Thanksgiving Week is here and the Predators are home for the holiday… mostly, starting tonight as the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town to complete the season series between these two cup favorites. Nashville won the first game between these two teams, posting a 4-1 victory at Amalie Arena on November 1. Let’s take a look at the week ahead, then we will preview tonight’s matchup.
After tonight’s game, the St. Louis Blues come to Smashville to start a Thanksgiving sandwich home and home in the eve of the holiday. The team then heads to St. Louis on Thanksgiving night for a Black Friday game at Enterprise Center. This is the first time these two teams have met this season. The Blues have been a major disappointment 18 games into the season, posting only 17 points over that time. The Blues dropped a 4-0 decision to San Jose Saturday and has the LA Kings tonight.
The Predators come home after that single game roadie to finish the holiday week with a rare Sunday night game at Bridgestone Arena as our old friends, the Anaheim Ducks come a-callin’. That game starts a five game homestand for the Predators. A key week with a lot of divisional implications for Nashville that gets started tonight.
The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to rule the Eastern Conference, but the high-flying Toronto Maple Leafs are nipping at their heels, only 1 point behind them in the Atlantic Division. As the Lightning website refers to it, Tampa is looking for payback after Pekka Rinne stoned the Bolts, stopping 41 of 42 shots poured on the big Finn. The goaltending matchup will be different as Andrei Vasilevskiy is on IR, so expect either Louis Domingue or Eddie Pasquale in net for the Bolts.
Without Vasilevskiy, the Lightning know they have to do it with offense and their special teams are acting like it, potting seven power play goals in their last two games, both wins… they beat Pittsburgh 4-3 and Philly 6-5 in overtime… an obvious key for Nashville is to stay out of the box and keep that lethal power play sidelined. For Nashville, they are looking to build off their most productive special teams performance of the year, going 2-4 on the power play and also potting a shortie.
Defensively, the Preds are adjusting to the loss of PK Subban, however the team seemed to be a little more solid on defense Saturday night, with the possible exception of a :90 second period in the second. The return of Dan Hamhuis certainly helped in that regard. The offense is certainly making the changes necessary to live life without Viktor Arvidsson for 6 weeks.
Holiday week drops the puck tonight at 7:07pm… very limited tickets remain for tonight’s inter-conference showdown. It should be a good one… Coverage begins with pregame on 102.5 the Game at 6pm, live from the Barrel House, Fox Sports Tennessee coverage begins at 6:30pm… Game coverage on both media starts at 7pm.
See you at the Bridge!
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Random Notes
- Milwaukee Update – After being shut out twice in Iowa, the Ad’s returned to the friendly confines and beat Ontario Saturday night 2-1. Eeli Tolvanen scored his fourth of the season bringing his point total up to 11. The Ad’s are back in action Wednesday night. Ad’s Head Coach Karl Taylor is joining us tomorrow night on SlapShot Radio for our “Down on the Farm” segment, sponsored by The Patrick J Brown Agency of Farmers Insurance.
- Calle Jarnkrok’s hattie on Saturday was only the second one in Predators history that scored in three different ways… even strength, power play and short-handed.
- The Preds power play popped it’s average up going 2-4 on Saturday… their home conversion is now at 14.6%
- I liked the look of the Johansen/Forsberg/Smith line… they were dangerous all night long.
- I love the memes about the NHL.com player survey, where 16 players named Bridgestone Arena as the toughest rink to play in… I especially loved all the banner jokes.
- Remember- SlapShot Radio is on Tuesday night this week… 7pm on 102.5 the Game.
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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 except Thanksgiving week, we will be on Tuesday night at 7pm with Admiral’s head coach Karl Taylor.
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