Tuesday Tidbits, POTG Podcast with Brian Metzer, and Game Preview

We would like to offer a special thanks to Brian Metzer of From The Point and XM 204 NHL Home Ice, who was our only guest on last night's POTG Radio. We had a great, wide-ranging discussion about the Penguins, hockey media, as well as numerous topics about the NHL in general.

Brian has worn many hats over the past several years in covering the Penguins for Hockey Buzz and XM Radio. He has a great radio presence that he developed doing the Penguins Buzzcast for several years and is a great listen.

Check out the podcast on BlogTalkRadio or subscribe on iTunes.

Predators vs. Flyers Tonight...

The Philadelphia Flyers make a rare visit to the Bridgestone Arena tonight for their first meeting with the Predators in Nashville since December 3, 2005 . The Preds won that meeting 4-3 on a shootout goal by Paul Kariya. This is just the third meeting in the last ten years in Nashville.

The Preds will face a Flyers team that has former Predators Scott Hartnell, Ryan Parent and Kimmo Timonen on their roster. The Flyers have a great power play (3rd in the NHL) and also lead the league in penalty minutes (16.9 min per game).

Philadelphia is loaded with scorers and are lead by Jeff Carter (32g, 26a), Mike Richards (26g, 28a), Daniel Brierre (24g, 20a) and Chris Pronger (9g, 40a). A surprising Michael Leighton (17-9-2, 2.78, .907) will start in goal.

Pred's Keys to the Game...

Score on the Power Play... With the Flyers being the most penalized team in the league the Preds should get several opportunities to use their reborn power play.

Play with Dicipline... The Preds need to avoid getting lured into the Flyers rough and tumble brand of hockey and need to stick to the game plan that has worked well for them lately. The Flyers have a strong power play unit that doesn't need any ice time.

Net Presence... Patric Hornqvist and others have learned to hang out near the crease and be ready to rebounds to pick up "dirty" goals. The Preds need to shoot often, limit the Flyers scoring chances and take goals any way they can get them.

The Preds got a little help in the playoff race last night when Detroit beat Calgary 2-1 in regulation giving the Preds a four point lead over the ninth place Flames.

Here are hopeful Flyer perspectives on the game from phillyburbs and philly.com.

In Pred Nation...

John Glennon has the story of ex-Predators Scott Harnell and Kimmo Timonen returning to Nashville for the first time as well as the Game at a Glance.

David Boclair has the story of the Pred's delayed fight home on Sunday.

Monday's Preds practice session that was scheduled for 11:30 at Centennial was canceled due to flight delays on Sunday night that did not see the ream get back until the wee hours of the morning.

Another oddity from the calendar, The Predators are scheduled to wear their white jersey's in tonight's game versus Philadelphia. I'm not sure why we would do this unless the Philly orange will be worn to appease UT fans.

Congrats to OnTheForcheck side-kick Chris Burton who is moving to Cycle Like the Sedins. Chris also has his Five Questions with a Flyers Blogger ahead of tonight's match. Chris has tonight's game preview as well.

Preds101 has a hopeful story that the worst days in the Pred's franchise history are behind them.

Around the NHL...

Congrats to Twitter Queen Dani Muccio (aka @dani3boyz) who has been named the Islanders Director of Social Media. We can all say that we knew her when...

In somewhat of a surprise move Alex Ovechkin was suspended for two games for his hit on Brian Campbell on Sunday.

Kyle Roussel asks the question I've been wondering of of why Max Lapierre got four games for a similar play on Scotty Nichol while Ovechkin got less for his hit on Sunday. There is also video for easy comparison.

Darren Dreger reports that the NHL and NHLPA would like to expedite the "blindside" rule.

Colin Campbell will be in the house in Boston on Thursday for what has been deemed "Matt Cooke retribution night." So will the old adage where the person throwing the second punch will be the one that get's seen apply?

Kingscast has an interesting episode that involves the Pred's win on Sunday after the DST change.

Matt Reitz looks at roles players play on an NHL team and how they accept the role can lead to success.

From Steve Lapore, NBC's ratings were down for last Sunday's game. I guess Chicago is not a big draw as they have been involved in the three lowest ratings of the year. Steve also has the news that the DirecTV and Versus have settled their differences.

Michelle Kenneth looks at Andy Green becoming a celebrity this season.

The Canadians are being stalked (admittedly) by Kristi and Christina. Funny.

Odds and Ends...

What if Twitter could talk? It would be Bubbly. It is a new service that has one minute messages to your followers that is not available in the US and Europe.

Last week I got a letter warning me that I would get my Census form this week. I got the form on Monday. Now I find out that I will get a "reminder" post card next week regardless of whether I send it in or not. What a waste of taxpayer's money! For anyone that files tax forms with the IRS the feds already have the same information that is requested on the Census form.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass