Game Day, POTG Podcast, and More

Monday night's POTG Radio show was a fun one for us to do. We featured two of our best friends from the hockey blogosphere at the same time. We had Chris Wassel of The Program and Inside Hockey's Devil's beat writer, Michelle Kenneth.

After a recap of the new look Preds, we had an extensive discussion about the New Jersey Devils and the fast start that they have had as they have the best record in the Eastern Conference. For Preds fans, it is a good primer for the upcoming game on Thursday.

It was a bit of a bummer for our guest that the Devs lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 during the course of the show to end the Devs perfect 9-0 road record. That will make the Devils an even for fierce opponent for the Predators on Thursday night.

In the non-live portion of the podcast, we touched on a wide variety of topics from headshots, to poker, and Michelle travels and forthcoming book.

On a programming note, POTG Radio will not be on the next two Mondays due to Predator home games. We will return on Monday December 7 at the regular time and site.

Game Day vs. the San Jose Sharks...

The Nashville Predators (9-8-1) take on the San Jose Sharks (14-4-4) in a rematch of last week's 4-3 Sharks victory at the Shark Tank.

The Predators outplayed the Sharks for the better part of the game and led deep into the third period. The Sharks went ahead on a muffed play by goalie Dan Ellis with one minute to play.

The Predators rebounded from the heart-breaking loss with solid victories at St. Louis and at home against Montreal in what was as close to a perfect game as I have seen in recent memory. The Sharks are coming off a tough 4-3 overtime loss at Chicago on Sunday night.

Pekka Rinne will start in net for the Preds which is Barry Trotz tradition of rewarding goalkeepers with he next start after a shutout. Rinne is very close to re-solidifying the number one goalie position after sharing the top spot with Dan Ellis at the start of the season.

Evgeni Nabokov will probably start in goal for the Sharks but Shark's beat writer Davis Pollack indicated that another start for Thomas Greiss was possible since he got the win in last weeks match.

Tonight's game begins a pair of games where the Preds play the best team from the West, the Sharks, and the team with the best record in the East, the New Jersey Devils, in a 51 hour period. With the Preds on a roll over the last two games, it should be a good test to see the true character of this Predators team.

On paper, the game looks like a mis-match. The Preds are a respectable 7-3 in their last ten games but the Sharks have an even more impressive 12 game streak where they have not lost in regulation, going 9-0-3 during the run. They have lost two of the last three in overtime.

The Sharks are averaging 3.2 goals per game while the Preds are eeking out 2.1 goals per contest. The Sharks are fourth in the league on the power play (25.0%) and first in the league on the penalty kill (87.8%) while the Preds are last on the PP (11.6%) and 22nd on the PK (79.0%).

As we saw in last week's game, the stat page doesn't always tell the story as the teams were comparable until the last minute of play. After back to back solid games for the Predators, it will be interesting to see if they can piece together another strong effort to revenge last weeks loss in San Jose.

I would say that all eyes will be on Nashville but it would not be true. This is the third game this season that the Preds have been involved where there was on television coverage from either team, Versus or anywhere else. So if you want to see the game, pack up and head to the Sommet where tickets should be plentiful.

In Pred Nation...

John Glennon agrees with us that the Preds have hit a tough part of the schedule.

Bryan Mullin has a look at the Pred's Monday practice.

Jim Diamond takes a look at the G.O.A.L Program, a food drive and lunch with Pete and Terry.

Forechecker rounds up the Predator's "Not Alone" program.

Taking a long look ahead, with the recent improved play, Sports Club Stats has the Preds up to a 27.3% chance of making the playoffs with the magic number for points being somewhere in the 93-96 range.

Predators.com has a good roundup of the Milwaukee Admirals and how their season has gone to this point.

Dan Hamhuis talks about bonding over steak and lobster on the west coast at Inside Predators.

Eric Kent looks at the potential goalie controversy in Milwaukee at Admirals Short Shifts.

To get a look at what the Sharks were doing in Nashville on Monday check out David Pollak's story on the Sharks on their day off. Nashville is everyones favorite off day location.

Around the NHL...

Matt Reitz always has good stuff and he how has come up with 22 and under teams for both the Eastern and Western Conferences. He also has a look at the New Jesrsey Devils with commentary by Michelle Kenneth and Carlos Figueiredo.

From @TSNBobMcKenzie: "Forsberg staying in Sweden this season and playing for MoDo. No NHL for Foppa this season. If foot holds up, perhaps next year".

XM 204's Mike Ross found additional benefits to moving to the morning show it appears. From @HomeIceRossy: Looking forward to February when I will make my NHL public address announcing debut....Sens-Flames, Sens-Caps, Sens Leafs (in March). He should call Paul McCann for tips.

For some reason, Titans owner Bud Adams felt inspired to repeatedly give the Bills the bird at Sunday's Titans-Bills game. This really does wonders for Nashville's reputation in the sports world. Let's keep in mind that Bud is a transplant and not a local. I'm not sure his apology changes much. I'm not sure the $250,000 fine does either. Is it bad that I don't feel sorry for Bud and his fine?

Finally, our good friend Jeremy Gover dared his boss, Dawson McAllister to ride a mule to the Spring Hill McDonald's and here is what happened.



More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass