Smashville will gather at Bridgestone Arena tonight for an open house and a watch party as the Predators close out their regular season at the MTS Centre to take on the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets are playing for pride, the Predators playing for positioning.
You have to wonder when the rebuild happens in Winnipeg as this is the fifth time in their six seasons since moving from Atlanta that the team has missed the playoffs… and the one time they made it, they went down without a win. They have some very, very good offensive talent, but struggle from the blueline back. The Jets have put on one of their patented late season, out-of-the-playoffs win streaks that give fans hope and the front office cover to not make changes. Winnipeg is on a six game win streak and certainly wouldn’t mind finishing with a seven gamer. The hard part is to try and figure out if this win streak is a real signal… or fool’s gold.
Excitement is high in Jets country as 21 year old goaltender Mike Comrie made his NHL debut against Columbus, posting 35 saves in the win and putting on quite a display between the pipes. Not sure if we will see the youngster tonight, but pretty sure Pekka Rinne will be manning the net for Nashville as Juuse Saros went on Thursday in Dallas.
If the Preds win tonight, they haves three potential finishing spots that come with three different potential opponents… let’s break each scenario them down, keep in mind that the Preds come out on the short end of tiebreakers with Calgary and St. Louis, although there are some bizarre tie breaks that may come into play, I’m not going into those here…
Scenario One – Preds Win / St. Louis loses tonight and Sunday, both in regulation – This will capture third in the Central and a matchup with Minnesota. A “be careful what you wish for… scenario. The Predators have never played the Wild in the playoffs.
Scenario Two - Preds win /St. Louis gains at least one point in their last two games / Calgary loses tonight – Nashville will then capture the first wild card slot and play the Pacific Division champ, This is when things get a little nuts as the Pacific title is still up for grabs, and won’t be settled until tomorrow night as Anaheim plays LA with a 7:30pm central start time. Any Anaheim point or Edmonton loss clinches the division for the Ducks. The Oilers must win both of their games this weekend. The Predators are 2-0 against the Ducks and have never played the Oilers in the playoffs.
Scenario Three -Preds win / Calgary wins / St. Louis gains at least a point in their last two games OR Preds lose tonight – This results in a showdown with the hated Chicago Blackhawks. There has been lots of chatter about this potential matchup, some saying that the Predators need to avoid it at all costs… I take a different tack. I say, “If you want to be the man, you gotta beat the man.… The Predators are 0-2 all time in playoff series with Chicago. Well get deeper into this matchup if it materializes.
There is certainly something for the Predators to play for, they were certainly firing on all cylinders in Dallas Thursday night. Something that made Pred Nation happy heading into the playoffs, but it will be incumbent upon the team to continue its’ defensively responsible side as the playoffs begin.
Game time is 6pm, game coverage on 102.5 the Game and the Predators Radio Network begins at 5pm with pregame. TV pregame on Fox Sports Tennessee gets going at 5:30pm.
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Random Notes
- Where We Stand – After yesterday’s play, the Nashville Predators have 94 points in 81 games played and remain in the 2nd Wild Card slot, they trail St. Louis for 3rd spot in the Central by one point, the Blues have a game in hand. The Preds are tied with Calgary for the first Wild Card slot, Calgary owns the tiebreaker.
- Impact Game(s) Tonight - STL @ CAR – A Blues win and they clinch third in the Central. CGY @ SJS – A Calgary loss combined with a Preds win clinches the first wild card, and another series with Anaheim.
- Preds Matchup Chances - Chicago – 63.3% (unchanged), Anaheim – 29.2% (unchanged), Minnesota – 2.8% (unchanged) Edmonton – 4.7% (unchanged.)
- If the Playoffs Started Today - As the 8 seed in the West, the Predators would play the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round.
- Teams that have clinched playoff spots - 15 down, 1 to go… Washington, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, New York Rangers, Anaheim, San Jose, Edmonton, Montreal, Calgary, St. Louis, Nashville, Boston and Ottawa have punched their tickets.
- Playoff “Tragic Numbers… - In the East… Tampa Bay = 2, New York Islanders = 2. (Stick tap to Damian Echevarrieta for this data)
- The Playoff “Pucker…? - Toronto fans are getting really nervous as Tampa Bay won’t go away… another big win for the Lightning last night… the Leafs finish at home against Pittsburgh and Columbus and it begs the question, what does it do to a young team if they don’t make the playoffs after being in the mix all year?
- The playoff schedule will not be announced until late Sunday night as games with playoff seed implications may go until 10:30pm central time.
- Congratulations to Team USA as they took down Canada in overtime to take the Women’s World Championship last night.
- This is the third season in Predators franchise history to have two 30 goal scorers and the second consecutive time this has occurred.
- Fourteen games in the NHL today, all times CST – 11:30am – NYR @ OTT, CBJ @ PHI. 2pm – WSH @ BOS. 5pm – CHI @ LAK, NYI @ NJD. 6pm – NSH @ WPG, PIT @ TOR, MTL @ DET, BUF @ FLA, STL @ CAR. 7pm – COL @ DAL, 8pm – MIN @ ARI. 9pm – EDM @ VAN, CGY @ SJS.
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