Last night was a special night at Bridgestone Arena, not only did the Preds get back on the winning track by beating Ottawa 3-1, there was also a special recognition of the US Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2018.
The 2018 induction celebration is tonight in Nashville and the four living nominees of the Class of 2018 hall were in Smashville last night, it was quite a thrill for this longtime hockey fan to introduce Red Berenson, Natalie Darwitz, fellow HB writer Paul Stewart and of course GMDP, David Poile for a well-deserved recognition for their years of service and hockey success. They join storied names like Herb Brooks, Rod Langway, Hobey Baker and the 1960 and 1980 Olympic Teams in the USHHOF.
Turning to the game… things started out shaky for the Preds, just :34 seconds into the game, Pekka Rinne gave up a stinker of a goal to put the Preds in an 0-1 hole and silencing the Tuesday night sellout crowd in Smashville. That was the bad news… the good news is that Nashville picked themselves up and went to work, chopping away, ratcheting up the pressure on Ottawa until Austin Watson deposited a nice redirect of a Mattias Ekholm shot from the point to tie it up before the end of the first period.
The work continued in the second period and nine minutes in, Ryan Ellis executed a beauty of a give and go with Romen Josi, slamming home a beauty from the slot, putting the Predators in the lead for good. It was a gorgeous goal… and as pretty as that one was, Craig Smith’s power move in the third salted the game away.
Smith picked up a loose puck in the PReds defensive end and took off down the right wing… he kicked it into gear at the top of the circle leaving the Senators defender in the dust, made an incredible move to cut to the front of the net a flipped a backhander past a very surprised Craig Anderson to give the Predators their two goal win margin.
It was a badly needed win for the Preds, it put them back into first in the conference and showed that a simpler game works for them. They played some solid, basic, fundamental hockey and were rewarded for it. It’s something that will have to continue as they slog through the injury situation they are in.
Speaking of injuries… Signs of hope are breaking out as Kyle Turris has been practicing with the team, although in a non-contact jersey so far. Also, PK Subban, Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson have all been skating in the last few days. While expectations for Arvidsson and Forsberg are probably around the New Year for a return there has been no timetable at all for PK Subban.
Efforts like last night will continue to be needed… Vancouver hits town for a rematch from last Thursday night tomorrow at Bridgestone… limited tickets available.
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Random Notes
- Milwaukee Update –The Admirals snapped their three game losing streak by taking down Grand Rapids 5-2 last night at Panther Arena. The game featured one heckuva fight between the Ad’s Tanner Jeannot and Dominic Shine. Look it up on You Tube… it’s worth it. The Ad’s are back in action Friday night.
- The Predators are 9-0-0 against the Eastern Conference… which could be good news as four of the next six are against Eastern Conference teams.
- It’s the most wonderful time, of the year… World Juniors is coming!!! Day one is December 26th! NHL Network will be covering.
- Dontcha just love NY columnists trying to tell you what to think? The playoff format is fine, despite the kvetching about good teams going out early… ummmm news flash… that’s why you play the games!
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SlapShot Radio’s 11th season is on! 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. We are on every Wednesday night on the Predators flagship station, 102.5 the Game, there is a player show on Wednesday so our next show is 12/19 when we will be talking to former NHL ref and 2018 USHHoF inductee Paul Stewart, about the honor, his career and his new book “Ya Wanna Go?”
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