on Denmark tomorrow
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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. We have a special holiday edition that will begin running at 8am on Saturday on 102.5 the Game. We will also be airing on NHL Network Radio on SiriusXM throughout the holiday as part of SXM’s Christmas programming.
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