It’s Game Night in Sin City as the Nashville Predators visit the Vegas Golden Knights for an early season matchup between Western Conference favorites. The Knights are off to a solid 4-2-0 start to their season, posting identical 2-1 records on the road and within the walls of T-Mobile Arena. The Predators have started 3-2 and are coming off of a weird 7-4 Saturday afternoon loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Talk about strange… the Preds jumped out to a 1-0 lead then fell apart… giving up three straight goals before putting on am furious third period rally to tie the game up… then gave up the game winner with just over a minute to go in the third period, two empty net goals quickly followed.
For Vegas, they won their first two games, beating San Jose in a home and home, then dropped two straight to Boston and Arizona, before beating the Flames and Kings.
Vegas has a high-powered offense and a solid defense… Mark Stone has 9 points (4g, 5a) to lead the team and 11 different players for Vegas have posted goals. They are fast, they are deep and they are off to a very good start to the season. Nashville’s start has been good, they have shown a resiliency that has served them well in comeback attempts, a successful one over Washington and one that fell short against LA.
Looks like Rocco Grimaldi may be back in the lineup tonight as he skated on a line with Austin Watson and Kyle Turris in practice yesterday. It looks like the Turris/Carr/Smith experiment is shelved for now.
Nashville is 1-2-0 at T-Mobile Arena… their lone win was back in January. The Preds have traditionally held the Vegas offense in check, shutting them out in that win described above. Nashville has won three of their last four against Vegas. I would expect Pekka Rinne back in net tonight to face off against Marc-Andre Fleury, who is off to another great start, posting a .933 save percentage.
Game time is 9pm central… brew up the coffee, it should be a good one. Coverage on Fox Sports Tennessee with Willy Daunic and Chris Mason… 102.5 the Game and the Predators Radio Network has coverage featuring the Voice of the Predators, Pete Weber and Hall Gill on color.
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Random Notes – Presented by
- Make plans to be at Bridgestone Arena early on Saturday as there will be a plaza party to celebrate Preds Pup, Smash’s birthday. There will be a pet adoption event as well as the Nashville Humane Association will be there.
- Ford Ice Center Bellevue is officially open. Now the game is on to decide where the next one will be.
- Matt Duchene continues to be top 10 in the league assist leaders with seven on the young season.
- What is up with the Dallas Stars… they dropped a 4-0 decision to Buffalo yesterday, dropping their season record to 1-5-1… after seven games, there is some reason for genuine concern in Dallas.
- The Chicago Blackhawks got their first win of the season last night, ending Edmonton’s fiove game season starting win streak. James Neal continues his torrid start for the Oilers, scoring his NHL leading 8th of the season in the loss.
- After Edmonton’s loss last night, Colorado is the lone unbeaten team in the NHL at 5-0-0.
- Tonight’s NHL schedule – 6pm – MIN @ TOR, TBL @ MTL. 7pm – ARI @ WPG, PHI @ CGY. 9pm – DET @ VAN, NSH @ VGK. 9:30pm – CAR @ LAK.
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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!
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