After their franchise record point streak was snapped on Saturday night, you had to wonder how the Predators were going to react… consider that question answered. In last night’s 3-2 win over Edmonton, the Predators came out with some jam, counter punched well, rode some outstanding goaltending and came away with the two points to finish the last extended road trip of the season 3-1-1, taking seven out of ten possible points.
I’ll take that kind of record on every roadie. Oh… and by the way, James Neal posted a hat trick. The fourth hattie of the year for the Predators, a franchise first.
James Neal had Edmonton goaltender Laurent Brossoit completely confounded, using and abusing the young goaltender for his sixth career hat trick and his second in Predator Gold. You could see how much Neal release was handcuffing the rookie netminder and Neal took full advantage.
So, now the Predators are back in their own beds, home for a little while as five of their next six games are inside the friendly confines of Bridgestone Arena. Thursday night is a St. Patty’s Day battle with a serious Eastern Conference playoff contender in the New York Islanders and then head out afterwards for the second half of the back-to-back against the Washington Capitals… a very difficult back-to-back both in travel and in quality of competition.
The team then has four straight at home, Los Angeles in a potential playoff preview, Vancouver in a rematch of the streak breaker, the Columbus Blue Jackets in the middle of their normal late-season tease, and finishing off with the Colorado Avalanche. Not an easy stretch by any measure.
Playing well and well-positioned… the Predators are now where we thought they would be at the beginning of the season, in the thick of the playoff race, with a real chance to make a deep run.
Can’t ask for more than that.
----------------------------
Random Notes
- “Where They Stand… – Entering tonight’s play, the Nashville Predators are 4th in the Central Division with 83 points, trailing 3rd Place Chicago by 5 points and 1st place Dallas / St. Louis by 8 points. The Predators lead Minnesota and Colorado by 9 points, the Wild have a game in hand on Nashville. The Predators are in the first wild card slot, leading Minnesota and Colorado.
- Per SportsClubStats.com, the Predators playoff chances stand at 99.3% heading into tonight’s play. According to the site, finishing with 93 points or better will give the team a 99%+ chance on being in the playoffs.
- Plenty of folk are asking who the Preds match up best with for round one… I always say it… cases can be made for all potential matchups but be careful what you wish for.
- The Predators now have two potential 30 goal scorers this season. Last night’s hattie puts James Neal at 26 for the season and Filip Forsberg has 28… there are 12 games remaining in the regular season
- Vesey Watch – Harvard took down Rensselaer in the ECA Quarterfinals and are off to Lake Placid this weekend for the ECAC Tournament to defend their title. Jimmy Vesey had 2 goals and 1 assist in the series clinching win. The Crimson will take on St. Lawrence Friday night at Herb Brooks Arena, the winner of that game will get the winner of Quinnipiac / Dartmouth on Saturday night. Getting to the semi’s in the ECAC virtually assures Harvard of an At-Large bid to the NCAA’s.
- Fascinating battle developing in the Eastern Conference for the Wild Card positions. Pittsburgh and Detroit own the two wild card slots right now, but Philadelphia, who is 7-2-1 in their last ten, is playing well and is only three points out, they have two games in hand on Detroit and one game in hand on Pittsburgh.
- The NHL announced that blue line cameras will be installed for the playoffs to assist in coach’s challenges
- Eight games in the NHL tonight, all times central – 6pm – NYI @ PIT, CAR @ WSH. 6:30pm – FLA @ MTL, DET @ PHI, TBL @ TML, MIN @ OTT. 7:30pm – LAK @ DAL. 9pm – BOS @ SJS. ------------------------------------
------------------------------------- Season eight of SlapShot Radio is on! Join us every Wednesday night at 7 on 102.5 the Game. Pete Weber and I preview the upcoming week and take a look back at the week that was. We are back on Wednesday this week… so far we have Chris King from the New York Islanders helping us preview Thursday night with more guest announcements to come.
SlapShot Radio is the longest running hockey show in the mid-south delivering great hockey talk to the most energetic and engaged fans in radio. Our premier, day one sponsor is Dr. Jane Bacon at Hermitage Family and Cosmetic Dentistry … make your appointment at (615) 872-7762. Also, our newest member of the SSR Sponsorship family is Mark Lonsway at ReMax Fine Homes, call him for all your real estate needs at (615) 207-7799.
Advertisers… reach out to me to access our activated listener base via email 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.
-------------------------------------
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.