Predators Return to Winning Ways, Game Round-Up, and Friday Findings

We are starting to see more of the Predators type play that was expected at the start of the season. The Preds have played solid games in three of the last four outings and actually played well in all but about 15 minutes of Tuesday's game in Toronto.

Montreal was looking at last nights contest as a trap game and claimed that they played with little emotion against the Preds. It actually looked like they skated pretty hard but were stymied by the Predators. The Habs top line finished a combined -8 so I'm sure they were a bit bruised emotionally.

One real key, was the Preds great effort in clearing rebounds away from Pekka cutting out many of the second and third chances other teams have been getting after Pekka had gotten out of position.

Another point to be made is that the Habs are really missing Anderi Markov and have not adjusted to his absence which will be necessary for long term success.

It will be interesting to see what David Legwand's "lower body" injury actually entails. Barry Trotz was quoted as saying that it was "nothing major" but it seems like we have heard that before.

It's somewhat discouraging when the Predators play well and The Toronto Sun Labels the game a "snoozefest." Funny that that wasn't the case when the Leafs beat the Preds on Tuesday.

The Preds will practice in Montreal this morning and then head to Raleigh this afternoon where they will relax this evening while the Hurricanes are in Pittsburgh playing the Pens.

Game time on Saturday is 6 p.m. Central and there are no broadcast feeds available anywhere. A group of sixty folks are heading to Raleigh in the morning at 4 a.m. under the direction of Paul McCann and his wife Denise. We are fortunate to be among those going. We hope to be able to experience the famous Carolina tailgate experience first hand and get some video of all the festivities.

Preds-Habs Round-Up...

Here is our game story from last night.

The Tennessean carried the AP Story and Josh Cooper had his postgame ponderings.

From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, The View from 111, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, and Hockey Night in Nashville.

The other side of the story comes from All Habs, Habs Inside/Out, The Montreal Gazette, Faceoff, HabsWorld, Dennis Kane, The Active Stick, Eyes on the Prize, and Habs-Rants.

Faceoff had a piece about the special treatment the Habs fans gave Farankie Bouillon at the Bell Centre last night.

Shamless Self Promotion (Again)...

Here is the audio from my visit with Conor McKenna at Montreal's The Team 990 right before the puck drop for last night's game. Thanks to Conor and The Team for having me on once again.

In Preds Nation...

Ryan Porth caught up with Shane O'Brien for a Q and A at The Fourth Period.

Going into last night's game Barry Trotz was optimistic about the team's ability to comeback from Tuesday's loss.

Dirk Hoag looks behind the numbers at Sergei Kostitsyn's season to this point. According to the poll, fans like what they see more than the coaches.

Patten Fuqua is ready for a big comeback from Chet Pickard who has had a disappointing run.

Jeremy Gover has news of Ryan Ellis being honored before the Windsor Spitfires game on November 26. He recently broke the franchise points record for defensemen.

David Singleton's post at Hockey Independent takes a hard look at the Predators power play and several other aspects of their game.

Mark Willoughby has his weekly "My View" with some real insight into a mime's shortcoming.

NHL.com had a pre-game story of the Predators searching for wins in Montreal.

The latest on Pekka's jersey going into space is that it will occur no earlier than December 3.

From @kcwilson: SBJ Daily is reporting that the #Preds have seen the largest season-to-season attendance gain in the Western Conf.

Around the NHL...

The whole issue of Chris Botta losing his credential with the Islanders does not appear to be an isolated incident. B. D. Gallof has a strong opinion on the topic that was related in a post last month. Here's what Chris had to say in an interview with Jeff Marek on HNIC Radio.

Colin Campbell finally made a public response to recent revelations about pact comments that were exposed by Tyler Dellow at Mc79 Hockey. So what is Dellow's background? Here is a piece from Mass Live that says he's just a regular guy.

The big discussion this morning is the wild 8-7 game between Tampa Bay and Philadelphia last night where Steven Stamkos had another hat trick in route to a five point night.

Back to the NHL wheel of justice as Olli Jokinen received three games for a cross check to Wojtek Wolski and Mattias Ritola got two games for a hit from behind to Matt Moulson.

Andrew Ladd was named the Thrashers team captain, a position that has been vacant since the departure of Ilya Kovalchuk last season.

Adrian Dater ranks his top five NHL organizations. This could rankle a few Preds fans. Adrian's book, "Blood Feud" is now number one in North American hockey books for Kindle downloads.

Matt Reitz wants Kings fans to live in the moment just like his dog Kopi does.

Ryan Porth looks at what Steven Stamkos and Drew Doughty might get in their next contract.

Fred Poulin has his top ten defensive defensemen so far this year. What? No Predators?

How does a GM tell a player that he has been traded away when it happens to be father and son.

No heartbeat in Denver? Say it isn't so! This isn't even from Adrian Dater.

If you missed the Toews-Kane commercial that was pulled by Dell of of YouTube, it has resurfaced again here. It is incredibly creepy.

Odds and Ends...

A brilliant twilight launch of a Delta IV rocket is set for 6:06 Eastern tonight at Cape Canaveral. This is the largest liquid fueled rocket in the US today and should be a brilliant spectacle for those in Central Florida and along the Space Coast. Update from @InsideKSC: SCRUB: Tonight's launch of a Delta IV-Heavy with NRO payload from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station has been called off. New launch date TBD..

Also in Cocoa Beach, a 9 1/2 foot statute honoring 10 time world champion Kelly Slater was unveiled Wednesday on "Kelly Slater Day." The monument sits in the traffic triangle at the A1A split a couple of blocks from where Slater learned to surf as a child. (Our beachfront timeshare is about a block from the statute and is available for a cheap price in early March if anyone is looking for a a new years getaway.)

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass