That’s a good way to start a season as the Nashville Predators posted a workmanlike 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Opening Night in Smashville. There was the usual pomp and circumstance of an opening night in the NHL, the gold carpet, the team intros, the reveal of a banner… y’know the normal stuff… the win was the sixth consecutive win over the Wild.
So the big story? There was a couple of them… five different scorers over all four lines. A great start of the season for Mikael Granlund, great contributions from the defense, Kyle Turris looking very much like the player from two seasons ago, a dominating performance from a team where there are loads of expectations heaped on…
But the star of the night could very have been Matt Duchene who posted three assists and seemed to fit seamlessly into the Predators lineup… almost like he belongs here (irony absolutely intended.)
There was a bit of a sense of dejavu all over again as the Predators were dominating the play through most of the first period and half of the second, they had a goal waived off and only managed to get a single goal for their efforts. Then the let down... for about four minutes in the second period and in that timeframe, they gave gave up the momentum, two goals and the lead.
You could feel the “uh-oh, here we go again” feeling permeating Bridgestone Arena.
But head coach Peter Laviolette, as Pekka Rinne put it “woke us up at the second intermission.” Not sure if it was a round of Red Bulls, perhaps some coffee… or a good ole fashioned tongue lashing… but the team was unleashed in the third period, scoring goals almost at will and finished it off with an empty netter to seal the 5-2 win.
Game one is in the books, Detroit comes to town tomorrow night as the season opening four game homestand continues. Puck drop at 7pm.
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Random Notes – Presented by
it will be interesting to see where he fits in
- Craig Smith got his 300th career point
- Last night was the 154th consecutive sellout at Bridgestone Arena. Smashville has come a long way…
- The Central Division have all played at least one game except Chicago, they lift the lid on their season tonight in Prague, puck drop on NHL Network is 1pm CT. Only Colorado and Nashville has won their first game…
- The additions of Jacob Trouba and Artemi Panarin paid immediate dividends for the New York Rangers… they posted a 6-4 win over Winnipeg last night
- Somebody break up the Sabres! Buffalo posted a 3-1 win over the Penguins in their season opener.
- Five games in the NHL tonight – CHI @ PHI (Prague) 1pm on NHL Network, WPG @ NJD – 6pm on NHL Network, WSH @ NYI 6pm, TOR @ CBJ 6pm, VGK @ SJS 9:30pm
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SlapShot Radio is back for our 12th season as Zack, Brent and I will be moving the show to Monday night’s this year. The best hour of hockey talk on the longest running hockey show in the southeast will begin the season at 8pm and will settle into our normal 7pm slot after Thanksgiving… Monday’s on 102.5 the Game.
Our sponsor list continues to grow. Not only are we welcoming back
Drs. Jane Bacon and Aileen Kruger at Hermitage Family and Cosmetic Dentistry … make your appointment at (615) 872-7762 and our good friend Carter Church, Your Mufreesboro real estate expert with Weichert – The Andrews Group. And our newest sponsors…
Cool Springs Wines and Spirits! The largest spirit store in all of middle Tennessee! And La-Z-Boy Nashville! Three locations, locally owned and operated, check out La-Z-Boy in Mufreesboro, Hendersonville and Cool Springs!
The new season promises to be the best yet and we get going on tonight!
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