A couple of housekeeping items… first off, I apologize for my lack of blogging this last week… the day job was crazy and I simply did not have the chance. Besides… it wouldn’t have been much fun anayway.
I do want to take a minute, as things wind down today and we focus on family and the reason for this holiday season to say thank you to each and every one of you who had read this blog over the past 14 years. I appreciate your feedback and the time you spend reading my crackpot ruminations on this team.
From the entire McCann family, may the peace and love of this glorious season surround you. May you be with ones that you love… I wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas!
Now, on to today’s post… So much for my predictions…
A schedule that should… I said should end the Preds road woes, they have not won a game on the road since November 10th. However, the Preds are 10-0-0 against the Eastern Conference so far this season, so one of these streaks is going to go away…
Well… one of those streaks did go away… the wrong one… after dropping all four games and getting only a single point out of eight possible, the Predators are now 10-2-1 against the Eastern Conference and still haven’t won on the road since November 10th. The losing streak has helped the Predators drop to second in the Central, four points behind the Jets and third in the West. You can look at all the reasons for this, but it all boils down to one thing.
Injuries.
Three players, responsible for over 27% of the team’s offense have missed a combined 51 games. Viktor Arvidsson has missed 21 games, PK Subban has missed 19 and Filip Forsberg has missed 11. Add in Kyle Turris missing eight over that same time span… it has simply been brutal.
Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Is it an oncoming train?
Those are questions facing this Predators team as most of Pred Nation has been lining up to sit on Santa’s knee and ask him to bring some health back to the Preds. That health appears to be coming… Viktor Arvidsson and PK Subban are close to returning, maybe as soon as the Dallas game. Forsberg appears to be a little further away from return, probably after New Year’s.
The one good thing you can say about a slump like this… it is a good lesson for a team to learn as a season progresses, this slump happening now is a lot better than it happening in March. It’s the best positive spin you can find on this. It’s stretches like this that have Pred fans glad for the team’s hot start to the season… but that pad is basically gone… no matter what the injury situation, this team does need to step it up when they return from the holiday break.
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Random Notes
- Milwaukee Update –The Admirals also went into the Christmas breakl with a loss, Chicago beat the Ad’s 3-1 on Saturday night. The Ad’s are officially in the third slot of the AHL’s Central Division, tied in points with Chicago and Grand Rapids who have the one and two slots respectively.
- Nashville has loaned Eeli Tolvanen to the Finnish World Juniors Squad. Looking forward to seeing him show his growth. The WJC drops the puck on Wednesday. Fuinland plays Sweden at 9:30pm CT, the game is on NHL Network.
- The US heads into the WJC as a favorite in Group B. They are looking for their fourth straight medal after winning the Gold in 2017.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning head into the Christmas break as the hottest team in the NHL, going 9-0-1 in their last 10..
- Loved the Hurricanes wearing the old Whalers jerseys last night, despite the grouchy old men complaining about it…
- If you haven’t seen the annual PK Subban Holiday video… go find it!
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