Coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to Detroit on Saturday, the Nashville Predators need to refocus and win their final three games against teams that are going nowhere.
Taken individually, any one of the three could be considered a "trap" game but as it is could you call this a "trap" week?
First up is Atlanta on Tuesday night who is on the outside of the top eight in the Eastern Conference. They are 5-5 in their last ten games and have played decently at times lately.
On Friday and Saturday, the Preds play division opponents Columbus in Nashville and St. Louis on the road respectively. Nashville has beaten Columbus sixteen straight times at Bridgestone Arena and I'm sure the Bluejackets have their calendars circled with this meeting being their "playoff game."
There is little doubt that St. Louis is also pointing to their final home game on Saturday, looking for a bit of redemption for a mediocre season by beating the Predators, with the potential of ending their good season on a sour note.
After the game Saturday, Barry Trotz was not that worried about the Predator's play and was pleased with their third period response to Detroit tying the game up. "They get a goal and were tied up, then we are all over them. We had 15 scoring chances in the third period, they had four."
I thought in the third period that Jimmy Howard was the difference. It wasn't poor play by us, he was the difference in the third. I thought we were really strong on the draws against one of the top teams on the draw and we did a great job."
The Predators need to come out with that same type of pressure and enthusiasm tomorrow night and not let Atlanta get into the game.
The Predators ended the weekend in sixth place in the Western Conference. Anaheim had a chance to move past the Predators last night but failed, losing to Dallas 4-3 with two goals waived off in the closing seconds.
The Predators will pose for the team picture today before practice at the Bridgestone Arena and will face the Thrashers tomorrow at 7 p.m.
Preds-Wings Round-up...
Here is our game story from Saturday with postgame video.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond touches questions Shane O'Brien's timing on settling the score with Todd Bertuzzi.
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton, Jeremy Gover, Fang Finger Fever, AJ at PMFF, Hands like Cement, Fang Faction, What the Puck, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
Shane O'Brien and Todd Bertuzzi squared off for two fights in the contest. Here are the videos.
For game stories from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
Audio from the Predators comes from Mike Fisher, Shea Weber, Shane O'Brien, and Ryan Suter. From the Wings Coach Mike Babcock, Dan Cleary, and Justin Abdelkader speak.
In Pred Nation...
Amanda DiPaolo thinks that Sergei Kostitsyn is living up to his potential.
Josh Cooper talked to Colin Wilson about his grandfather Gerry who recently passed away.
David Boclair looks at the Predators unprecedented third period failure rate.
Jeremy at Section 303 reports of Guelph's playoff demise and the potential of having Taylor Beck and Michael Latta joining the Admirals soon. Jeremy also updates the Pedigree dog adoption at Saturday's game.
Rebecca Dobrinski has a nice review of On The Forcheck at The Hockey Writers.
USA Hockey claims Nashville is now a hockey town in this feature story.
Robby at HNIN wants the Predators to learn how to play a full sixty minutes.
The Milwaukee Admirals failed to clinch the West as they lost to Peoria 4-3.
The Predators Foundation gave out $325,000 in grants this year to area charities.
In a programming note, the games on April 5 and 8 have been moved from FS TN to SportSouth.
It doesn't sound like Mike Fisher will be a daddy anytime soon.
Around the NHL...
Sad news that Yale women's hockey player Mandi Schwartz passed away on Sunday morning. She had battled cancer for over two years and had the thoughts and prayers of the entire hockey community. Our condolences go ou to her family and friends.
Would players opt out of big contracts that have them buried in the minors?
RLD Hockey looks at who has the top line in the Saturday Faceoff and also whether the Wings can overcome their age to go deep in the playoffs.
Canuckz.com looks at which team they would rather face in the first round.
Puckchat #16 recap is up at View from My Seats.
Now Paul Stastny is out for the season with a stress fracture.
Larry Brooks looks at the shootout "penalty" as a tie breaker in the standings.
The New York Daily News does a feature on Gary Bettman's radio show.
Andre Delsol continues on his trip for 30 arenas in 29 days. Oddly enough, the road team has been 13-3-3 in his trek so far. It has been enjoyable seeing his story from each stop. The Bridgestone Arena remains near the top at the two thirds point of the trip.
Odds and Ends...
As anyone should have predicted, the opening night on the Charlie Sheen tour was a total disaster.
Initial reports on the Southwest Airline plane that blew a hole in the skin on Friday says that there was widespread cracking in the fuselage. Southwest is canceling flights to check its entire fleet.
April 12, 2011 will mark the 50th Anniversary of man's first trip into space. A free film will be released on that day called "First Orbit" to commemorate the occasion. It was produced by using original footage and voice combined with material from the International Space Station. This is a must see for anyone interested in space exploration or history. Here is a trailer. Here are links to two more - one, two.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Showing posts with label nashville Predators detroit red wings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nashville Predators detroit red wings. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Wings Score Four Straight to Beat Preds 4-3 in Overtime
The Detroit Red Wings came into their game with the Nashville Predators wanting to make a statement after losing four in a row to the Predators and they did it by coming from behind with four consecutive goals to post a 4-3 win in overtime at the Bridgestone Arena on Saturday Afternoon.
Dan Cleary tipped a shot from Brian Rafalski 2:58 into the extra period to seal the two points for Detroit and clinch their 20th consecutive postseason berth and dampen any hope for the Predators to catch the Wings in the Central Division chase.
The Predators' goals came from Ryan Suter, Marty Erat, and Sergei Kostitsyn while the Wings got two markers from Justin Abdelkader and one from Jakub Kindl before Cleary's overtime winner.
Detroit's Jimmy Howard was the difference maker in the third period as the Predators had 15 scoring chances but failed to find the net. One save on a shot by Joel Ward with 10:02 remaining was the save of the game as he stoned the puck that could have allowed the Predators to regain the lead. For the game, Howard stopped 31 of 34 Nashville shots.
Pekka Rinne was the hard luck loser as he allowed four goals and made 37 saves. There was little he could have done on all four goals.
The game started with a true playoff feel as the sell out crowd of 17,113 was in top form as the game started cheering every move by their beloved Predators.
Detroit appeared to take the lead at 16:16 in the first period but on a shot from Nicklas Lidstrom that found the net but the goal was immediately waived off due to a goalie interference call on Tomas Holmstrom.
After a boarding call on Abdelkader at 18:07 and a delay of game against Holmstrom at 18:34, Suter gave the Predators the 1-0 lead with 59.7 seconds left in opening period as he took a shot from the high slot that found the net.
The Predators came out in the second period and scored two quick goals to go ahead 3-0. Detroit took another delay of game 16 seconds into the period that set up the Preds' second power play goal when Shea Weber sent a pass to Erat who redirected it under Howard's pad at 1:42.
Then 55 seconds later, Mike Fisher fired a shot to the right of Howard that resulted in a perfect rebound to Kostitsyn who slapped it past Howard to give the Preds the 3-0 lead.
Then the tide turned and Detroit came back with two quick goals. Kindle scored an unassisted goal at 3:28 from the right circle and Abdelkader scored his first goal at 4:49 on a fluky shot that bounced in front of the net to get past Rinne.
The game remained a 3-2 until Abdelkader scored his second goal on a redirect from Todd Bertuzzi with 3:59 left in the game to send the game to overtime. In overtime, Cleary scored the game winner at 2:58 on another redirect from Brian Rafalski.
Ryan Suter said, "You can't take your foot off the gas. You have to keep going on them."
Shane O'Brien and Bertuzzi squared off twice in the contest, the first initiated by Bertuzzi and the second one by O'Brien. The first scuffle was at 4:34 in the opening period. The second was at 2:43 in the second six seconds after the Predators had taken a 3-0 lead that seemed breath life back into the Wings.
"You don't win every fight you are in, but when a guy jumps you, there's a little bit of pride involved," said O'Brien after the game.
The game was marred by 17 penalties, eleven against the Wings and six against the Predators.
Coach Barry Trotz has a new philosophy, "It's the hardest one in the league right now, a three goal lead because you think you have lots of breathing room."
"It used to be a two goal lead . Now because the game is played without the hooking and holding, it's the three goal lead. You think you have breathing room but the team gets one and the momentum shifts."
In taking the game to overtime, the Predators picked up a point and remain in sixth place in the Western Conference with 95 points.
The Predators will take Sunday off and practice on Monday at the Bridgestone Arena to prepare for Tuesday's home game against the Atlanta Thrashers.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Detroit Visits Nashville in Huge Game for Both Teams and Saturday Round-Up
NHL on the Fly Preds-Wings Preview
The Detroit Red Wings (44-23-10) meet the Nashville Predators (42-26-10) in their final regular season meeting this year in a special 2 p.m. start time at the Bridgestone Arena in spite of all the Mule Day distractions.
Detroit is in third place in the Western Conference while the Predators are in sixth, four points back, and have a mathematical chance to catch the Wings for the Central Division crown but it would take a lot of help since the Wings have played one less game.
This is the sixth and final regular season meeting between the two teams this season. The Preds have won four out of five so far. The Preds fell to the Wings 5-2 on October 30th at Joe Louis Arena in a game that had the Preds basically playing with 17 skaters. On December 8, the Preds beat the Wings 3-2 in Detroit in a game featuring strong defense and goaltending.
In Nashville, on February 5, the Predators had a 3-0 win over the Wings in a solid performance at both ends of the ice. Four days later, the Preds won their final game of the year in Detroit 4-1. The two teams met two weeks ago at Bridgestone and Rinne and the rookies led the Preds to a 3-1 victory.
The Wings are coming off a 10-3 thrashing at the hands of the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night and appear to want to make a statement against the Predators who they have struggled with all season. The Wings were just 5-5-4 in March.
The Predators seem to be peaking at just the right time as they have won nine of their last eleven and were 10-3-2 during the month of March.
Both teams are struggling with injuries. Pavel Datsyuk and Chris Osgood are out and Mike Modano and G Jimmy Howard will return from injuries. Jordin Tootoo is questionable for the Predators after getting shaken up in Colorado. If he cant go, making out the line-up card will be easy for Barry Trotz, who only has 20 other players.
Jimmy Howard (34-15-5, 2.77, .908) will be in net for Detroit after missing a week with a sore shoulder. Howard is 3-3-1, 2.44, .920 in eight career games against Nashville.
Pekka Rinne (31-21-8, 2.10, .929) will go for the Predators. He is an outstanding 8-2-2, 1.98, .941 in his career agaiinst the Wings.
After today's game, the Predators will have only three games left beginning with Atlanta in Nashville on Tuesday and then Columbus here on Friday and at St. Louis in the finale on Saturday.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Predatorial, Hockey Night in Nashville, The Tennessean, Marc Torrence, and Predators.com.
For previews from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Preds Nation...
Adrian Dater has a great story about Barry Trotz and the Predators at Sports Illustrated.
Josh Cooper says that he Preds have a big opportunity today.
Yesterday, we had stories on Pekka Rinne being the NHL Third Star of the Month and suggesting some candidates for the Predators' Masterton nominee.
Dirk Hoag gives a first look at some of his data mining that he has been working on. This is really unique stuff.
Here is Cellblock's aka Dexshow's pre-game smack talk for the Red Wings.
Mark Willoughby has his weekly "My View" at The View from 111.
The Milwaukee Admirals beat Houston 5-2 to extend their division lead to four points. Austin Watson and Chris Cahill made their pro debuts but did not dent the scorecard.
Around the NHL...
The New York Rangers chapter of PHWA decided not to vote on this year's NHL Awards in protest of Chris Botta getting his credentials revoked by the New York Islanders earlier this season.
Congrats to Jerome Iginla on his 1000th NHL point and to Peter Budaj for his 100th NHL win.
Vetern NHL referee, Bill McCreary will work his final game tonight when Buffalo plays at Washington.
Here is a post to bookmark that has all NHL free agents listed for the next two years.
Craig Custance has goalies to fear in the playoffs.
Zach Parise is set to return to the ice tonight against the Habs in his first game since October 30 when he suffered a knee injury.
RLD Hockey has one of the last editions of The Stretch Run. Ryan also wonders if this is San Jose's year.
The Sabres may be in trouble as it appears Ryan Miller may miss today's and tomorrow's games.
For what it's worth, T.J. Oshie is back and apologized to his teammates. Amazing that the Blues drilled Detroit 10-3 without him.
Remember Evgeni Nabokov? What will the Isles do with him?
I'm not into Rebe**a Black but this is good from Bloge Salming and Down Goes Brown.
Down Goes Brown has a list of April Fools pranks including one on Mike Fisher.
Odds and Ends...
Sad news from the planet Mars. NASA still has not heard from Spirit and they think that there may be bigger issues with the rover than power problems. It's twin, Opportunity, is still chugging alone. Oddly enough, I saw the launch of both in 2004.
More immediately, NASA is going to move the International Space Station because it has come withing six miles of some space junk.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Pekka Rinne and the Rookies Lead the Predators to a 3-1 Win over Detroit
Pekka Rinne had one of his most solid games of the year and rookies Jon Blum and Blake Geoffrion scored goals to lead the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at a sold out Bridgestone Arena on Saturday night. The Preds have won four of five games against the Wings this year.
Barry Trotz was pleased with the youngster's play, "We're going to need everyone to contribute and Blummer on the power play has done a real nice job and Boomer didn't get much ice time tonight because it was tougher getting lines because they played with one less forward. We got contributions from guys who didn't start here and had to come up due to injuries."
Rinne stopped 39 of 40 Detroit shots to pick up his 27th win of the season. He lowered his goals against average to 2.09 and trails league leader Tim Thomas by .01. Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard played well allowing two goals on 38 Predator shots.
Trotz was high on Rinne's play, "We got great goaltending from Peks today. There were unbelievable saves on Modano, Filppula, and Kronwell up the middle. He made some great saves and Howard made great saves too but I like my guy."
Before the game got underway there was electricity in the crowd that included more red jerseys that had been seen in Nashville in recent years. Right before the opening puck drop, the first catfish of the year was thrown on the ice in front of the Predators bench. Shane O'Brien appeared to take extra interest examining it thoroughly before it was removed.
The Wings appeared to get on the board with a goal from Niklas Kronnwell at 18:22 in the first period but it was blown off due to goalie interference.
With 30 seconds left in the period, Sergei Kostitsyn was called for elbowing putting the Wings on the man advantage. Eight seconds later Henrik Zetterberg sent a pass to Dan Cleary who put it past Rinne to give the Wings a 1-0 lead as the period ended.
In the second period, Geoffrion scored at 8:42 on a nice redirection of a pass from Patric Hornqvist who was in the corner trying to put the puck in play at the net.
In the final period, Blum scored the game winning goal at 8:12 on the power play when he followed a shot from Hornqvist to put the puck past Howard to give the Preds a 2-1 lead.
As time wore down on the Detroit goalie pull, David Legwand picked up an empty netter with 29 seconds left to seal the win and let the Predator fans exhale after a tension filled third period when Detroit put 20 shots on goal.
Rinne commented on the late barrage from Detroit, "At the end there pucks were bouncing everywhere and we got lucky there a few times. Sometimes you need those breaks and it was obviously a really big win for us."
Trotz complemented the Bridgestone Arena audience once again. "Once again, the great energy from our crowd. I think you would be embarrassed if you didn't play hard here. Our crowds have been unbelievable. There were a few more red shirts here than I would want to see but we sent them home sad."
With the win, the Predators moved into playoff position in eight place with 84 points. Chicago also has 84 points but has played one less game. Anaheim and Calgary are each a point back in ninth place.
The Predators left immediately after the game to fly to Buffalo where they will play the Sabres at 4 p,m. on Sunday afternoon. The Next home game will be Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Predators Begin Back to Back Test with Detroit and Saturday Round-Up
The Nashville Predators face a huge hurdle this weekend beginning with a game tonight against the Detroit Red Wings at the Bridgestone Arena at 7 p.m. and ending with a game in Buffalo that starts 21 hours later.
The Predators are 5-3-2 in their last ten games and are one point out of a playoff spot as they enter tonight's action. The Preds' come from behind 4-3 overtime win over Boston on Thursday was a big boost to the team's confidence.
The Wings have all but clinched the Central Division as they have a ten point lead over Chicago and have gone 6-2-2 in their last ten games. The Wings are riding a four game win streak including a 2-0 victory in Columbus on Thursday in their last outing.
This is the fifth meeting between the two teams this season. The Preds have won three out of four so far. The Preds fell to the Wings 5-2 on October 30th at Joe Louis Arena in a game that had the Preds basically playing with 17 skaters. On December 8, the Preds beat the Wings 3-2 in Detroit in a game featuring strong defense and goaltending.
In Nashville, on February 5, the Predators had a 3-0 win over the Wings in a solid performance at both ends of the ice. Four days later, the Preds won their final game of the year in Detroit 4-1. The two teams will meet for the final time of the regular season in Nashville in two weeks.
Both teams are struggling with injuries. Joel Ward is expected to return tonight after missing the last two games. The Wings will be without Pavel Datsyuk and Jiri Hudler and Chris Osgood are definitely out according to MLive. Johan Franzen will be a game time decision.
The probable goaltenders are Pekka Rinne (26-20-8, 2.11, .929) for the Predators and Jimmy Howard (34-13-5, 2.75, .909) for the Wings.
The team will leave immediately after the game and travel to Buffalo for tomorrow's 4 p.m. match with the Sabres.
Other Predator previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, The Tennessean, Josh Cooper, Chris Burton, HNIN, and Predatorial.
For previews from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
Jay Levin of the Predators has a look at the how the weekend's games affect the Western Conference playoff race.
The inevitable news from RT @JoshuaCooper: Trotz said Lombardi is done for the year.
Patten Fuqua at Section 303 has an expose on why the Red Wings suck.
Here is a short excerpt from Barry Trotz's post game on Thursday where he singles out the great crowd support.
This week's My View from Mark Willoughby is brought to you by the letters "W", "T", and "F".
David Singleton questions whether Barry Trotz and David Poile are really as good as everyone says.
Milwaukee beat San Antonio 4-1 last night in a huge road win. Jeremy Smith got the win as Mark Dekanich is banged up at this time.
Michael Cass at the Tennessean has a post about the ongoing success of Bridgestone Arena.
Around the NHL...
RLD Hockey has the Saturday Face Off and debates the league's most underpaid player. One of them is a Predator.
NHL.com has a good roundup of today's games and the playoff implications if each.
The NHL is on pace for a 22% reductions in games decided by a shootout this season.
Chris Botta looks a a possible return for the playoffs by Sidney Crosby.
Chris Tremulis takes a deep view of the Western Conference at the RLD.
#PuckChat returned this week at View From My Seats.
USA Hockey announced that Dean Blais will be its coach for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Adrian Dater carves up the Avalanche. Dater is the Hunter Thompson of hockey writers.
Ryan Kennedy looks at the Psychology of sports with the New Jersey Devils as an example.
Craig Custance looks at what an NFL strike would do to hockey.
Vintage Leaf Memories looks at the decision to sit James Reimer in favor of J. S. Giguere which eventually led to a 4-0 Panthers whitewash on Thursday.
What would a day be without discussion of another sale of a team. This time it is the Thrashers.
Steve Lapore rants about another Ranger-Flyers game on the NHL on NBC. I agree, there are other teams outside the Boston to Washington corridor.
Intent to Blow confirms that most things are P.K. Subban's fault.
Odds and Ends...
A new preview for next week's episode of The Office is setting up the final show for Michael as it appears that he will ride off into wedding bliss with his true soul-mate, Holly.
Dee Karl and I Tweeted about how restrained the folks in Japan have been and how that was not the case in the US after the Katrina disaster. Slate has a piece about how "normal" the folks in Japan have been after the quake.
Here is another stupid human trick. A man dives into a foot of water from 36 feet.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Predators are 5-3-2 in their last ten games and are one point out of a playoff spot as they enter tonight's action. The Preds' come from behind 4-3 overtime win over Boston on Thursday was a big boost to the team's confidence.
The Wings have all but clinched the Central Division as they have a ten point lead over Chicago and have gone 6-2-2 in their last ten games. The Wings are riding a four game win streak including a 2-0 victory in Columbus on Thursday in their last outing.
This is the fifth meeting between the two teams this season. The Preds have won three out of four so far. The Preds fell to the Wings 5-2 on October 30th at Joe Louis Arena in a game that had the Preds basically playing with 17 skaters. On December 8, the Preds beat the Wings 3-2 in Detroit in a game featuring strong defense and goaltending.
In Nashville, on February 5, the Predators had a 3-0 win over the Wings in a solid performance at both ends of the ice. Four days later, the Preds won their final game of the year in Detroit 4-1. The two teams will meet for the final time of the regular season in Nashville in two weeks.
Both teams are struggling with injuries. Joel Ward is expected to return tonight after missing the last two games. The Wings will be without Pavel Datsyuk and Jiri Hudler and Chris Osgood are definitely out according to MLive. Johan Franzen will be a game time decision.
The probable goaltenders are Pekka Rinne (26-20-8, 2.11, .929) for the Predators and Jimmy Howard (34-13-5, 2.75, .909) for the Wings.
The team will leave immediately after the game and travel to Buffalo for tomorrow's 4 p.m. match with the Sabres.
Other Predator previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, The Tennessean, Josh Cooper, Chris Burton, HNIN, and Predatorial.
For previews from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
Jay Levin of the Predators has a look at the how the weekend's games affect the Western Conference playoff race.
The inevitable news from RT @JoshuaCooper: Trotz said Lombardi is done for the year.
Patten Fuqua at Section 303 has an expose on why the Red Wings suck.
Here is a short excerpt from Barry Trotz's post game on Thursday where he singles out the great crowd support.
This week's My View from Mark Willoughby is brought to you by the letters "W", "T", and "F".
David Singleton questions whether Barry Trotz and David Poile are really as good as everyone says.
Milwaukee beat San Antonio 4-1 last night in a huge road win. Jeremy Smith got the win as Mark Dekanich is banged up at this time.
Michael Cass at the Tennessean has a post about the ongoing success of Bridgestone Arena.
Around the NHL...
RLD Hockey has the Saturday Face Off and debates the league's most underpaid player. One of them is a Predator.
NHL.com has a good roundup of today's games and the playoff implications if each.
The NHL is on pace for a 22% reductions in games decided by a shootout this season.
Chris Botta looks a a possible return for the playoffs by Sidney Crosby.
Chris Tremulis takes a deep view of the Western Conference at the RLD.
#PuckChat returned this week at View From My Seats.
USA Hockey announced that Dean Blais will be its coach for the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.
Adrian Dater carves up the Avalanche. Dater is the Hunter Thompson of hockey writers.
Ryan Kennedy looks at the Psychology of sports with the New Jersey Devils as an example.
Craig Custance looks at what an NFL strike would do to hockey.
Vintage Leaf Memories looks at the decision to sit James Reimer in favor of J. S. Giguere which eventually led to a 4-0 Panthers whitewash on Thursday.
What would a day be without discussion of another sale of a team. This time it is the Thrashers.
Steve Lapore rants about another Ranger-Flyers game on the NHL on NBC. I agree, there are other teams outside the Boston to Washington corridor.
Intent to Blow confirms that most things are P.K. Subban's fault.
Odds and Ends...
A new preview for next week's episode of The Office is setting up the final show for Michael as it appears that he will ride off into wedding bliss with his true soul-mate, Holly.
Dee Karl and I Tweeted about how restrained the folks in Japan have been and how that was not the case in the US after the Katrina disaster. Slate has a piece about how "normal" the folks in Japan have been after the quake.
Here is another stupid human trick. A man dives into a foot of water from 36 feet.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Barry Trotz Motivates Team to 4-1 Win in Detroit and Thursday Thoughts
The first star of the game last night went to Sergei Kostitsyn. It should have gone to Predators' Head Coach, Barry Trotz who called out three of his top players, in the press, and subsequently, they responded with two goals, and an assist and were a plus 3 for the game.
In an era when there is always talk about coaches "losing the room", Barry Trotz has been the only coach the Predators have ever had. The players still listen. This should be the year that he finally wins the Jack Adams Trophy for the NHL Coach of the Year.
Trotz knows, when and how to pick his spots. Prior to this latest episode, earlier this year, Trotz "pealed the paint" in the dressing room between periods, and spurred the team on to victory.
These special occurrences of overt outbursts of getting players attention have been rare in Trotz's 13 year coaching history with the Predators but he knows just when they will be effective.
Last night's game was indeed a "statement" game for the Predators. Some would say that last Saturday night's 4-0 win was an anomaly and that the Wings were starting the backup goalie and were without Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom.
Those excuses were invalidated last night as the Wings were playing at Joe Louis Arena where they were 16-7-4 coming in to the game. For the record, the Preds took two of three there this year and were playing with one hand tied behind their back in the one loss there.
Hopefully, the Predators recent 1-4-1 slump, that had the net effect of dropping them from fourth to fifth in the Western Conference, is over. They now face the free-falling Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and then continue the homestand from hell next week with San Jose, Vancouver, and Phoenix coming to town.
It's time to return to the streakiness that we've seen this season on the positive side and turn last night's win into the start of at least a five game win streak to re-establish their position and chase down the Wings for the Division lead which is the ultimate goal in the locker room at this point.
The Predators practice for today has been canceled as they prebare for the big Gala at the Bridgestone arena tonight.
Preds-Wings Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, Fang Finger Fever, What the Puck, Predatorial, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
For the story from the stunned writers in Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
With all the talk of "shutting down" Mark Savard, and even Sidney Crosby, the Predators timetable on Matthew Lombardi is growing near.
Jeremy Gover looks at possible deadline pick-ups for the Predators and the pickings are slim.
Per Adrian Dater, it sounds like Foppa is a done deal to play in Nashville on Saturday.
Hockey's Future's list of top ten drafted D-men in the QMJHL includes Charles-Oliver Roussel at number eight.
Brian Huddle has an update on Preds prospect Austin Watson.
The Milwaukee Admirals had a third period collapse last night and eventually lost to Peoria in a shootout.
Around the NHL...
Ryan Porth calls last night's 8-6 Boston win over Montreal the game of the year. Check out his stats and highlights to see why.
Matt Cooke received a four game suspension for his hit on Fedor Tyutin which most folks think was incredibly light. Joe Yeardon analyzes the discussion about Matt Cooke and the incident on Tuesday night. The CBC put together a complete list of Matt Cooke infractions.
RLD Hockey projects points for seasons end using a very exacting formula with home and away game averages.
I'm not sure that I understand the trade yesterday where the Anaheim Ducks acquired Francois Beauchemin from Toronto for Joffrey Lupul, Jake Gardiner and a conditional 2013 draft pick. It seems like the Ducks got the better end of the deal. Toronto worsened it's cap situation, taking on more $$$ and for an extra year.
A second trade went down last night with Chicago sending Pred-killer Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman, and David Pacan to Florida for Michael Frolik and the rights to Alexander Salak. Hopefully, Jessiman will finally play an NHL game in Florida and take the trivia question about him being the only first rounder in his draft to never play an NHL game off his back.
Chris Botta has a great story about a Federal League player toiling for $250 a week that you've never heard of. Give it a read.
Sad to hear Chris Drury is out again for a minimum of six weeks with a knee injury requiring surgery. He is a good guy that appears to have hung around too long.
The NHL offers an "architectural rendering" of McMahon Stadium with an ice rink in it. What is the difference between that and an "artist" rendering?
Odds and Ends...
A quadriplegic man is suing Disneyland alleging the theme park left him on the "It's A Small World" ride for 40 minutes. I can certainly understand how forty minutes of that song could be worth millions. Seriously, it is surprising that they had no procedure in place for ADA affected patrons.
Here is a story about a boat capsizing that was full of Canadian high school students but no one has heard of it because everyone survived.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
In an era when there is always talk about coaches "losing the room", Barry Trotz has been the only coach the Predators have ever had. The players still listen. This should be the year that he finally wins the Jack Adams Trophy for the NHL Coach of the Year.
Trotz knows, when and how to pick his spots. Prior to this latest episode, earlier this year, Trotz "pealed the paint" in the dressing room between periods, and spurred the team on to victory.
These special occurrences of overt outbursts of getting players attention have been rare in Trotz's 13 year coaching history with the Predators but he knows just when they will be effective.
Last night's game was indeed a "statement" game for the Predators. Some would say that last Saturday night's 4-0 win was an anomaly and that the Wings were starting the backup goalie and were without Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom.
Those excuses were invalidated last night as the Wings were playing at Joe Louis Arena where they were 16-7-4 coming in to the game. For the record, the Preds took two of three there this year and were playing with one hand tied behind their back in the one loss there.
Hopefully, the Predators recent 1-4-1 slump, that had the net effect of dropping them from fourth to fifth in the Western Conference, is over. They now face the free-falling Colorado Avalanche on Saturday and then continue the homestand from hell next week with San Jose, Vancouver, and Phoenix coming to town.
It's time to return to the streakiness that we've seen this season on the positive side and turn last night's win into the start of at least a five game win streak to re-establish their position and chase down the Wings for the Division lead which is the ultimate goal in the locker room at this point.
The Predators practice for today has been canceled as they prebare for the big Gala at the Bridgestone arena tonight.
Preds-Wings Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, Fang Finger Fever, What the Puck, Predatorial, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
For the story from the stunned writers in Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
With all the talk of "shutting down" Mark Savard, and even Sidney Crosby, the Predators timetable on Matthew Lombardi is growing near.
Jeremy Gover looks at possible deadline pick-ups for the Predators and the pickings are slim.
Per Adrian Dater, it sounds like Foppa is a done deal to play in Nashville on Saturday.
Hockey's Future's list of top ten drafted D-men in the QMJHL includes Charles-Oliver Roussel at number eight.
Brian Huddle has an update on Preds prospect Austin Watson.
The Milwaukee Admirals had a third period collapse last night and eventually lost to Peoria in a shootout.
Around the NHL...
Ryan Porth calls last night's 8-6 Boston win over Montreal the game of the year. Check out his stats and highlights to see why.
Matt Cooke received a four game suspension for his hit on Fedor Tyutin which most folks think was incredibly light. Joe Yeardon analyzes the discussion about Matt Cooke and the incident on Tuesday night. The CBC put together a complete list of Matt Cooke infractions.
RLD Hockey projects points for seasons end using a very exacting formula with home and away game averages.
I'm not sure that I understand the trade yesterday where the Anaheim Ducks acquired Francois Beauchemin from Toronto for Joffrey Lupul, Jake Gardiner and a conditional 2013 draft pick. It seems like the Ducks got the better end of the deal. Toronto worsened it's cap situation, taking on more $$$ and for an extra year.
A second trade went down last night with Chicago sending Pred-killer Jack Skille, Hugh Jessiman, and David Pacan to Florida for Michael Frolik and the rights to Alexander Salak. Hopefully, Jessiman will finally play an NHL game in Florida and take the trivia question about him being the only first rounder in his draft to never play an NHL game off his back.
Chris Botta has a great story about a Federal League player toiling for $250 a week that you've never heard of. Give it a read.
Sad to hear Chris Drury is out again for a minimum of six weeks with a knee injury requiring surgery. He is a good guy that appears to have hung around too long.
The NHL offers an "architectural rendering" of McMahon Stadium with an ice rink in it. What is the difference between that and an "artist" rendering?
Odds and Ends...
A quadriplegic man is suing Disneyland alleging the theme park left him on the "It's A Small World" ride for 40 minutes. I can certainly understand how forty minutes of that song could be worth millions. Seriously, it is surprising that they had no procedure in place for ADA affected patrons.
Here is a story about a boat capsizing that was full of Canadian high school students but no one has heard of it because everyone survived.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Predators Rebound to Beat Detroit 4-1
After playing one of their worst games of the season on Monday against Edmonton, the Nashville Predators traveled to Detroit and played a tremendous road game, beating the Wings by a 4-1 margin.
Coach Barry Trotz was clearly disgusted with the effort in the last game and specifically called out David Legwand, Mart Erat, and Patric Hornqvist. All three responded with Erat and Legwand scoring goals in the opening period and Hornqvist having a team-high five shots and assisting on a power play goal by Sergei Kostitsyn.
Pekka Rinne stopped all but one of a barrage of 35 shots from Detroit. Jimmy Howard allowed four goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Joey MacDonald at 10:26 in the second period. MacDonald fared much better, stopping all 14 shots that he faced.
The Predators opened the scoring at 3:09 in the first period when Kostitsyn corralled the puck in the neutral zone, handed it off to Marcel Goc, who then set up Erat for an easy wrister that he drove off the pipe into the net to give the Preds an early 1-0 lead.
Later in the opening period, at 14:13, Ryan Suter put a shot on net that Howard could not control and Legwand buried a shot from the edge of the left face off circle.
The second period was barely underway at 1:03 when the Preds dumped the puck deep and a forechecking Joel Ward nudged it to Jerred Smithson behind the net. Smithson found Colin Wilson crossing the crease and Wilson missed his first attempt but nailed the second to give the Predators a 3-0 lead.
At 10:26 in the second period, the Preds got a power play marker when Shea Weber fired a shot from the blue line that Hornqvist deflected and the rebound went to Kostitsyn who flipped it into the net from Howard's left side to make it 4-0 Predators. That marked the end of the evening for Howard.
The Wings got a consolation goal from Ruslan Salei at 16:02 in the second period to ruin Rinne's shot at back to back shutouts over Detroit.
For the season the Predators took two of three games in Detroit and the only one that has been played in Nashville. The Predators are again back within five points of Detroit in the Central Division race. The Predators will remain in fifth place in the Western Conference with 65 points, regardless of the outcome of other games in progress.
The Predators received a new injury in the game when Goc left at 15:05 in the first period and did not return with an upper body injury. Kevin Klein also missed a couple of shifts when he tool a puck to the face at 11:04 in the second.
The Predators returned to Nashville after the game and will prepared to face the Colorado Avalanche, and probably Peter Forsberg, on Saturday night at the Bridgestone Arena.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Coach Barry Trotz was clearly disgusted with the effort in the last game and specifically called out David Legwand, Mart Erat, and Patric Hornqvist. All three responded with Erat and Legwand scoring goals in the opening period and Hornqvist having a team-high five shots and assisting on a power play goal by Sergei Kostitsyn.
Pekka Rinne stopped all but one of a barrage of 35 shots from Detroit. Jimmy Howard allowed four goals on 16 shots before being replaced by Joey MacDonald at 10:26 in the second period. MacDonald fared much better, stopping all 14 shots that he faced.
The Predators opened the scoring at 3:09 in the first period when Kostitsyn corralled the puck in the neutral zone, handed it off to Marcel Goc, who then set up Erat for an easy wrister that he drove off the pipe into the net to give the Preds an early 1-0 lead.
Later in the opening period, at 14:13, Ryan Suter put a shot on net that Howard could not control and Legwand buried a shot from the edge of the left face off circle.
The second period was barely underway at 1:03 when the Preds dumped the puck deep and a forechecking Joel Ward nudged it to Jerred Smithson behind the net. Smithson found Colin Wilson crossing the crease and Wilson missed his first attempt but nailed the second to give the Predators a 3-0 lead.
At 10:26 in the second period, the Preds got a power play marker when Shea Weber fired a shot from the blue line that Hornqvist deflected and the rebound went to Kostitsyn who flipped it into the net from Howard's left side to make it 4-0 Predators. That marked the end of the evening for Howard.
The Wings got a consolation goal from Ruslan Salei at 16:02 in the second period to ruin Rinne's shot at back to back shutouts over Detroit.
For the season the Predators took two of three games in Detroit and the only one that has been played in Nashville. The Predators are again back within five points of Detroit in the Central Division race. The Predators will remain in fifth place in the Western Conference with 65 points, regardless of the outcome of other games in progress.
The Predators received a new injury in the game when Goc left at 15:05 in the first period and did not return with an upper body injury. Kevin Klein also missed a couple of shifts when he tool a puck to the face at 11:04 in the second.
The Predators returned to Nashville after the game and will prepared to face the Colorado Avalanche, and probably Peter Forsberg, on Saturday night at the Bridgestone Arena.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Predators Hope to Return To Form in Detroit and Wednesday Wrap-Up
With the exception of the Nashville Predators' (28-19-7) 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings (32-15-6) last Saturday, the team has not played well recently. In the Preds last six games they have gone 1-4-1, and with last night's Sharks' win over the Caps, have lost their grip on fourth place in the Western Conference.
Tonight's game will be the Predators last regular season visit to the Joe Louis Arena this yearm splitting the prior two games in Detroit. The Preds fell to the Wings 5-2 on October 30th in a game that had the Preds basically playing with 17 skaters. On December 8, the Preds beat the Wings 3-2 in a game featuring strong defense and goaltending.
The Wings will have a couple of key players back tonight that were not on the ice in last week's meeting. Pavel Datsyuk returned to the ice on Monday against the Rangers and had a goal and an assist. Tomas Holmstrom may also make a return in tonight's game after missing nine games with a broken hand. Valtteri Filppula was injured Monday and is out.
Another big change will be that Jimmy Howard (26-9-3, 2.83, .906) is expected to be in net for the Wings. Pekka Rinne (18-14-5, 2.11, .929) should be in net for Nashville.
After Monday's loss against Edmonton, the Predators are now seven points behind Detroit once again in the chase for the Central Division title. Tonight's game is critical in the Preds' quest to overtake Detroit and get a top three seed in the playoffs. The teams have two more games remaining in Nashville.
After tonight's game, the Predators will return home to prepare for Colorado who will be in town on Saturday night, possibly with Peter Forsberg in the lineup.
Other Predator previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com.
For previews from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
Programming Note...
Yesterday's RLD Hockey Radio show was a good one. Ryan Porth had Sharks play by play man Randy Hahn and Mike Colligan from The Hockey Writers as guests. There was plenty of Sharks and Pens talk including where the teams stood and possible trade deadline acquisitions. We also got the latest on the Pittsburgh injury situation. Check it out in the player below.
In Pred Nation...
Bryan Mullen caught Barry Trotz in a bad mood yesterday and he called out a few top players by name for not producing. Trotz also want the Preds to shoot the puck more and with purpose.
David Boclair has more on the Predators focus of scoring three goals per game.
Dirk Hoag has a in depth look at the stats behind the Predators' struggling power play.
Jeremy Gover looks at the critical words from Barry Trotz and Pekka Rinne on the horrible call on the Oiler's third goal on Monday. The best defense for a fine in this case was that Trotz was 100% in the right.
AJ was bewildered in his Tuesday AJenda as to who was playing on Monday Night at the Bridgestone Arena.
The Predatorial debuted last night with a suggestions of what Barry Trotz should tell a few Predators. Then a second post digs deeper into the Preds' issues
James O'Brien looks at the Central Division at PHT.
Colin Wilson ditched the mullet.
Fans of Nashville's Big Ben now have a fan page on Facebook. Ben and his cohorts have big plans for Saturday.
Kelly from Confessions of a Predators Fanatic says the Preds need to order new sheets.
The Preds will honor the Columbia Central Lions football team for winning the state championship on February 19th.
Around the NHL...
After seeing Marc Savard at the news conference on Monday, Ryan Porth takes a look at whether Pittsburgh (and the NHL) can afford to bring Sidney Crosby back this year and risk further injury.
Drew Stafford had his third hat trick in 19 games as Buffalo came back and destroyed Tampa 7-4 lat night.
Matt Cooke is headed for more supplementary discipline after his hit on Fedor Tyutin. Hawgs38 has more on Cooke at View From My Seats.
Ken Campbell's latest on the Hart Trophy watch has a pretty good top ten but I wouldn't have Stamkos in fourth. He has to be a 1 or 1A.
Steve Lapore gets a guest spot at Islanders' Point Blank to discuss their TV ratings.
The speculation about Sidney Crosby's injury continues to build and now Ray Shero is responding.
Stu Hackel is hearing a new NHL TV deal for four to seven years with NBC/Versus is likely to ne announced soon.
Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts piles on Phil Kessel, a popular pastime. He also points out that Ray Emery likes watching Pekka Rinne play.
Five for Howling has some good suggestions for changes to the overtime period.
How can the goalie situation get any worse for the Islanders? Last night, Kevin Poulin had to be helped off the ice giving 6'6" Finlander Mikko Koskinen his first NHL start. There was talk of Mike Dunham or Garth Snow suiting up as the back-up but Joel Martin was called up from Bridgeport and made it before the end of the game.
The San Jose Sharks went to the National Archives for their team building exercise on their day off on Monday. I have never heard of the contingency "War Plan Crimson" that was designed to invade Canada if it had become necessary.
Down Goes Brown looks at Gary Bettman's Super Bowl party that had an impressive guest list.
Odds and Ends...
More news is out about this year's Podcamp Nashville on March 26, Check it out,
Another private company has jumped into the competition to build commercial rockets to replace NASA at the Cape in Florida. This is a real tribute to free market economics. Had NASA operated in this manner, they would still be viable.
There's nothing quite like a cockfight gone bad when a bird kills a fight promoter. This is better than "man bites dog."
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Tonight's game will be the Predators last regular season visit to the Joe Louis Arena this yearm splitting the prior two games in Detroit. The Preds fell to the Wings 5-2 on October 30th in a game that had the Preds basically playing with 17 skaters. On December 8, the Preds beat the Wings 3-2 in a game featuring strong defense and goaltending.
The Wings will have a couple of key players back tonight that were not on the ice in last week's meeting. Pavel Datsyuk returned to the ice on Monday against the Rangers and had a goal and an assist. Tomas Holmstrom may also make a return in tonight's game after missing nine games with a broken hand. Valtteri Filppula was injured Monday and is out.
Another big change will be that Jimmy Howard (26-9-3, 2.83, .906) is expected to be in net for the Wings. Pekka Rinne (18-14-5, 2.11, .929) should be in net for Nashville.
After Monday's loss against Edmonton, the Predators are now seven points behind Detroit once again in the chase for the Central Division title. Tonight's game is critical in the Preds' quest to overtake Detroit and get a top three seed in the playoffs. The teams have two more games remaining in Nashville.
After tonight's game, the Predators will return home to prepare for Colorado who will be in town on Saturday night, possibly with Peter Forsberg in the lineup.
Other Predator previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com.
For previews from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
Programming Note...
Yesterday's RLD Hockey Radio show was a good one. Ryan Porth had Sharks play by play man Randy Hahn and Mike Colligan from The Hockey Writers as guests. There was plenty of Sharks and Pens talk including where the teams stood and possible trade deadline acquisitions. We also got the latest on the Pittsburgh injury situation. Check it out in the player below.
Listen to internet radio with Ryan Porth on Blog Talk Radio
In Pred Nation...
Bryan Mullen caught Barry Trotz in a bad mood yesterday and he called out a few top players by name for not producing. Trotz also want the Preds to shoot the puck more and with purpose.
David Boclair has more on the Predators focus of scoring three goals per game.
Dirk Hoag has a in depth look at the stats behind the Predators' struggling power play.
Jeremy Gover looks at the critical words from Barry Trotz and Pekka Rinne on the horrible call on the Oiler's third goal on Monday. The best defense for a fine in this case was that Trotz was 100% in the right.
AJ was bewildered in his Tuesday AJenda as to who was playing on Monday Night at the Bridgestone Arena.
The Predatorial debuted last night with a suggestions of what Barry Trotz should tell a few Predators. Then a second post digs deeper into the Preds' issues
James O'Brien looks at the Central Division at PHT.
Colin Wilson ditched the mullet.
Fans of Nashville's Big Ben now have a fan page on Facebook. Ben and his cohorts have big plans for Saturday.
Kelly from Confessions of a Predators Fanatic says the Preds need to order new sheets.
The Preds will honor the Columbia Central Lions football team for winning the state championship on February 19th.
Around the NHL...
After seeing Marc Savard at the news conference on Monday, Ryan Porth takes a look at whether Pittsburgh (and the NHL) can afford to bring Sidney Crosby back this year and risk further injury.
Drew Stafford had his third hat trick in 19 games as Buffalo came back and destroyed Tampa 7-4 lat night.
Matt Cooke is headed for more supplementary discipline after his hit on Fedor Tyutin. Hawgs38 has more on Cooke at View From My Seats.
Ken Campbell's latest on the Hart Trophy watch has a pretty good top ten but I wouldn't have Stamkos in fourth. He has to be a 1 or 1A.
Steve Lapore gets a guest spot at Islanders' Point Blank to discuss their TV ratings.
The speculation about Sidney Crosby's injury continues to build and now Ray Shero is responding.
Stu Hackel is hearing a new NHL TV deal for four to seven years with NBC/Versus is likely to ne announced soon.
Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts piles on Phil Kessel, a popular pastime. He also points out that Ray Emery likes watching Pekka Rinne play.
Five for Howling has some good suggestions for changes to the overtime period.
How can the goalie situation get any worse for the Islanders? Last night, Kevin Poulin had to be helped off the ice giving 6'6" Finlander Mikko Koskinen his first NHL start. There was talk of Mike Dunham or Garth Snow suiting up as the back-up but Joel Martin was called up from Bridgeport and made it before the end of the game.
The San Jose Sharks went to the National Archives for their team building exercise on their day off on Monday. I have never heard of the contingency "War Plan Crimson" that was designed to invade Canada if it had become necessary.
Down Goes Brown looks at Gary Bettman's Super Bowl party that had an impressive guest list.
Odds and Ends...
More news is out about this year's Podcamp Nashville on March 26, Check it out,
Another private company has jumped into the competition to build commercial rockets to replace NASA at the Cape in Florida. This is a real tribute to free market economics. Had NASA operated in this manner, they would still be viable.
There's nothing quite like a cockfight gone bad when a bird kills a fight promoter. This is better than "man bites dog."
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Rinne's Shutout Leads Predators to 3-0 Win over Detroit
Playing one of their best games of the season, the Nashville Predators, behind the stellar goaltending of Pekka Rinne, shutout the Detroit Red Wings 3-0.
It was Rinne's fourth shutout of the year as he stopped all 35 Red Wing shots. He lowered his microscopic statistics a few more notches as he is second in the league in goals against average (2.04) and save percentage (.931).
Rinne was humble as always, "It was a huge team effort. We knew we were in a tough spot. We had lost four games in a row and it was time to turn it around. We did what we had to do and executed at a pretty high level and then obviously special teams, especially the PK, are our strength and they did a great job again tonight,"
The offensive star of the game was Sergei Kostitsyn who scored an incredible short-handed goal in the second period and another one that buried any chance of a Wings comeback with 2:21 left in the contest.
Kostitsyn described the first goal, "That was a great pass by Suter. It was almost a breakaway so I tried to shoot at the net with one hand and it deflect from the goalie stick and went in."
Shea Weber had the other goal just 3:18 into the contest on a power play that set the tone for the evening. Ryan Suter had a two point night with a pair of assists.
Another key to the game was the play of the Predator's special teams. The Predators penalty kill was a perfect five for five on the evening including killing a five on three 44 seconds into the second period which really built confidence for the team. The team was able to get goals on both the power play as well as their third shorthanded goal of the season.
Steve Sullivan played his first game since December 23. He said that he felt fine but was more focused on the matter at hand, "We've got to try to catch these guys in the standings. If we don't win tonight, you don't want to say never, but it would have been extremely tough. Now we are right back into arms length. If we keep playing good hockey, that's our goal is to catch Detroit."
Preds' coach Barry Trotz felt that it was close to a playoff atmosphere, "It's a big game for them, big game for us. They lost last night and we were fortunate that they played last night. It was a back to back game so we were fortunate there. They came with a lot of detail in their game and played hard."
The Predators pulled within five points of the Red Wings in the Central Division race and remain in fourth place in the Western Conference.
It was the Predators' eight sell out of the season and was probably the most memorable night ever for fans in attendance at the Bridgestone Arena. Rock legend Alice Cooper joined Vince Gill and the house band, Sixwire, for a set during the first intermission that electrified the crowd.
Cooper met with Trotz after the game and made the rounds in the Predators dressing room which was a thrill for the players, most of whom weren't born when Cooper was in his heyday.
The Predators will take Sunday off and return to the ice for morning skate on Monday to prepare for the Edmonton game at 7 p.m. at the Bridgestone Arena.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Red Wings Make Season's First Visit to Nashville and Weekend Wrap-Up
Predator fans are fit to be tied as the hours count down to the Nashville Predators (27-18-7) game with the Detroit Red Wings (31-14-6) tonight at the Bridgestone Arena At 7 p.m.
This will be the first time Detroit has played in Nashville this season. The Preds fell to the Wings 5-2 on October 30th at Joe Louis Arena in a game that had the Preds basically playing with 17 skaters. On December 8, the Preds beat the Wings 3-2 in a game featuring strong defense and goaltending.
Steve Sullivan is slated to return to the ice for the Preds who need an offensive shot in the arm after losing four straight games and getting only six goals in the process. Sullivan has not played since December 23 so he may be a little rusty but his presence should inspire others.
In a warm up for tonight's game, the Wings were shutout by Steve Mason as they fell to Columbus 3-0 in Detroit last night.
The Predators trail Detroit by seven points in the Central Division and fell to fifth in the Western Conference today as San Jose passed them with a win over Boston in an early contest.
Pekka Rinne (17-13-5, 2.10, .929), who has not yet faced Detroit this year, will be in net for the Predators. Joey McDonald (1-2-1, 2.53, .903) will be in net for the Wings since Jimmy Howard played last night.
The Predators will get little rest after the game as they play Edmonton at home on Monday and then travel to Detroit for a return engagement with the Wings on Wednesday.
Other Predator previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com. Jeremy Gover also provides an updated chant list for tonight's contest.
For previews from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
Sam at Predsblog debuts an "Inception" video to get folks in the mood for tonight's game.
Probably, one of the highlights of Thursday's loss to Philadelphia was Kevin Klein standing up to tough guy., Dan Carcillo. Jim Diamond had the positive reaction from Barry Trotz.
Josh Cooper has the latest on Matt Lombardi's baby steps. He also explains that Barry Trotz's goal for each game is three goals. Josh spoke to David Poile about the injury dilemma leading up to the trade deadline.
David Singleton looks at the Predators as they approach the trade deadline.
Dirk Hoag looks at Centers that the Predators may be interested in at the trade deadline.
Rachel at What the Puck has the Colin Wilson video from the Jumbotron on Tuesday.
Mark Willoughby is back from Philadelphia with his weekly "My View."
Blueshirt Banter confirms Shea Weber is not an option for the Rangers. I'm glad we got that out of the way.
The Cannon seems to think that we need to pick up Steven Weiss at the trade deadline.
The Predators 2004 eighth round pick, Denis Kulyash set the world record for the hardest shot at 110.3 at the KHL All-Star game. Dirk Hoag has a video.
Blake Geoffrion had one goal and three helpers in an Admirals 4-2 win over Rockford. In a night where the team was wearing red on "wear red" day they also gave away bobble-heads in Geoffrion's likeness.
Around the NHL...
Two goals in a game is special. Drew Doughty got credit for his first multi-goal game a day after the contest while Ryan Smythe lost the pair.
Patrick Hoffman reviews the Kovalchuk trade a year after the fact and sees Atlanta getting the better deal.
Rick DiPietro is out 4-6 weeks with a facial fracture and knee swelling. Intent to Blow has the real story.
Daniel Paille received a four game suspension for his blindside hit on Ray Sawada on Thursday night.
Craig Conroy announced his retirement yesterday and will move directly in to the Flames front office.
The latest from Phoenix is that the sale to Matthew Hulsizer will probably get done this month.
Adrian Dater has the daily look at Peter Forsberg with video.
Mayor's Manor had a podcast with Kerry Fraser as a guest.
Ryan Kennedy makes the case for fighting after a clean hit.
Down Goes Brown has a hockey fan's guide to the Super Bowl.
Odds and Ends...
The feds raided an ex space shuttle worker's house to investigate his allegedly selling used tiles on EBay. That sounds like a great souvenir. There are a bunch listed on EBay but some seem a bit bogus.
In other space news, it is a long shot but the private United Space Alliance wants to continue to fly the space shuttle after NASA finishes it's final three flights this year.
As we wait for this year's Maverick's event, Surfline looks back at last year's contest.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
This will be the first time Detroit has played in Nashville this season. The Preds fell to the Wings 5-2 on October 30th at Joe Louis Arena in a game that had the Preds basically playing with 17 skaters. On December 8, the Preds beat the Wings 3-2 in a game featuring strong defense and goaltending.
Steve Sullivan is slated to return to the ice for the Preds who need an offensive shot in the arm after losing four straight games and getting only six goals in the process. Sullivan has not played since December 23 so he may be a little rusty but his presence should inspire others.
In a warm up for tonight's game, the Wings were shutout by Steve Mason as they fell to Columbus 3-0 in Detroit last night.
The Predators trail Detroit by seven points in the Central Division and fell to fifth in the Western Conference today as San Jose passed them with a win over Boston in an early contest.
Pekka Rinne (17-13-5, 2.10, .929), who has not yet faced Detroit this year, will be in net for the Predators. Joey McDonald (1-2-1, 2.53, .903) will be in net for the Wings since Jimmy Howard played last night.
The Predators will get little rest after the game as they play Edmonton at home on Monday and then travel to Detroit for a return engagement with the Wings on Wednesday.
Other Predator previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com. Jeremy Gover also provides an updated chant list for tonight's contest.
For previews from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
Sam at Predsblog debuts an "Inception" video to get folks in the mood for tonight's game.
Probably, one of the highlights of Thursday's loss to Philadelphia was Kevin Klein standing up to tough guy., Dan Carcillo. Jim Diamond had the positive reaction from Barry Trotz.
Josh Cooper has the latest on Matt Lombardi's baby steps. He also explains that Barry Trotz's goal for each game is three goals. Josh spoke to David Poile about the injury dilemma leading up to the trade deadline.
David Singleton looks at the Predators as they approach the trade deadline.
Dirk Hoag looks at Centers that the Predators may be interested in at the trade deadline.
Rachel at What the Puck has the Colin Wilson video from the Jumbotron on Tuesday.
Mark Willoughby is back from Philadelphia with his weekly "My View."
Blueshirt Banter confirms Shea Weber is not an option for the Rangers. I'm glad we got that out of the way.
The Cannon seems to think that we need to pick up Steven Weiss at the trade deadline.
The Predators 2004 eighth round pick, Denis Kulyash set the world record for the hardest shot at 110.3 at the KHL All-Star game. Dirk Hoag has a video.
Blake Geoffrion had one goal and three helpers in an Admirals 4-2 win over Rockford. In a night where the team was wearing red on "wear red" day they also gave away bobble-heads in Geoffrion's likeness.
Around the NHL...
Two goals in a game is special. Drew Doughty got credit for his first multi-goal game a day after the contest while Ryan Smythe lost the pair.
Patrick Hoffman reviews the Kovalchuk trade a year after the fact and sees Atlanta getting the better deal.
Rick DiPietro is out 4-6 weeks with a facial fracture and knee swelling. Intent to Blow has the real story.
Daniel Paille received a four game suspension for his blindside hit on Ray Sawada on Thursday night.
Craig Conroy announced his retirement yesterday and will move directly in to the Flames front office.
The latest from Phoenix is that the sale to Matthew Hulsizer will probably get done this month.
Adrian Dater has the daily look at Peter Forsberg with video.
Mayor's Manor had a podcast with Kerry Fraser as a guest.
Ryan Kennedy makes the case for fighting after a clean hit.
Down Goes Brown has a hockey fan's guide to the Super Bowl.
Odds and Ends...
The feds raided an ex space shuttle worker's house to investigate his allegedly selling used tiles on EBay. That sounds like a great souvenir. There are a bunch listed on EBay but some seem a bit bogus.
In other space news, it is a long shot but the private United Space Alliance wants to continue to fly the space shuttle after NASA finishes it's final three flights this year.
As we wait for this year's Maverick's event, Surfline looks back at last year's contest.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Predators Keep Pace in the Standings and Thursday Thoughts
The Predators huge win in Detroit last night helped them to keep pace in the jam-packed Western Conference. At the beginning of the evening, Nashville had 30 points and were officially in eleventh place. There were nine other teams that had between 30 and 32 points.
At the end of play last night, the Preds had 32 points and were in seventh place place but had the same number of points as fifth place Phoenix who had a game in hand. The spread on the same ten teams is now between 30 and 33 points with Dallas now in second at 34 points.
The Predators seem to be finding a degree of consistency going 4-0-2 in their last six games since the debacle in Minnesota the day after Thanksgiving.
The team appeared to get a lift after getting David Legwand in the lineup again, but he was forced to leave with the "lower body injury" at the end of the second period. I would assume that Barry Trotz will call it 'day to day" which really means nothing.
Anders Lindback was the unquestioned first star of the game last night. It was easily his best game in North America and he was aided by a Predator defense that picked up rebounds and allowed few second chances all night. Lindback was also doing a better job at stopping the puck as apposed to deflecting it.
The new line combinations continue to work well and pay dividends as there was scoring from three different lines last evening. Nick Spaling continues to grow in his role as a defensive forward and played instead of a mostly healthy Jordin Tootoo who was scratched.
With the rise in the standings, the Preds do not need to let up, playing teams from the Eastern Conference lower tier in three of the next four contests. Detroit appeared to be running away with the division a week ago, but three straight losses for the Wings has tightened the race up a bit.
Preds-Wings Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings. David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Amanda DiPaolo, What the Puck, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
For news from the losing side, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
Dirk Hoag finds a little gem of info that Jamie Lundmark is a Wings killer based on past experience against them.
Barry Trotz finally gives more than a one word answer about J P Dumont's status.
3D Link continues his uniform color scale series with the reds, yellows, gold and Orange.
Paul McCann had a few game day thoughts and a remembrance of John Lennon.
Mac MacDonald points out that Pekka's injury is a real break for Anders Lindback.
The Milwaukee Admirals lost to Grand Rapids 3-2 with Jeremy Smith taking the loss in net.
Around the NHL...
Chris Botta sums up Gary Bettman's take on the winter meetings. Other than the Phoenix deal, the status remains quo.
Ryan Porth has a double post with conversations with Jeffrey Skinner and Paul Maurice.
Matt Reitz sizes up the Norris Trophy race at the quarter pole of the season. It appears to be a wide open field this year.
Adrian Dater has video from the Avs "bag skate" yesterday in Georgia.
Speak of the Devs puts together a holiday gift list at The View From My Seats.
Puck Daddy has the video of the massive brawl in England last Saturday. NHL Home Ice had the play by ply guy on to discuss it on Monday, but this gives a much clearer picture of the mass hysteria.
Ex-Pred Brendan Witt blames Scott Gordon for ending his career in a candid interview at Isles Point Blank.
Individual game tickets to the World Junior Tournament go on sale on Saturday. The pricing structure is directly related to the proximity of the teams involved. Russia vs Canada is the top dollar ticket other than the medal rounds. Bob McKenzie has labeled team USA as the early favorites to repeat.
Odds and Ends...
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the additional space shuttle flight STS-135 will get funded which leaves three more shuttle flights instead of just two.
There is astounding news at the end of this video on the Space X launch where NASA is considering recruiting volunteers to go go live on Mars on a one was trip with no means of return.
The Billabong Pipe Masters started yesterday and is available on webcast until it is completed.
The new Chrome internet based laptops should be available next summer. It sounds like a large version of an Android phone.
If you watched the movie "The Social Network" then you can see the real Mark Zuckerberg here on 60 Minutes.
I am so excited that my University will allow me to buy a lasting legacy for $2500 in the form of a nameplate with three lines, 34 spaces each, on a marble bench in the newly re-designed Ayres Hall on the hill in Knoxville. Maybe I'll sell a piece of artwork to fund my legacy.
Finally, on a day with an abundance of odds and ends, here is an ESPN video of the story of the Columbia Lions winning the Tennessee 5A state high school football championship on the day one of their players, Dylan Rebeor passed away.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
At the end of play last night, the Preds had 32 points and were in seventh place place but had the same number of points as fifth place Phoenix who had a game in hand. The spread on the same ten teams is now between 30 and 33 points with Dallas now in second at 34 points.
The Predators seem to be finding a degree of consistency going 4-0-2 in their last six games since the debacle in Minnesota the day after Thanksgiving.
The team appeared to get a lift after getting David Legwand in the lineup again, but he was forced to leave with the "lower body injury" at the end of the second period. I would assume that Barry Trotz will call it 'day to day" which really means nothing.
Anders Lindback was the unquestioned first star of the game last night. It was easily his best game in North America and he was aided by a Predator defense that picked up rebounds and allowed few second chances all night. Lindback was also doing a better job at stopping the puck as apposed to deflecting it.
The new line combinations continue to work well and pay dividends as there was scoring from three different lines last evening. Nick Spaling continues to grow in his role as a defensive forward and played instead of a mostly healthy Jordin Tootoo who was scratched.
With the rise in the standings, the Preds do not need to let up, playing teams from the Eastern Conference lower tier in three of the next four contests. Detroit appeared to be running away with the division a week ago, but three straight losses for the Wings has tightened the race up a bit.
Preds-Wings Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings. David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Amanda DiPaolo, What the Puck, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
For news from the losing side, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
Dirk Hoag finds a little gem of info that Jamie Lundmark is a Wings killer based on past experience against them.
Barry Trotz finally gives more than a one word answer about J P Dumont's status.
3D Link continues his uniform color scale series with the reds, yellows, gold and Orange.
Paul McCann had a few game day thoughts and a remembrance of John Lennon.
Mac MacDonald points out that Pekka's injury is a real break for Anders Lindback.
The Milwaukee Admirals lost to Grand Rapids 3-2 with Jeremy Smith taking the loss in net.
Around the NHL...
Chris Botta sums up Gary Bettman's take on the winter meetings. Other than the Phoenix deal, the status remains quo.
Ryan Porth has a double post with conversations with Jeffrey Skinner and Paul Maurice.
Matt Reitz sizes up the Norris Trophy race at the quarter pole of the season. It appears to be a wide open field this year.
Adrian Dater has video from the Avs "bag skate" yesterday in Georgia.
Speak of the Devs puts together a holiday gift list at The View From My Seats.
Puck Daddy has the video of the massive brawl in England last Saturday. NHL Home Ice had the play by ply guy on to discuss it on Monday, but this gives a much clearer picture of the mass hysteria.
Ex-Pred Brendan Witt blames Scott Gordon for ending his career in a candid interview at Isles Point Blank.
Individual game tickets to the World Junior Tournament go on sale on Saturday. The pricing structure is directly related to the proximity of the teams involved. Russia vs Canada is the top dollar ticket other than the medal rounds. Bob McKenzie has labeled team USA as the early favorites to repeat.
Odds and Ends...
The Orlando Sentinel reports that the additional space shuttle flight STS-135 will get funded which leaves three more shuttle flights instead of just two.
There is astounding news at the end of this video on the Space X launch where NASA is considering recruiting volunteers to go go live on Mars on a one was trip with no means of return.
The Billabong Pipe Masters started yesterday and is available on webcast until it is completed.
The new Chrome internet based laptops should be available next summer. It sounds like a large version of an Android phone.
If you watched the movie "The Social Network" then you can see the real Mark Zuckerberg here on 60 Minutes.
I am so excited that my University will allow me to buy a lasting legacy for $2500 in the form of a nameplate with three lines, 34 spaces each, on a marble bench in the newly re-designed Ayres Hall on the hill in Knoxville. Maybe I'll sell a piece of artwork to fund my legacy.
Finally, on a day with an abundance of odds and ends, here is an ESPN video of the story of the Columbia Lions winning the Tennessee 5A state high school football championship on the day one of their players, Dylan Rebeor passed away.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Predators Sneak Out of Detroit with a 3-2 Win
A determined Nashville Predators team went into Joe Louis Arena and stole a 3-2 victory from the Detroit Red Wings behind solid defense and stellar goaltending performance by Anders Lindback.
Lindback saw a ton of rubber as the Wings fired 37 shots at the young Swede who played the best game in his short NHL career in his first time on the ice in Detroit.
The Predators got early goals from Colin Wilson and Marty Erat. The game winner came from J.P. Dumont late in the third period as the Preds never trailed in the game.
The Preds were limited to 10 shots in the final two periods by the always tough Wing defense and were able to hang on as Detroit really upped the stakes in the final period.
Detroit's goals came from Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen. Datsyuk assisted on Franzen's goal to have a two point night.
Wings goalie, Jimmy Howard did not have his best night, stopping 21 of 24 shots and was rarely tested in the second half of the game.
The Preds overcame their poor performance in the face off circle on Monday by taking 29 of 55 21 draws for a solid 53% game.
Both teams continued their strong play on the penalty kill as each were 0-4 on the power play. Datsyuk's goal was shorthanded for the Wings.
The Predators started the game strong on the puck, out shooting the Wings 7-2 in the first six minutes of play. The Predators went on the first power play of the evening at 10:02 when Patrick Eaves was called for interference on Cody Franson. The Preds were unable to take advantage of the man advantage and had no shots.
The Predators continued their strong play and surprised everyone by scoring on a rush with 33 seconds left in the period to take a 1-0 lead. The play started with Steve Sullivan skating down Howard's right and passed cross ice to Cal O'Reilly who drew the goalie and defensemen to the right side leaving Wilson open in front of the goal and he wristed it into the net.
For the period, the Preds out shot Detroit 14-8 and led the Corsi 19-11.
The Preds startled everyone again 49 seconds int the second period when Sergei Kostitsyn shot from the right wall and the puck bounced out to Erat who knocked it into the net to give the Preds a 2-0 lead.
Shea Weber put the Wings on the Wings on the man advantage at 4:26 when he cross checked Darren Helm. The Wings were credited with two shots.
The Preds got a big scare at 8:55 when Nicklas Lidstrom fired a shot that got behind Lindback and touched the red line but was saved by Kevin Klein.
Marty Erat was hit directly in the face at 11:05 with the high stick of Tomas Holmstrom who was hit with a four minute double minor. The Predators never made a serious scare on the Wings net during their power play but the Wings scored short-handed at 13:04 when Datsyuk took a pass from Henrik Zetterberg and put it past Lindback who was far from the net.
Play was disjointed at both ends of the ice for the remainder of the period as the Preds and Wings swapped penalties with Wilson being called for high-sticking and Todd Bertuzzi being called for cross checking.
For the second period, Detroit was much more Wing-like out shooting the Preds 13-6 and leading the Corsi 22-11. David Legwand left at 5:45 in the period with a lower body injury and would not return. Marty Erat did return for a shift after getting stitched up from the high stick.
The third period started with more uneven play. The Wings went on the power play at 6:05 when Jerred Smithson was called for holding Holmstom on a phantom call. The Preds were lucky to escape unscathed on the type of call that Detroit usually takes advantage of.
As the penalty expired, Erat was called for tripping Brad Stuart but with the delayed call play did not stop until 11:04. The Wings had three shots on the man advantage as Lindback made great saves on each shot.
J.P. Dumont surprised everyone in the building at 14:37 when ge grabbed the puck and skated the lenght of the ice to on the right side and put it in the net past Howard who was distracted by Kevin Klein who was crashing the net up the middle. The 3-1 lead was the cushion that the Preds would need.
As time wore down, the Wings pulled Howard at 1:45 and loaded up with bodies in front of the Preds' net. Franzen fired a shot through traffic for his 13th goal of the year to bring the Wings within a goal at 3-2.
The Predators did a good job of keeping the puck away from the let as time wound down and sealed the win when Nick Spaling pushed the puck down the ice with his hand with five seconds remaining.
The totals for the third period tell the story of the Wing's desperation as they out shot the Preds 16-4 and led 28-6 on the Corsi.
There was no word after the game on the extent of Legwand's injury that he suffered in his first game back after missing nine games.
The Predators headed back to Nashville after the game where they will prepare for a three game in five night home stand that starts Saturday with Florida, and has the Islanders and the Sharks on Monday and Wednesday next week.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Lindback saw a ton of rubber as the Wings fired 37 shots at the young Swede who played the best game in his short NHL career in his first time on the ice in Detroit.
The Predators got early goals from Colin Wilson and Marty Erat. The game winner came from J.P. Dumont late in the third period as the Preds never trailed in the game.
The Preds were limited to 10 shots in the final two periods by the always tough Wing defense and were able to hang on as Detroit really upped the stakes in the final period.
Detroit's goals came from Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen. Datsyuk assisted on Franzen's goal to have a two point night.
Wings goalie, Jimmy Howard did not have his best night, stopping 21 of 24 shots and was rarely tested in the second half of the game.
The Preds overcame their poor performance in the face off circle on Monday by taking 29 of 55 21 draws for a solid 53% game.
Both teams continued their strong play on the penalty kill as each were 0-4 on the power play. Datsyuk's goal was shorthanded for the Wings.
The Predators started the game strong on the puck, out shooting the Wings 7-2 in the first six minutes of play. The Predators went on the first power play of the evening at 10:02 when Patrick Eaves was called for interference on Cody Franson. The Preds were unable to take advantage of the man advantage and had no shots.
The Predators continued their strong play and surprised everyone by scoring on a rush with 33 seconds left in the period to take a 1-0 lead. The play started with Steve Sullivan skating down Howard's right and passed cross ice to Cal O'Reilly who drew the goalie and defensemen to the right side leaving Wilson open in front of the goal and he wristed it into the net.
For the period, the Preds out shot Detroit 14-8 and led the Corsi 19-11.
The Preds startled everyone again 49 seconds int the second period when Sergei Kostitsyn shot from the right wall and the puck bounced out to Erat who knocked it into the net to give the Preds a 2-0 lead.
Shea Weber put the Wings on the Wings on the man advantage at 4:26 when he cross checked Darren Helm. The Wings were credited with two shots.
The Preds got a big scare at 8:55 when Nicklas Lidstrom fired a shot that got behind Lindback and touched the red line but was saved by Kevin Klein.
Marty Erat was hit directly in the face at 11:05 with the high stick of Tomas Holmstrom who was hit with a four minute double minor. The Predators never made a serious scare on the Wings net during their power play but the Wings scored short-handed at 13:04 when Datsyuk took a pass from Henrik Zetterberg and put it past Lindback who was far from the net.
Play was disjointed at both ends of the ice for the remainder of the period as the Preds and Wings swapped penalties with Wilson being called for high-sticking and Todd Bertuzzi being called for cross checking.
For the second period, Detroit was much more Wing-like out shooting the Preds 13-6 and leading the Corsi 22-11. David Legwand left at 5:45 in the period with a lower body injury and would not return. Marty Erat did return for a shift after getting stitched up from the high stick.
The third period started with more uneven play. The Wings went on the power play at 6:05 when Jerred Smithson was called for holding Holmstom on a phantom call. The Preds were lucky to escape unscathed on the type of call that Detroit usually takes advantage of.
As the penalty expired, Erat was called for tripping Brad Stuart but with the delayed call play did not stop until 11:04. The Wings had three shots on the man advantage as Lindback made great saves on each shot.
J.P. Dumont surprised everyone in the building at 14:37 when ge grabbed the puck and skated the lenght of the ice to on the right side and put it in the net past Howard who was distracted by Kevin Klein who was crashing the net up the middle. The 3-1 lead was the cushion that the Preds would need.
As time wore down, the Wings pulled Howard at 1:45 and loaded up with bodies in front of the Preds' net. Franzen fired a shot through traffic for his 13th goal of the year to bring the Wings within a goal at 3-2.
The Predators did a good job of keeping the puck away from the let as time wound down and sealed the win when Nick Spaling pushed the puck down the ice with his hand with five seconds remaining.
The totals for the third period tell the story of the Wing's desperation as they out shot the Preds 16-4 and led 28-6 on the Corsi.
There was no word after the game on the extent of Legwand's injury that he suffered in his first game back after missing nine games.
The Predators headed back to Nashville after the game where they will prepare for a three game in five night home stand that starts Saturday with Florida, and has the Islanders and the Sharks on Monday and Wednesday next week.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Predators Seek Atonement In Detroit and Wednesday Wrap-Up
The Nashville Predators (12-8-6) are in Detroit (17-5-3) to face the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena tonight where they hope to overcome the odds and grab a couple of points in a venue where they have not had success over the years, going 9-20- 7.
The Predators only other meeting with Detroit this year was also at Joe Louis Arena on October 30th when they lost 5-2 and were incredibly short staffed. The Preds were without Francis Bouillon, Jordin Tootoo, Marcel Goc, Ryan Suter, and Matthew Lombardi. Wade Belak dressed as the sixth D-man and never saw the ice.
Detroit is the league leader in offense, scoring 3.44 goals per game while the Preds average less than a goal a game less at 2.35. The Preds actually have the upper hand on allowed goals with a 2.54 average to the Wing's 2.64. In the last ten games, the Preds have only allowed 1.74 goals per game.
If the Preds are to have success tonight they must try to contain the Wings offense and keep scoring chances to a minimum. Over the years, Detroit has rung up impressive numbers in the shot category and I'm sure Barry Trotz has made clearing the ice of second chances a priority.
It is possible that David Legwand could return to the ice for the Predators. He has had success against the Wings in his career and could be a difference make. Oddly enough, J.P. Dumont has his best career statistics against Detroit with 23 points in 29 games with the Wings as a Predator.
Anders Lindback will get his first career start against Wings as he gets his third start in a row since Pekka Rinne's injury. Jimmy Howard is expected to go for Detroit
The Predators will return home after the game and Face the Florida Panthers at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.
Other previews of tonight's game come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, and The Tennessean. Josh Cooper also has an "if Legwand plays piece."
For news from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
David Boclair has a story on Sergei Kostitsyn starting to become the player that the Preds were hoping for. Josh Cooper has more on Sergei.
Jpsh Cooper has the story on the scary signs around Joe Louis Arena and a notes column about the bonding of the Euro line.
Colin Wilson says it's fun to play with Sully and Cal in his weekly blog piece.
Josh Cooper has a few leftover quotes from Monday night's locker room.
Jeremy has the final wrap of the 303 bus trip to Atlanta. The first was such a success, a follow-up is planned to St. Louis on April 9th.
Hockey Tonk Angels also has their view of the trip where they suggest that Phillips Arena needs a Cellblock.
FS TN has Pete and Terry's wrap-up from Monday's game.
Ex-Pred Jonas Andersson will make his debut with Vancouver tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. It has been a long road back to the NHL since he was with the Preds in 2002. He had hoped to return with the Preds but was traded to the Canucks as part of the Shane O'Brien trade.
Around the NHL...
Anyone that stayed up for the Duck-Oilers game were treated to a ten round shoot out where Cam Fowler gave the Ducks a 3-2 win to end their losing streak.
When your focus is on the Islanders, you always have the draft to look forward to. Chris Botta catches up with E.J. McGuire for the latest insight in to the 2011 crop of prospects.
3D Link has a great new project looking at NHL uniform colors at Puck and Punk. He starts with shades of blue and has plans for more later this week.
Team USA announced its preliminary roster for the Junior World Championships. No Pred prospects were included. Austin Watson probably had the best shot.
Mike Chen has a look at the Western Conference log jam at From The Rink.
Adrian Dater looks at the issue of the rise in next year's cap floor to about $46 million.
Drew Doughty tells his story from age three at the Kings Website. It was a life long dream of his to play for the Kings.
Patrick Hoffman discusses the Penguins and their success at RLD Hockey.
For what it's worth, here are the latest vote totals for the NHL All-Star game. Ovechkin's stock continues to fall.
On the injury front, Patrick Kane is out for three weeks with a leg injury in Chicago and Andy McDonald is out indefinitely in St. Louis with a concussion.
Odds and Ends...
If things go as planned, the Space X Falcon 9 could lift off this morning as early as 8:03 Central. Follow the progress at The Flame Trench.
Interesting figures on which television channels cord cutters can't do without.
Dalia Kurtz says New is the New Old at Facebook. "Facebook is a country that runs on three moving parts: Ego, boredom, and technology."
The Bret Farve-Jenn Sterger matter rages on and now the NFL is not returning phone calls. How does anyone actually get a "win" here.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Predators only other meeting with Detroit this year was also at Joe Louis Arena on October 30th when they lost 5-2 and were incredibly short staffed. The Preds were without Francis Bouillon, Jordin Tootoo, Marcel Goc, Ryan Suter, and Matthew Lombardi. Wade Belak dressed as the sixth D-man and never saw the ice.
Detroit is the league leader in offense, scoring 3.44 goals per game while the Preds average less than a goal a game less at 2.35. The Preds actually have the upper hand on allowed goals with a 2.54 average to the Wing's 2.64. In the last ten games, the Preds have only allowed 1.74 goals per game.
If the Preds are to have success tonight they must try to contain the Wings offense and keep scoring chances to a minimum. Over the years, Detroit has rung up impressive numbers in the shot category and I'm sure Barry Trotz has made clearing the ice of second chances a priority.
It is possible that David Legwand could return to the ice for the Predators. He has had success against the Wings in his career and could be a difference make. Oddly enough, J.P. Dumont has his best career statistics against Detroit with 23 points in 29 games with the Wings as a Predator.
Anders Lindback will get his first career start against Wings as he gets his third start in a row since Pekka Rinne's injury. Jimmy Howard is expected to go for Detroit
The Predators will return home after the game and Face the Florida Panthers at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday.
Other previews of tonight's game come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, and The Tennessean. Josh Cooper also has an "if Legwand plays piece."
For news from the Motor City, check out MLive, the Detroit Free Press, Winging It in Motown, and the Detroit News.
In Pred Nation...
David Boclair has a story on Sergei Kostitsyn starting to become the player that the Preds were hoping for. Josh Cooper has more on Sergei.
Jpsh Cooper has the story on the scary signs around Joe Louis Arena and a notes column about the bonding of the Euro line.
Colin Wilson says it's fun to play with Sully and Cal in his weekly blog piece.
Josh Cooper has a few leftover quotes from Monday night's locker room.
Jeremy has the final wrap of the 303 bus trip to Atlanta. The first was such a success, a follow-up is planned to St. Louis on April 9th.
Hockey Tonk Angels also has their view of the trip where they suggest that Phillips Arena needs a Cellblock.
FS TN has Pete and Terry's wrap-up from Monday's game.
Ex-Pred Jonas Andersson will make his debut with Vancouver tonight against the Anaheim Ducks. It has been a long road back to the NHL since he was with the Preds in 2002. He had hoped to return with the Preds but was traded to the Canucks as part of the Shane O'Brien trade.
Around the NHL...
Anyone that stayed up for the Duck-Oilers game were treated to a ten round shoot out where Cam Fowler gave the Ducks a 3-2 win to end their losing streak.
When your focus is on the Islanders, you always have the draft to look forward to. Chris Botta catches up with E.J. McGuire for the latest insight in to the 2011 crop of prospects.
3D Link has a great new project looking at NHL uniform colors at Puck and Punk. He starts with shades of blue and has plans for more later this week.
Team USA announced its preliminary roster for the Junior World Championships. No Pred prospects were included. Austin Watson probably had the best shot.
Mike Chen has a look at the Western Conference log jam at From The Rink.
Adrian Dater looks at the issue of the rise in next year's cap floor to about $46 million.
Drew Doughty tells his story from age three at the Kings Website. It was a life long dream of his to play for the Kings.
Patrick Hoffman discusses the Penguins and their success at RLD Hockey.
For what it's worth, here are the latest vote totals for the NHL All-Star game. Ovechkin's stock continues to fall.
On the injury front, Patrick Kane is out for three weeks with a leg injury in Chicago and Andy McDonald is out indefinitely in St. Louis with a concussion.
Odds and Ends...
If things go as planned, the Space X Falcon 9 could lift off this morning as early as 8:03 Central. Follow the progress at The Flame Trench.
Interesting figures on which television channels cord cutters can't do without.
Dalia Kurtz says New is the New Old at Facebook. "Facebook is a country that runs on three moving parts: Ego, boredom, and technology."
The Bret Farve-Jenn Sterger matter rages on and now the NFL is not returning phone calls. How does anyone actually get a "win" here.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Crippled Predators Fall Quietly in Detroit
The banged up Nashville Predators did little to scare the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-2 loss at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night.
It was business as usual for the Wings as they got two goals from Pavel Datsyuk and single goals from Brad Stuart, Patrick Eaves and Tomas Holmstrom. Nicklas Lidstrom and Ruslan Salei each had two assists on the night.
The Predators received goals from Joel Ward and Kevin Klein who were the only two players that had pluses in the plus/minus category for the evening.
It was a brutal effort for the Preds who were playing without key players and playing with a few more that were not at full speed.
In addition to Ryan Suter, Marcel Goc and Matthew Lombardi who have been out for a while, Fancis Boullion and Jordin Tootoo did not dress. Kevin Klien and Marty Erat played but were not healthy.
The team played with five defensemen, with all logging more than 20 minutes of ice time. Wade Belak dressed as the sixth D-man but did not skate a shift.
The team was unable to recall anyone from Milwaukee when the issues arose because the team is in Abbotsford and travel would not allow a recall.
Linus Klasen played his first NHL game and saw little relevant action. He played eight shits logging 6:22 in ice time. He did play one shift on the power play and was a -1 as he was on the ice for the Eaves goal, late in the game.
Pekka Rinne did not have his best night in goal which was compounded by repeated defensive breakdowns around the net. He gave up five goals on 28 shots.
At the other end of the ice, Chris Osgood won his 398 career game stopping 23 of 25 Predator shots.
The game was somewhat unusual in that the Wings only had 28 shots on the Preds which is much lower than the historical average. On the Corsi side, the Predators actually fire more overall shots, leading 51-50.
The Predators went 0-5 on the man advantage and gave up a goal on five penalty kills.
After leading the league in points earlier in the week, the injuries appear to be taking their toll on the Preds. With three days between games and only one game before nest weekend's back to backs in Los Angeles, it is hopeful that the team will regroup and give a better showing in the days to come.
The Predators returned to Nashville after the game and will begin to prepare for a west coast swing that begins Wednesday in Phoenix.
TV Note...
The Predators' first appearance on SportsSouth was marred by the fact that many who are within the Predators home viewing area were blacked out allegedly due to a programming choice by the network.
The game was also blacked out on NHL Center Ice leaving many outside the immediate Metro area with no way to view the contest. We will seek a full explanation from SportsSouth on Monday to try to alleviate the same from happening again.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
It was business as usual for the Wings as they got two goals from Pavel Datsyuk and single goals from Brad Stuart, Patrick Eaves and Tomas Holmstrom. Nicklas Lidstrom and Ruslan Salei each had two assists on the night.
The Predators received goals from Joel Ward and Kevin Klein who were the only two players that had pluses in the plus/minus category for the evening.
It was a brutal effort for the Preds who were playing without key players and playing with a few more that were not at full speed.
In addition to Ryan Suter, Marcel Goc and Matthew Lombardi who have been out for a while, Fancis Boullion and Jordin Tootoo did not dress. Kevin Klien and Marty Erat played but were not healthy.
The team played with five defensemen, with all logging more than 20 minutes of ice time. Wade Belak dressed as the sixth D-man but did not skate a shift.
The team was unable to recall anyone from Milwaukee when the issues arose because the team is in Abbotsford and travel would not allow a recall.
Linus Klasen played his first NHL game and saw little relevant action. He played eight shits logging 6:22 in ice time. He did play one shift on the power play and was a -1 as he was on the ice for the Eaves goal, late in the game.
Pekka Rinne did not have his best night in goal which was compounded by repeated defensive breakdowns around the net. He gave up five goals on 28 shots.
At the other end of the ice, Chris Osgood won his 398 career game stopping 23 of 25 Predator shots.
The game was somewhat unusual in that the Wings only had 28 shots on the Preds which is much lower than the historical average. On the Corsi side, the Predators actually fire more overall shots, leading 51-50.
The Predators went 0-5 on the man advantage and gave up a goal on five penalty kills.
After leading the league in points earlier in the week, the injuries appear to be taking their toll on the Preds. With three days between games and only one game before nest weekend's back to backs in Los Angeles, it is hopeful that the team will regroup and give a better showing in the days to come.
The Predators returned to Nashville after the game and will begin to prepare for a west coast swing that begins Wednesday in Phoenix.
TV Note...
The Predators' first appearance on SportsSouth was marred by the fact that many who are within the Predators home viewing area were blacked out allegedly due to a programming choice by the network.
The game was also blacked out on NHL Center Ice leaving many outside the immediate Metro area with no way to view the contest. We will seek a full explanation from SportsSouth on Monday to try to alleviate the same from happening again.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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