It’s Game Night in the Twin Cities as the Nashville Predators put their five-game winning streak on the line versus a three-game shutout streak belonging to Wild netminder Devan Dubnyk. Tonight is the first of three straight for Nashville against Central Division opponents.
It’s a “something’s gotta give… game tonight… the Predators have been filling the net over their five game win streak, the Wild have kept theirs empty. The Wild have been scoring enough to win, mostly from Jason Zucker who has seven goals in his last five games. The Predators are averaging 4.6 goals per game over their win streak.
Irresistible force… meet immovable object.
If you look at it… as goes Dubnyk, so goes the Minnesota Wild. The Wild netminder was at a pedestrian .903 save percentage before this streak… he is now at a .926 coming into this game. You could say the same thing about Predator’s goaltender Pekka Rinne, but Rinne has been a little more consistent so far this year, and when he has a bad game, the Predators seem to score enough to pick him up, as was the case on Tuesday night against the Caps.
Tonight is one of three one game road trips left in November, the next extended roadie is a mid-December trip to western Canada. With eight of the next twelve inside the friendly confines of Bridgestone Arena, the Predators seem to be making the most of their opportunity. Game time is 7pm at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Coverage begins with pregame on 102.5 the Game at 6pm… Predators Live begins at 6:30pm on Fox Sports Tennessee.
---------------------------------
ICYMI – Here is last night’s SlapShot Radio featuring the radio color analyst from the Minnesota Wild, Mike Greenlay and the founders for OffThePipeHockey.com and the Nashville Predators Fan Page on Facebook, Nate Harber and Taylor Parks.
---------------------------------
Random Notes
- Six different scorers Tuesday night, contributions from all four lines and the blueline. Good sign…
- Nice to see Nick Bonino crack the scoresheet… the Predators will need his offensive contribution.
- The NHL is tracking the use of the Coaches Challenge, only five teams have not requested a challenge yet this season… Boston, New Jersey, Calgary, Edmonton and Nashville. - Saturday night continues Hockey Fights Cancer Week in Smashville. Donations will be taken, the silent auction will benefit cancer research and the $1 concession add on will also be available. Limited tickets remain for the game.
- KHL Watch – Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit club won their return to the ice yesterday, 6-3 and Tolvanen was back, posting two goals and two assists bringing his season total to 16 goals and 13 assists for 29 points in 28 games. Tolvanen is now third in the KHL in goal scoring, four goals behind Ilya Kovalchuk for second.
------------------------------------
------------------------------------- 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. Our next show is Saturday November 25th at 7am, due to the Predators playing during our normal Wednesday timeslot.
We have been delivering great hockey talk to the most energetic and engaged fans in radio and advertising with us drives results 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.
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.
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.