Hope everyone had a nice holiday... I took a little blog break to spend holiday time with the family... so, let's get to it!
Matinee game time today as the Nashville Predators are in Raleigh for a noon faceoff against the Carolina Hurricanes in the final game of the annual father’s trip for the Preds. It’s the classic definition of a trap game for Nashville, coming between two huge divisional games, Friday’s big win at St. Louis and Tuesday’s home showdown with the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Hurricanes are finishing a long holiday home stand that turned sour quick as the Canes are trying to avoid a third straight home loss after dropping decisions to the Rangers and Maple Leafs… a turkey sandwich if you will that surrounded Thanksgiving (sorry bout that.)
No day of game skate today, so we won’t know anything about lineups until the teams hit the ice for pregame at around 11:25 this morning. In net for Carolina? Who Knows? Cam Ward was pulled on Friday night loss, and while Ward has the better win percentage, Scott Darling has almost triple the starts that the veteran netminder. For Nashville… this could be a perfect place for a Juuse Saros start… Eastern Conference opponent, struggling a bit… but Pekka Rinne is following up on a shutout. Whoever is in net for Nashville needs to be ready to work as Carolina has outshot their opponents in 17 of their first 21 games.
The Hurricanes like to play run-and-gun a bit, a game that Nashville is happy to play along with. Both teams have speed to burn so this is a point to watch for, along with the blueline… Carolina has a really good, albeit young, defense corps and an ability to mount comebacks. Something, the Preds have been susceptible to so no lead may be safe today.
Game time is noon central. Pregame coverage begins at 11am on 102.5 the Game and the Predators Radio Network, Fox Sports Tennessee coverage begins at 11:30.
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Random Notes
- Pekka Rinne’s Friday night whitewash of the Blues was his 45th career shutout.
- Ryan Johansen posted his 200th assist of his career on Friday… following his posting of his 300th career point on Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena.
- The Central Division standings continue to be tight, tight, tight. St. Louis beat Montreal last night to put them five ahead of the Preds, Winnipeg’s loss keeps them one point ahead of Nashville, a win today puts Nashville in second place in the central.
- The Preds return home for four consecutive home games and five of their next six inside the friendly confines.
- KHL Watch - Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit club was idle yesterday. Tolvanen now has 17 goals and 13 assists for 30 points in 31 games. Jokerit is back in action today.
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------------------------------------- SlapShot Radio has an exciting season in store for our tenth anniversary. 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.
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We are also welcoming a new sponsor to the SlapShot Radio family… 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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