Heady days for the Nashville Predators, after a sweep of the Western Canada road trip, the team finds itself leading the Central Division and Western Conference with 46 points. It’s amazing what a 16-3-2 stretch can do for you in the standings. That’s the Predators record since November 1.
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. The Preds currently stand at 46 points, tied with St. Louis, but the Preds have played 3 less games… they lead Tuesday night’s opponent, the Winnipeg Jets, by 3 points and have played 2 less games heading into this crucial home matchup with the Jets. Those games-in-hand are critical to maintaining and building on their lead in the division.
Thursday night is a bit of a revenge game in Smashville as the Carolina Hurricanes hit town. The problem is, the ‘Canes show up in the same situation as the Preds shootout loss in Carolina a few weeks ago… the game is in a “trap… spot… a non-conference game between two divisional games. One of those easy to overlook games that come back to bite you if you are not careful.
To finish off the pre-Christmas schedule… the Predators head to Dallas where the resurgent Stars have worked their way back into a playoff spot and would like nothing more than to ruin Pred Nation’s Christmas. There are three Central teams battling for wild card position right now as Chicago and Dallas are in the wild card slots right now, but Minnesota, Calgary and Anaheim are breathing down their necks. Just another reason why Nashville needs to keep up the pressure and avoid that shmozzle below them in the playoff battle.
After the league mandated Christmas break, the Predators will come out with three more divisional games… at St. Louis on Wednesday the 27th then a home and home back-to-back with the Minnesota Wild to end 2017. Five out of the next six inside the division before the SlapShot Radio road trip to Vegas.
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Random Notes
- Nashville’s attitude is spot-on right now… to a man they recognized that the sweep of Western Canada was good… but not perfect. Still room for plenty of improvement with this team.
- Congratulations to Viktor Arvidsson, he posted his 100th NHL career point on Saturday night in Calgary.
- Filip Forsberg continues his outstanding season, in 32 games he has 32 points, including 15 goals.
- Start marking your schedule… World Juniors begins on the 26th and Pred Nation will certainly want to tune in on day one. Team Canada will take on Team Finland at 3pm, our first chance to check out Eeli Tolvanen for Finland… then Team USA is in action at 7pm for their first game, taking on Team Denmark. Both games are scheduled to be broadcast on NHL Network.
- KHL Watch – Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit team is back in action today as they take on Lada. Tolvanen has 17 goals and 15 assists for 32 points in 39 games.
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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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