The home portion of the Nashville Predators regular season is complete as the team finishes with two wins on home ice and a 23-11-7 record inside the friendly confines. They finish the regular season in Dallas tomorrow night with nothing on the line except staying healthy.
Last night’s 3-2 overtime win… and no… that is not a typo… over the Arizona Coyotes was a bit of a snoozer until the captain woke up a slumbering Smashville, hammering home a power play goal eight minutes into the third period. Shea Weber’s goal tied him for the franchise record in power play goal scoring in a single season. Then, with the net empty and Smashville buzzing, Filip Forsberg tipped in a Roman Josi shot to tie things up with 19 seconds to go in regulation.
With a 1-12 record in the 3-on-3, there was not much reason for optimism beyond momentum as overtime began… but… just 20 seconds into the extra frame, Roman Josi tucked home the game winner past a sprawling Mike Smith.
And there was much rejoicing…
The “Shirts Off Their Back… promo is always a lot sweeter following a victory and 27 lucky fans participated after the game, laughing and joking with that players.
The Predators playoff opponent is still TBD however, last night’s Freeway Faceoff between the Kings and Ducks made things a little clearer. The Kings hold a two point lead and the tie breaker over Anaheim giving Nashville a 90.2% chance to play LA in the first round, per sportsclubstats.com.
The team heads out to Dallas today with a good chance to know their opponent by the time Sunday dawns.
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Congratulations to the Predators for an outstanding season in the stands…
- 35 sellouts – a new franchise record (old record was 30) - 99.2% capacity attendance – ties franchise record from lockout shortened 2012-13 - 695,828 total attendance – a new franchise record (old record was 691,028)
Great job by the Preds ticket sales and marketing team! Congratulations!
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Random Notes
- “Where They Stand… – Entering tonight’s play, the Nashville Predators are locked at the 4 slot in the Central Division with 96 points. The Predators have clinched the first wild card slot. Minnesota has clinched the second wild card.
- The Central Division banner comes down to tomorrow night… Dallas and St. Louis both have 107 points. The Stars host the Preds and the Blues host Washington. Dallas holds the tiebreaker.
- Ruh roh… The Chicago Blackhawks expect to be back at full strength in time for game one next week as Corey Crawford, Artem Arnisimov, Marian Hossa and Andrew Shaw are all expected to be healthy for the playoffs.
- The best I can tell… if Dallas wins tomorrow, they get Minnesota and St. Louis gets the pleasure of Chicago’s company in Round One. If Los Angeles wins tomorrow, the Preds get LA and San Jose will tangle with Anaheim.
- The East is a much different story… way too many variables for matchups, although the last two spots are fairly easy to figure… The Flyers clinch by winning their last two (against NYI and PIT… good luck with that.) The Red Wings clinch by beating NYR. The Bruins clinch by beating Ottawa with a Red Wings loss. Only Detroit and Philly has control of their playoff tickets…
- Bad break (no pun intended) for the Islanders, losing Anders Lee to a leg fracture last night.
- Jonathan Drouin returned to the Tampa lineup last night, scoring the game winner in the Lightning’s 4-2 win over New Jersey.
- One game in the NHL tonight, all times central – 6pm – CBJ @ BUF. ------------------------------------
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