The Nashville Predators salvaged a point in last night's match with Edmonton but still lost ground in the tough Western Conference Race.
With the point, the Preds moved up to ninth place with 73 points ahead of the idle Minnesota Wild who now a point back with a game in hand.
Vancouver won in OT against Columbus which keeps the BJ's four points behind us. Dallas beat Phoenix which moves the Stars a point ahead of the Preds. The Blues mailed it in to Calgary which puts the Flames two ahead and San Jose won in the shootout which puts them out of our range with 80 points.
There is no doubt that the Preds' loss hurt more than it would have had they been playing decently lately. Unfortunately, it was more of a confirmation that things appear to be headed in the wrong direction.
At some point, unless there is a turnaround, there will come a point where one of these type of losses will be the final nail in the coffin for the season. The Predators generally have played their best when their back was against the wall. If that holds true, they will surprise everyone with a win in Vancouver on Thursday.
The star of the game for the Predators last night was Jerred Smithson who went 13-1 in the face off circle while the rest of the team was 19-25.
Preds-Oilers Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night. Sorry about the snarky comments.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, Predatorial, Hockey Night in Nashville, and George Scoville.
Dirk Hoag had the video of Geoffrion's first goal posted fairly quickly after it was made.
Pekka Rinne told the Edmonton Journal that he was not impressed with Omark's shootout move.
From oil country comes the story from Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, The Copper and Blue, OilersNation, and Oil on Whyte.
In Pred Nation...
Josh Cooper got Shea Weber to say that he wants to stay in Nashville.
The Edmonton Journal has a piece on Blake Geoffrion. He's going to be as popular on the road as at home due to his heritage.
Dirk Hoag has a link to David Poile's appearance on The Zone yesterday where there were indications that Steve Sullivan may not return this season.
Ken Campbell has the Predators listed as a trade deadline loser in his analysis. He has generally been positive about the Preds this year.
It's hard to believe that the Preds are younger than the Oilers.
Interesting Tweet and quote from @dchesnokov: Radulov on the Remparts and Quebec: "I will remember Quebec forever. It was there when I had my best club victories with the Remparts. And even though all of that happened at the junior level, I will never forget it. I got so much over there - friends, fans, and the city itself will always hold a special place in my heart. At times I even think 'Why don't they have a professional team there?'. . . I don't think I would have left to go anywhere had I had the chance to stay there!"
The Milwaukee Admirals topped the Toronto Marlies 3-1 in an odd Tuesday day game. Mark Deckanich was sharp after a nine day layoff.
Programing Note...
Be sure and join us for Ryan Porth's RLD Radio at noon Central where the special guest will be NHL.com's Dave Lozo. He is a knowledgeable and entertaining guy who always has keen insights.
Around the NHL...
Last night was full of thrillers with Vancouver winning in eight rounds of a shoot out, San Jose finishing off the Avs, and Dallas winning with 4.8 seconds left (video) in Phoenix.
Alexander Ovechkin hasn't had the stats this year that folks are used to seeing but he hasn't lost his touch as seen in this overtime winner last night against the Islanders.
Here is a good example of what not to do in a world where everyone has a camera on their phone. These Patrick Kane pictures from Deadspin were tagged on Facebook.
It looks like the Sharks took a big risk signing Antti Niemi to a four-year $14.2 million deal. That seems like a high price to pay for a goalie that barely has a season's worth of playing time.
Elliotte Friedman has his weekly 30 thoughts with a discussion of restraint.
Despite a lot of folks saying the Kings overpaid for Dustin Penner, Kingscast is elated.
Ryan Porth rates the top five NHL GM's in their deadline dealings and also has the remaining strength of schedule for each team.
Pat Hoffman has his winners and losers too.
Puck Daddy rates all 30 teams with letter graded for the moves they made.
Down Goes Brown has their unique slant on the deadline deals.
While trades (or lack there of) were the order of the day on Monday, a few re-signings also occurred.
Ken Campbell reports that another entity may be interested in purchasing the Dallas Stars.
Justin Bourne looks at what a trade does to a player's family.
The Goldwater group's alleged looking out for the taxpayers best interest could cost them a fortune in higher interest rates so it appears.
It looks like Fox and Turner are showing interest in the NHL Cable package.
Odds and Ends...
It's really happening. "Michael" is leaving The Office. From RT @BBBaumgartner: This is Steve's last week on set. About to film his final scene in Accounting area with Oscar, Angela, and I.
Opening statements were heard in the Sedona "sweat lodge" trial where new age guru James Arthur Ray is on trial for three counts of manslaughter for the incident that occurred in October 2009.
The last US soldier from World War One died at 110.
If you are on a Verizon data plan, get ready to bend over.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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