Taking a look at the Central Division standings, you get a sense of how critical this home and home with the Minnesota Wild is. The Predators have a chance to put some serious distance between themselves and the dogpile developing in the wild card race. Right now, there are eight teams in contention for the two slots, all within 5 points of each other.
That does include the Minnesota Wild, currently standing at 41 points in 37 games played. They are coming into tonight’s game off a solid 4-2 win over Dallas and are looking to get healthier… goaltender Devan Dubnyk is looking to return to the Wild lineup tonight and Zach Parise is on a conditioning assignment in Iowa, so his return is imminent as well.
This is the second game between these two teams this season, the Wild took a crazy 6-4 decision from Nashville back in November, with the Preds blowing a 3-0 lead. This one may get decided by special teams as the number one most penalized team (Nashville) meets the number two most penalized team. The Wild’s PK at Xcel Energy Center has been incredible, killing off 93% of their shorthanded opportunities, only giving up 4 power play goals at home this season.
This is the Predators fifth set of back-to-backs and the first home and home. Nashville has been excellent in this situation so far this season, going 4-0-0 in the first game and 3-1-0 in the back half.
In a perfect world… the Predators have a golden opportunity to put the Wild firmly in their rear view mirror and open up a massive 12 point lead over Minnesota as 2017 comes to a close… The Wild will not go quietly… game time is 7pm tonight in St. Paul. Pregame begins on 1025 the Game at 6pm… TV coverage is on NBCSN at 7pm.
------------------------------------
Random Notes
- Former Pred Eric Nystrom has filed a lawsuit against the team with the goal of “lifetime medical benefits… according to Nystom’s lawyer, Gregg Ramos.
- Ryan Ellis is drawing closer to returning for Nashville…
- IN World Juniors play, team USA dropped their first game of the tournament yesterday… the showdown with Canada takes place today… outside!
- Eeli Watch – Eeli Tolvanen is participating in World Juniors, Team Finland beat Denmark yesterday, Tolvanen posted his second assist of the tournament.
------------------------------------
------------------------------------- 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 8am on Saturday on 102.5 the Game featuring Tom Reid from the Minnesota Wild and Milwaukee Admirals play-by-play man Aaron Sims.
We have been delivering great hockey talk to the most energetic and engaged fans in radio and advertising with us drives results4 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 are opening 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.
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.
-------------------------------------
KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Predators Buzz, a one-stop feed for all things Predators-related on HockeyBuzz. Your subscription includes a free 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month thereafter. For more information, click here.