It’s Fan Appreciation Night in Smashville as the Predators close out the regular season against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams have their playoff tickets punched and Columbus is looking for points to keep them in the 3rd slot in the Metro Division a regulation loss and a New Jersey win would put the Devils in the 3 slot and Columbus would end up playing Washington instead of the nemesis, the Pittsburgh Penguins. You wonder how much effort the Jackets will put into tonight…
For Nashville, it will be a celebration of one helluva year for the team, For the team itself… it’s another work day. The attitude on the flight home from Washington has been described to me as “subdued.… This team is laser focused on the playoffs to come and didn’t feel the need to party hearty on the trip back.
That’s the right attitude for a team that fell two games short last season.
In net, it does look like Pekka Rinne will get the start… get him a little work as the team is off through at least Tuesday… and no travel involved with the first two games. It’s easy to know who the Predators opponent will be… if St. Louis gets a point… a single point tonight… they get the second wild card… lot’s of speculation about a goalie pull happening if the game is tied with 2-3 minutes left. Columbus head coach John Tortorella is going with Joonas Korpisalo, 8-7-1 on the season
The President’s Trophy will be awarded tonight, the boys will do the traditional “shirts off their backs… giveaway in postgame, and the waiting game will begin…
It’s a long way to April 11… well.. it actually isn’t… it just feels that way. Game time tonight is 7pm. Pregame coverage on 102.5 the Game gets started at 6pm from Barrel House. Fox Sports Tennessee gets pregame going at 6:30pm. Puck drop somewhere around 7:07pm.
See you at the Bridge!!!
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“Where We Stand… update… a daily tracking of where the Preds are in the standings and the games that impact them most, brought to you by Mark Lonsway - THE real estate professional for hockey fans!
The Predators have clinched… • Their first ever Central Division Crown • Their first ever Western Conference Regular Season Points Crown • Their first President’s Trophy
Impact games tonight (all times Central) – 8pm – St. Louis @ Colorado … for the last Wild Card spot in the West,
The Current Opponent - If the playoffs began today, the Predators would draw the number 8 seed in the second wild card position… currently the Colorado Avalanche.
Most likely first round opponent - The highest percentage now goes to Colorado at 53.8%. St. Louis is at 46.2%. The Predators will play one of these two teams in the first round.
Teams that have punched their playoff ticket - Nashville, Tampa Bay, Boston, Winnipeg, Vegas, Washington, Toronto, Pittsburgh, San Jose, Minnesota, Anaheim, Los Angeles, Columbus, New Jersey. Only one Wild Card slot left in each conference. Playoff odds and playoff point line courtesy of SportsClubStats.com
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Random Notes
- Plenty of giveaways tonight as the team celebrates Fan Appreciation Night. All fans get a gold visor presented by Bridgestone
- The Predators have played the Jackets 42 times over their history… they have only lost 5 times in regulation.
- The Bread Man Artemi Panarin is leading Columbus in goals and points… 27g 82 points.
- Predators Owner and Chairman Tom Ciggaran will be the keynote speaker at the Haitian Community of Tennessee Presents First Annual Foundation Award Dinner and Auction next Tuesday night. The event benefits several projects in Haiti and tickets are still available here.
- Next one to be eliminated… with only two teams remaining outside of the playoff mix, the Florida Panthers are 4 points behind Philadelphia and their tragic number is now down to 1. The other team? The St. Louis Blues remain a point behind Colorado after their loss to Chicago last night… their tragic number is 3.
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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 are back to our normal Wednesday night 7pm timeslot and next week will be our annual playoff preview show!
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