Sunday, October 9, 2011

The Morning After Analysis and Links: Predators 4, Blues 2

It's a pretty safe bet that the Nashville Predators will not go undefeated this season but the 2-0 start on the road has been impressive. Including the preseason, they have won eight games in a row and have done it with contributions throughout the line-up.

Preseason questions about the David Poile's reliance on youth appear to have been answered in the first two games with Craig Smith leading the league in most rookie categories through two games. He won't continue at the same two point per game pace but he has not been over-matched against two fairly large teams.

The defense has looked solid in spite of the third pairing of Jack Hillen and Teemu Laakso being over-matched at times with opposition coaches trying to put their top scoring lines against the when possible.

If Ryan Suter and Kevin Klein continue to jump up on offense it should open opportunities for plenty of others as teams will not be able to lay off of them as scoring threats.

Miraculously, in the offseason, a whole crop of folks have learned that hanging out around the net can lead to rebound goals and it has paid off so far. That has played a big part in a rejuvenated power play and the penalty kill has not missed a beat from past successes.

After an off day today, the Preds will return to practice on Monday and continue to sort out their roster situation which continues to be fluid with an injury to Marty Erat and Mike Fisher and Francis Bouillon getting closer to a return every day.

Make the jump for a roundup from the game and a couple of videos...


Here is our game story from last night that includes our comments from the couch..

Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.

Bryan Mullen has his musings from St. Louis.

From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Jeremy Gover, Robby Stanley, Patten Fuqua, Dirk Hoag (with his advanced stats), Paul McCann, Predatorial, and Lady Preds. Smashville 24/7 has a second post about Pekka Rinne and Sunday's Morning Skate.

The other side of the story  from St. Louis comes from the Post-Dispatch, BlueNote Zone, Frozen Notes, Belleville Sports, In the Slot, Bleedin' Blue, Andy Strickland, and St. Louis Game Time..

Highlights come from NHL.com



Here is Zack Stortini's bout with Ryan Reaves from early in the contest.




More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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