POTG Wednesday Headlines, Thoughts, and Links

This year may be turning in to the best first round in recent Stanley Cup history. We have seen the Wings sweep the Yotes, the Caps win over the Rangers in five games, two six game series, and finally four game sevens.This is the most game sevens since 1995.

Last night, we saw the Habs beat the Bruins in a 2-1 nail biter to force game Flyers finally best the Sabres, the Flyers finally finish off the Sabres in a 5-3 romp, and finally in a game that lived up to its billing, Vancouver beat Chicago 2-1 in overtime on Alex Burrows game winner.

The Predators will now face Vancouver starting later this week. Early reports out of Vancouver indicate game one tomorrow which would mean the Predators would have to leave today. Nothing is official and we should know the schedule later this morning. In the meantime, the Preds are set to practice at the Bridgestone Arena this morning at 11 a.m.

In a little while we will have information, stats, and records for tonight's two game sevens featuring the Bolts at the pens and the Habs at Boston. We will also have the Selke nominees at 11 a.m. CDT.

Follow the jump for today's headlines and links...



Programming Note...

I am set to appear on NHL Home Ice this morning with Mick Kern and Peter Berce on The War Room at 10:40 to discuss the Predators and Canucks.

RLD Hockey Talk will be tomorrow at Noon CDT and will be a  2nd round preview featuring Jeff Marek previewing the Easter Conference games and Adrian Dater looking at the West..


In Pred Nation...

Here is NHL.com's first look at the Preds-Canucks match.

David Boclair has an update on Marty Erat who says he is ready to play.

Brian Mullen has a story about Steve Sullivan getting his youth back and a notes column.

Amanda DiPaolo did an analysis of who the Preds would beat in the next round before last night's Nucks-Hawks game.

Congrats to Jeremy and Section 303 for the great publicity from WSMV who ran this story on Monday night.

Robby Stanley has an important reminder that the Preds still have work to do.

Dirk Hoag found a YouTube video of the Preds' handshake line on Sunday and notes that Randy Carlyle did not participate. Dirk also has a nice quote from Don Cherry about Jordin Tootoo's return.

Canada discovered the Predators and the National Post has a nice piece.

Saku Koivu is still what ifing "the faceoff" in game five.

Chris Burton looks at the consequences of the Predators success.

J.R. Lind has another photoshop challenge for what the Predators did to celebrate their round one win.

Josh at Fang Finger Fever puts the bow on the Preds-Ducks series.

Fang Faction has a post about "Pro sports in TN" and I pissed some folks off yesterday who were talking NBA with my "What is a Grizzly?" quip. I'm sorry. I admit that I do not consider the NBA or the Grizzleys a topic that I take seriously.

The Milwaukee Admirals open their series against Houston at home on Friday night. Tickets are on sale now.

Tim McQuade of The Hockey Writers looks at what to take from the Ducks-Preds series.

The Edmonton Journal looks at the lack of stars on the Predators with a focus on team success.

The Dex Score and Win fundraiser announced that they had donated almost $30,000 this season.

Around the NHL....


We posted a video last night of Teemu Selanne talking about Paul Kariya possibly coming out of retirement to play in Anaheim once again. J. P. Hoornstra has more detail.

Steve Lapore calls for a little less cynicism on the new NHL-NBC TV deal.

Brad Kurtzberg has a good round up of the first round series as of yesterday.

The IIHF site is getting ready for the World Championships that begin on Friday. The site is lacking  information that fans are used to getting from the NHL.

There are signs that the Rangers will go after Brad Richards this summer.

Bil Daly now says the Goldwater institute is "irrelevant" in the Coyotessale to Matthew Hulsizer.

Down Goes Brown has a primer on the UFC for hockey fans. This may come in handy when the playoffs are over.

Vintage Leaf Memories looks at game seven of the Montreal-Boston series in 1979.

Odds and Ends...

Here is a sneak peek at Steve Carell's final episode of The Office tomorrow night.

Qik has a new updated app for Android that should make it more usable.

LifeHacker has a few suggestions on extending an Android phone's batter life.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass