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Winter Classic Eve

December 31, 2019, 2:05 PM ET [9 Comments]
Paul McCann
Nashville Predators Blogger •Predators Radio Network • RSSArchiveCONTACT
As good as pre-Christmas hockey was… well… the first two games back were a bit… disappointing, however, as 2020 dawns tomorrow and the Predators take the ice for their first Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl.

This is shaping up to be a rather strange season for the Nashville Predators with issues that are new to Pred Nation. Look, the team is only three points out of a playoff spot in the standings, with games in hand over everyone they are chasing. Heck, if you want to feel a lot better, look at the standings by points percentage. The Preds are solidly in the 8 spot.

This strange season is showing a bizarre push and pull between the analytics and the eye test. There is a lot of “eye test” complaining about the defense but if you look at the analytics… the defense is doing it’s job, the Predators are 4th in the league in Shots Allowed per game.

The one place where the eyes and stats line up… between the pipes. Longtime readers of this blog know that I am not the first one to throw to play “blame the goalie” but... Pekka Rinne is tied for 54th in the league in Save Percentage at a .894, Juuse Saros is 62nd with a .890. The story is not much better in the Goals Against category… Rinne at a 3.02 (40th in league among goalies with double digit games) and Saros at a 3.23 (53rd) … I can’t remember when the Predators goaltending was this low in the stats.

There are ebbs and flows to a season, what is different this season is that each goaltender seems to hit the same ebbs and flows at the same time.

Offensively, you simply can’t feel good about a team that continues to have defensemen as their leading scorers and your third line being the largest threat on the ice. Matt Duchene’s cold streak appears to be ending, Filip Forsberg has been looking more dangerous lately, showing all the signs of one of his patented goal scoring tears and Viktor Arvidsson is heating up as well. All of this need to continue for this team to put themselves back in the hunt.

It needs to start tomorrow… it needs to start at puck drop tomorrow.

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Random Notes – Presented by

- Congratulation to the captain, Roman Josi on his well-deserved All-Star selection.

- Nashville International Airport has been owned by departing Predator fans … Gold everywhere! Including almost every Southwest flight headed to Love Field!

- January starts off with a critical (and kinda weird) road trip that takes the Preds to the West Coast, back home, to Chicago, Winnipeg then out to Edmonton before coming home for two before the All-Star break.

- Tonight’s games – Noon – BOS @ NYD, NYI @ WSH. 2pm – ANA @ VGK. 5pm TOR @ MIN. 6pm – TBL @ BUF, MTL @ CAR, FLA @ CBJ. 6:30pm – SJS @ DET. 7pm – WPG @ COL. 8pm – PHI @ LAK, CHI @ CGY, NYR @ EDM, STL @ ARI.

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SlapShot Radio is back for our 12th season as Zack, Brent and I are now on Monday night’s this season. The best hour of hockey talk on the longest running hockey show in the southeast … 7pm Mondays on 102.5 the Game. Our next show is Monday, December 30th at 7pm.

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 Murfreesboro 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 Murfreesboro, Hendersonville and Cool Springs!

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