I don't feel like more rehash on last night's game so I'm going to talk about something much more exciting that Pete Weber sent me yesterday.
Pete's broadcast partner Terry Crisp has been gone from Calgary for almost two decades, but he is still a rock star at the Saddledome. He was at the head coach of the Flames when the won the Stanley Cup in 1989 and has many friends and family still in the area.
Terry has three kids and five grand kids. They all now play hockey. Terry's grandson Kale Crisp is the latest hero in the family and was featured in stories in the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald yesterday.
Six year old Kale was born with cerebral palsy and is limited in what he can do physically. Three months ago he started playing sledge hockey and was so proud to call grandpa Terry and tell him that "all his grandchildren have scored a goal"
There are only four kids under 15 playing sledge hockey in Calgary. Those four joined up with others from Manitoba to field a team for the Westerns in Leduc recently where they took home the bronze medal.
Terry's daughter-in-law Trish is taking the lead in getting sledge hockey going in Calgary to open up opportunities for many more kids and juniors to be able to play hockey and hopes to be able to field a full team for the 2012 Western Canada Sledge Hockey Tournament that will be held at Canada Olympic Park.
Take a moment and read these two articles from the Calgary Sun and Calgary Herald and then check out several videos of Kale and his teammates in action. Next time you see Terry around the rink, tell him congrats on Kale's accomplishments and give him a chance to be the proud grandparent that he is.
Preds-Flames Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Predatorial, What the Puck, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
The winning view of the game comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
In Pred Nation...
Predatorial looks at a lack of respect for the Predators.
HNIC looks at the Predators' final 17 games.
Around the NHL...
Will today be the day that the City of Glendale sues the Goldwater Institute for screwing up the bond sale to finance the Coyote's sale? This will only lead to a counter-suit.
Ryan Callahan had four goals in route to a brutal 7-0 win for the Rangers over the Flyers in the NBC snoozer of the week.
Ryan Porth is on the road checking out a different barn this week but he is still Thinking Out Loud.
Dan Ellis has been such a force in Anaheim that the Ducks had to send Ray Emery back to Syracuse to get him some playing time.
Dale Tallon cleaned house in Florida at the trade deadline and put himself in position with draft picks and cap space to follow a similar model as he did in building the Chicago team that won the Stanley Cup.
Here's an odd twist. Craig Anderson may be the Avalanche's best shot at the number one draft pick this year.
Sports Illustrated has a gallery of goalie masks.
The Steve Moore trial is likely to be heard in 2012 and will not be pretty for the game of hockey.
Odds and Ends...
It's interesting that CoolSprings.com was boasting that a Busch Gardens theme park was coming to Spring Hill is now hammering the faux developer that made the announcement last week.
All the hype about Charlie Sheen on Twitter is not about him getting closer to his fans. It's about an ad agency wanting to make the big bucks off his Tweets. The New York Times also has an article about what a disaster this clown is.
TechCrunch moved their comments to Facebook and appears to have cut out a lot of the crap. That's not a bad idea. I wish newspapers would do that.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Showing posts with label nashville predators calgary flames. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nashville predators calgary flames. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Flames Sweep Predators with 3-2 Win
The Calgary Flames made it a clean sweep of the Nashville Predators for the season with a 3-2 come from behind win Sunday night at the Saddledome.
The Predators led 2-1 at the end of the first period and Coach Brent Sutter must have pealed the paint during the first intermission as the Flames responded and dominated the last 40 minutes of play, outshooting the Preds 27-14 and holding Nashville scoreless.
The Flames received goals from Mark Giordano, Jerome Iginla, and Curtis Glencross while the Preds' offense came from Marty Erat and Ryan Suter.
Mikka Kiprusoff stopped 21 of 23 Nashville shots and improved his career record against the Preds to 14-9-2 in getting the victory. Pekka Rinne remains win-less against Calgary extending his losing streak streak to six with a 0-4-2 record against the Flames. Rinne gave up three goals on 36 shots.
The opening period got off to a rip roaring start with Olie Jokinen hitting the post with a slapshot 14 seconds into the contest. Play continued at a furious pace and at 2:47 Jon Blum fired a shot at the net that rebounded off Kiprusoff and Erat was able to corral the puck and put into the net to make it 1-0 Predators.
The Flames came back on a fluke goal at 7:17 when Shea Weber tipped a floating puck that got past Rinne to make it 1-1. Giordano was credited with the freebie power play goal.
The Predators continued their strong early play when Erat took the puck behind the Flames net and centered it to Suter in the right faceoff circle and he put it past Kiprusoff at 15:58 to give the Preds their final lead at 2-1.
The first period ended with the shots tied at nine and the Corsi being equal at 19. That was the closest the Predators would be for the remainder of the game.
History was made early in the second period when Sergei Kostitsyn was called for hooking Iginla on a breakaway 59 seconds into the period. A penalty shot was called and Iginla went five-hole on Rinne to tie the game 2-2. It was his 30th goal of the season and he became the tenth player in NHL history to score 30 goals in ten consecutive seasons.
The Flames continued to dominate play into the final period when at 10:23 in the third, the Flames had a series where they put repeated pressure on Rinne and Glencross finally lifted it above Rinne who was laying across the crease to put Calgary ahead 3-2.
The Predators played at a frantic pace down the stretch but Calgary matched them stride for stride and showed why they are one of the hottest teams in the Western Conference the second half the season.
With the loss, the Predators fell to eleventh place remaining at 75 points. Minnesota lost in a shootout to Buffalo to gain a point and move ahead of Nashville as well as Anaheim who was blanked by the Canucks 3-0.
The Predators now head to San Jose to play the Sharks on Tuesday night to end the final multiple game road trip of the year.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Predators led 2-1 at the end of the first period and Coach Brent Sutter must have pealed the paint during the first intermission as the Flames responded and dominated the last 40 minutes of play, outshooting the Preds 27-14 and holding Nashville scoreless.
The Flames received goals from Mark Giordano, Jerome Iginla, and Curtis Glencross while the Preds' offense came from Marty Erat and Ryan Suter.
Mikka Kiprusoff stopped 21 of 23 Nashville shots and improved his career record against the Preds to 14-9-2 in getting the victory. Pekka Rinne remains win-less against Calgary extending his losing streak streak to six with a 0-4-2 record against the Flames. Rinne gave up three goals on 36 shots.
The opening period got off to a rip roaring start with Olie Jokinen hitting the post with a slapshot 14 seconds into the contest. Play continued at a furious pace and at 2:47 Jon Blum fired a shot at the net that rebounded off Kiprusoff and Erat was able to corral the puck and put into the net to make it 1-0 Predators.
The Flames came back on a fluke goal at 7:17 when Shea Weber tipped a floating puck that got past Rinne to make it 1-1. Giordano was credited with the freebie power play goal.
The Predators continued their strong early play when Erat took the puck behind the Flames net and centered it to Suter in the right faceoff circle and he put it past Kiprusoff at 15:58 to give the Preds their final lead at 2-1.
The first period ended with the shots tied at nine and the Corsi being equal at 19. That was the closest the Predators would be for the remainder of the game.
History was made early in the second period when Sergei Kostitsyn was called for hooking Iginla on a breakaway 59 seconds into the period. A penalty shot was called and Iginla went five-hole on Rinne to tie the game 2-2. It was his 30th goal of the season and he became the tenth player in NHL history to score 30 goals in ten consecutive seasons.
The Flames continued to dominate play into the final period when at 10:23 in the third, the Flames had a series where they put repeated pressure on Rinne and Glencross finally lifted it above Rinne who was laying across the crease to put Calgary ahead 3-2.
The Predators played at a frantic pace down the stretch but Calgary matched them stride for stride and showed why they are one of the hottest teams in the Western Conference the second half the season.
With the loss, the Predators fell to eleventh place remaining at 75 points. Minnesota lost in a shootout to Buffalo to gain a point and move ahead of Nashville as well as Anaheim who was blanked by the Canucks 3-0.
The Predators now head to San Jose to play the Sharks on Tuesday night to end the final multiple game road trip of the year.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Predators Seek Points in Calgary Tonight and Sunday Round-Up
After a huge win in Vancouver and a day of bonding at the curling rink, the Nashville Predators (33-23-9) head to Calgary for tonight's game against the Flames (34-24-9).
The Predators are two points behind the Flames (77 and 75 points) in the jumbled Western Conference race where you can move several positions without even playing a game. On Friday morning, the Preds were in seventh place, and fell to tenth by the end of play Friday night.
Calgary has staged the biggest turnaround in the Western Conference this season. The team was mired in mediocrity and there were discussions about trading Jerome Iginla and blowing the team up in December. Instead, Jay Feaster replaced Darryl Sutter as the GM on December 28. Since that time the team has gone 18-6-6 after starting the season 16-18-3.
The Predators have been very average lately going 6-6-3 since the All-Star break. The Preds were in the top eight consistently for over six weeks until their latest run moved them out of a playoff spot, making them more of a bubble team.
This is the last match of the year between the two squads and Calgary has dominated the Predators this year winning all three games. On October 16 in Nashville, Mikka Kipprusoff shutout the Preds 1-0 in overtime. On the Preds last visit to Calgary, the Flames won 3-1 on January 24. A week later in Nashville, the Predators lost 3-2 in a shootout.
Barry Trotz has indicated that Pekka Rinne (23-18-7, 2.08, .929) will probably start the rest of the Predators' games this season. It is expected that Mika Kupprusoff (30-20-5, .2.56, .808) will be in goal for the Flames.
After tonight's game, the Predators head to San Jose where they will finish the road trip and return home where they will play 12 of the next 14 games at the Bridgestone Arena before closing out the season in St. Louis.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, Hockey Night in Nashville, The Tennessean, and Predators.com.
The Canadian view of the game comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
In Pred Nation...
Not unexpectedly, Steve Sullivan will have surgery and be out for four to six weeks which would be into the post season. Sully may have played his last game as a Predator if the Preds don't make it past the first round of the playoffs.
This morning, Josh Cooper compares Pekka Rinne to a shortstop and has a notes column.
Robbie at HNIN would like to see the Preds play Detroit or Chicago in the first round of the playoffs and I agree.
Mark Willoughby has his travelogue from Seattle and Vancouver where he visited with Su Ring and saw the Preds play. Mark has a second must read article about his trip which has a few interesting insights. He also has good marriage advice in his last line of the weekly "My View."
Mike Fisher's attitude and work ethic is an inspiration to his teammates in this story from Josh Cooper.
Friday night, the Milwaukee Admirals beat the Chicago Wolves 3-1 behind a 42 save performance from Mark Dekanich. Last night, the Manitoba Moose beat the Avs 4-2.
The Nashville Scene has a feature on Bridgestone organist, Krazy Kyle.
Bridgestone Arena concessionaire, Delaware North contributed $150,000 to Nashville Flood Relief.
Around the NHL...
The City of Glendale is fighting back and is allegedly filing suit against the Goldwater Institute on Monday for interfering with the sale of bonds that are needed to complete the sale of the Coyotes.
Trevor Gillies received a ten game suspension on the heels of nine that he just completed serving.
Ryan Porth goes beyond the standings to project the end result for the Eastern Conference as well as the Western Conference. RLD also looks at who will get left out in the East at the Saturday Faceoff.
Gann Matsuda takes a look at Dustin Penner's transition to the LA Kings.
The LA Times Magazine also has a feature on the Kings youth movement.
The Goalie Guild has their March update for the Top 100 goalie rankings.
Rookie Taylor Hall gets in a fight (video) and appears will be lost for the rest of season. He did get a Gordie Howe hat trick from the episode.
Chris Botta lists six players in the East to keep an eye on in the playoff race. He also relates the Chris Simon story on suspensions at Puck Daddy.
Matt Reitz has a neat story about the San Jose Sharks signing bay area native Sena Acolaste to an entry level contract.
Dave Steckel has tried to apologize to Sidney Crosby for the hit during the Winter Classic.
We always love Jersey Fouls. Here's the latest from Puck Daddy.
Odds and Ends...
Friday was Michael Scott's last day on the set of The Office.
NASA may still make it back to the moon by 2020.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Predators are two points behind the Flames (77 and 75 points) in the jumbled Western Conference race where you can move several positions without even playing a game. On Friday morning, the Preds were in seventh place, and fell to tenth by the end of play Friday night.
Calgary has staged the biggest turnaround in the Western Conference this season. The team was mired in mediocrity and there were discussions about trading Jerome Iginla and blowing the team up in December. Instead, Jay Feaster replaced Darryl Sutter as the GM on December 28. Since that time the team has gone 18-6-6 after starting the season 16-18-3.
The Predators have been very average lately going 6-6-3 since the All-Star break. The Preds were in the top eight consistently for over six weeks until their latest run moved them out of a playoff spot, making them more of a bubble team.
This is the last match of the year between the two squads and Calgary has dominated the Predators this year winning all three games. On October 16 in Nashville, Mikka Kipprusoff shutout the Preds 1-0 in overtime. On the Preds last visit to Calgary, the Flames won 3-1 on January 24. A week later in Nashville, the Predators lost 3-2 in a shootout.
Barry Trotz has indicated that Pekka Rinne (23-18-7, 2.08, .929) will probably start the rest of the Predators' games this season. It is expected that Mika Kupprusoff (30-20-5, .2.56, .808) will be in goal for the Flames.
After tonight's game, the Predators head to San Jose where they will finish the road trip and return home where they will play 12 of the next 14 games at the Bridgestone Arena before closing out the season in St. Louis.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, Hockey Night in Nashville, The Tennessean, and Predators.com.
The Canadian view of the game comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
In Pred Nation...
Not unexpectedly, Steve Sullivan will have surgery and be out for four to six weeks which would be into the post season. Sully may have played his last game as a Predator if the Preds don't make it past the first round of the playoffs.
This morning, Josh Cooper compares Pekka Rinne to a shortstop and has a notes column.
Robbie at HNIN would like to see the Preds play Detroit or Chicago in the first round of the playoffs and I agree.
Mark Willoughby has his travelogue from Seattle and Vancouver where he visited with Su Ring and saw the Preds play. Mark has a second must read article about his trip which has a few interesting insights. He also has good marriage advice in his last line of the weekly "My View."
Mike Fisher's attitude and work ethic is an inspiration to his teammates in this story from Josh Cooper.
Friday night, the Milwaukee Admirals beat the Chicago Wolves 3-1 behind a 42 save performance from Mark Dekanich. Last night, the Manitoba Moose beat the Avs 4-2.
The Nashville Scene has a feature on Bridgestone organist, Krazy Kyle.
Bridgestone Arena concessionaire, Delaware North contributed $150,000 to Nashville Flood Relief.
Around the NHL...
The City of Glendale is fighting back and is allegedly filing suit against the Goldwater Institute on Monday for interfering with the sale of bonds that are needed to complete the sale of the Coyotes.
Trevor Gillies received a ten game suspension on the heels of nine that he just completed serving.
Ryan Porth goes beyond the standings to project the end result for the Eastern Conference as well as the Western Conference. RLD also looks at who will get left out in the East at the Saturday Faceoff.
Gann Matsuda takes a look at Dustin Penner's transition to the LA Kings.
The LA Times Magazine also has a feature on the Kings youth movement.
The Goalie Guild has their March update for the Top 100 goalie rankings.
Rookie Taylor Hall gets in a fight (video) and appears will be lost for the rest of season. He did get a Gordie Howe hat trick from the episode.
Chris Botta lists six players in the East to keep an eye on in the playoff race. He also relates the Chris Simon story on suspensions at Puck Daddy.
Matt Reitz has a neat story about the San Jose Sharks signing bay area native Sena Acolaste to an entry level contract.
Dave Steckel has tried to apologize to Sidney Crosby for the hit during the Winter Classic.
We always love Jersey Fouls. Here's the latest from Puck Daddy.
Odds and Ends...
Friday was Michael Scott's last day on the set of The Office.
NASA may still make it back to the moon by 2020.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Jackson Takes the Place of the Groundhog and Wednesday Round-Up
Much to the chagrin of Jackson, we go back into the archives to bring you this year's Groundhog Day prognostication. Since we don't have a groundhog, we used a much younger Jackson to check out the shadow situation.
So here is the result of this year's early morning search for the shadow in Columbia, Tennessee.
While the Groundhog day forecast is probably fairly hokey, I can guarantee with 100% accuracy that Jackson will not be happy when he sees this blast from the past.
Preds-Flames Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night with post game video from Barry Trotz.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and and postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond takes a look at the curious case of Nick Spaling in last night's game.
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
The winning view of the game comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
Audio clips from the Predators include Shea Weber, Pekka Rinne, Marty Erat, and David Legwand. Also from Calgary comes Coach Brent Sutter, Jerome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Cory Sarich.
Programming Note...
I will be a guest host on Ryan Porth's RLD Hockey Radio today at Noon Central in a special Wednesday edition. Dan Rosen from NHL.com will be a guest. Please plan on joining us at BlogTalkRadio.
In Pred Nation...
Pekka Rinne will appear on NHL Live this morning between 11:00 and 1:00 on XM Home Ice, NHL Network and NHL.com..
Rachel from What the Puck has a great mash up of inspirational speeches.
The Milwaukee Admirals have strong veteran leadership this year under Brett Palin, Aaron Johnson and Scott Ford.
Around the NHL...
A bombshell from @MicheleSteele: NHL's Devils for sale - person familiar tells Bberg News Devils owner Vanderbeek has hired Moag & Co to oversee sale. Further clarification revealed that Jeff Vanderbeek does not want to sell but his minority partners do. It never seems to end in Jersey this year.
The massive Midwest storm took it's toll on the NHL with the Avs at Blues being postponed. The Avs were luck to get out of town before the worst hit ST. Louis..
It looks like the Sabers sale is a done deal with a presser set for Thursday.
Ryan Porth has some interesting X-factors for the playoff run. How could he doubt the Doughty? He also does a breakdown of standings at the all-star break versus season end for the last ten years.
Nick Cotsonika looks at the top ten things to look for in the rest of the season. Mike Russo also looks at some similar keys in the second half.
Steve Lapore reports a 36% increase for Versus' All-Star telecast. He also has the numbers for the CBC. It appears that TSN was the big weekend winner with 1.5 million watching the Fantasy Draft.
Joe Yerdon sings the praises of Raleigh as a Southern hockey city at PHT.
Here are some thoughts on the worst cities for NHL relocation. You might be surprised that Toronto is on the list.
Dan Rosen has his top six breakout players for the season so far.
Matt Reitz is mad about elitism in hockey and some comments written over the weekend.
The Motherpucker Hockey Hottie competition for 2011 has started. I nominated @Predlines and hope Predator Fans will support her.
When my kids were little, they had a class project called "flat Stanley". USA Hockey has converted Stanley to a more recognizable figure.
Congrats to Intent to Blow who celebrated their one year anniversary yesterday. They announced a new initiative to celebrate. Check it out.
Odds and Ends...
Pod Camp Nashville is now officially set for March 26.
Droid Life reports that Google may launch a Browser-Based Android Market today.
Google Maps 5.1.0 is also now available for the Droid.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
So here is the result of this year's early morning search for the shadow in Columbia, Tennessee.
While the Groundhog day forecast is probably fairly hokey, I can guarantee with 100% accuracy that Jackson will not be happy when he sees this blast from the past.
Preds-Flames Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night with post game video from Barry Trotz.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and and postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond takes a look at the curious case of Nick Spaling in last night's game.
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
The winning view of the game comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
Audio clips from the Predators include Shea Weber, Pekka Rinne, Marty Erat, and David Legwand. Also from Calgary comes Coach Brent Sutter, Jerome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Cory Sarich.
Programming Note...
I will be a guest host on Ryan Porth's RLD Hockey Radio today at Noon Central in a special Wednesday edition. Dan Rosen from NHL.com will be a guest. Please plan on joining us at BlogTalkRadio.
In Pred Nation...
Pekka Rinne will appear on NHL Live this morning between 11:00 and 1:00 on XM Home Ice, NHL Network and NHL.com..
Rachel from What the Puck has a great mash up of inspirational speeches.
The Milwaukee Admirals have strong veteran leadership this year under Brett Palin, Aaron Johnson and Scott Ford.
Around the NHL...
A bombshell from @MicheleSteele: NHL's Devils for sale - person familiar tells Bberg News Devils owner Vanderbeek has hired Moag & Co to oversee sale. Further clarification revealed that Jeff Vanderbeek does not want to sell but his minority partners do. It never seems to end in Jersey this year.
The massive Midwest storm took it's toll on the NHL with the Avs at Blues being postponed. The Avs were luck to get out of town before the worst hit ST. Louis..
It looks like the Sabers sale is a done deal with a presser set for Thursday.
Ryan Porth has some interesting X-factors for the playoff run. How could he doubt the Doughty? He also does a breakdown of standings at the all-star break versus season end for the last ten years.
Nick Cotsonika looks at the top ten things to look for in the rest of the season. Mike Russo also looks at some similar keys in the second half.
Steve Lapore reports a 36% increase for Versus' All-Star telecast. He also has the numbers for the CBC. It appears that TSN was the big weekend winner with 1.5 million watching the Fantasy Draft.
Joe Yerdon sings the praises of Raleigh as a Southern hockey city at PHT.
Here are some thoughts on the worst cities for NHL relocation. You might be surprised that Toronto is on the list.
Dan Rosen has his top six breakout players for the season so far.
Matt Reitz is mad about elitism in hockey and some comments written over the weekend.
The Motherpucker Hockey Hottie competition for 2011 has started. I nominated @Predlines and hope Predator Fans will support her.
When my kids were little, they had a class project called "flat Stanley". USA Hockey has converted Stanley to a more recognizable figure.
Congrats to Intent to Blow who celebrated their one year anniversary yesterday. They announced a new initiative to celebrate. Check it out.
Odds and Ends...
Pod Camp Nashville is now officially set for March 26.
Droid Life reports that Google may launch a Browser-Based Android Market today.
Google Maps 5.1.0 is also now available for the Droid.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Predators Get a Point in Shoot-Out Loss to Flames
The Nashville Predators outplayed the Calgary Flames for the better part of the game but came away with only a single point in a 3-2 shootout loss at the Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday night.
Rene Bourque scored on the first shot of the shootout to seal the victory and much needed two points for the surging Flames who have now won five in a row and are now within two points of a playoff position in eight place in the Western Conference.
Calgary got goals in regulation from Matt Stajan and Cory Sarich while the Predators' markers came from Marty Erat and Patric Hornqvist. Sergei Kostitsyn also had two helpers for Nashville.
Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 25 of 27 Predator shots and all three in the shootout for the win. Pekka Rinne continued to play well but took the loss as he stopped 26 of 28 Flames shots but allowed the only goal in the skills competition at the end.
The Predators have now lost all three meetings with the Flames this season. The Preds have now lost three games in a row where they held the lead in the third period.
Shea Weber commented on the three losses, "At least we got one point tonight but we've got to figure out how to lock things down. It's 31 games left and if we don't find a way to get two points, we're not going to be in the playoffs."
After Calgary tied the game halfway through the third period the action turned into more of a chess match than a hockey game as neither team wanted to lose at shot at least one point.
Weber explained, "I don't know if both teams were just sitting back waiting to get the extra point but we've got to find a way to get the two points instead of waiting to overtime to try to win."
Barry Trotz agreed, "Both teams were trying to be real cautious and make sure you get at least a point. You're probably playing with a little less risk. They need points, we need points so they made sure they weren't playing with a lot of risk and we did the same."
The Predators ended the evening with 61 points and clinging to fourth place in the Western Conference.
The Predators will have little time to worry about the loss as they will have practice on Wednesday morning and then travel to Philadelphia where they will play the Eastern Conference leading Flyers at 6 p.m. Thursday.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Predators Begin Stretch Run Against Calgary and Tuesday Thoughts
The Nashville Predators return to the ice tonight at 7 p.m. and are out to revenge a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames eight days ago in Canada. The Preds also lost on October 16 in Nashville when they were shutout 1-0 in overtime with Mikka Kipprusoff getting the victory.
Shea Weber will get a hero's welcome when he is introduced tonight after a four assist plus six rating at the All-Star game in Raleigh on Sunday. His 104.8 mph shot in the hardest shot skills competition on Saturday was good for second place behind Zdeno Chara. Expect chills, thrills and a standing ovation at some point tonight when the game ops folks show his highlights.
In spite of the five day break, none of the ailing Predators will be ready to play when the team hits the ice to the post-all-star game sprint to the playoffs. Steve Sullivan is skating but has missed 16 games since he strained a groin on December 23.
Jordin Tootoo has moved to a new phase in his rehabilitation treatment and is skating with the team for home practices. He has missed 15 games and there is no timetable for a return.
Matt Lombardi (Concussion), Francis Bouillon (Concussion), Cal O'Reilly (Broken leg), and Marik Svatos (Knee) are no where near close to returning.
Matt Halischuk and Chris Mueller have returned to Nashville after playing two games in Milwaukee over the All-Star break. They will probably return to to a line with J.P. Dumont which has found recent success.
After receiving the third star of the month for January, Pekka Rinne (17-13-4, 2.11, .929) is set to go in goal as Barry Trotz made a rare announcement last week that Rinne would play five games in a row with this being the fourth. Mikka Kiprusoff (20-18-2, 2.75, .901) should start for Calgary.
Other Predator Previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com.
The Canadian view of the game comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
In Pred Nation...
David Boclair has a nice piece on Jordin Tootoo's return to the practice rink.
Josh Cooper has the transcript of Jordin Tootoo's first media scrum since he left for rehab on December 27 as well as a feature article about his return to the ice.
Amanda DiPaolo writes that Shea Weber will put the weekend's activities behind him and will be focused on the Preds going forward.
Jim Diamond confirmed that Francis Bouillon's injury is a concussion with no date set for a return.
AJ's tip over the weekend was correct as the NHL announced that Jordin Tootoo was cleared to practice with the team at home while he continues out-patient treatment.
Paul McCann looks ahead at the Preds schedule in February and also looks at the David Shoalts piece that we linked yesterday.
Jas Faulkner kicks off the stretch run for the Preds with a report from yesterday's practice.
Ryan Miller has the Milwaukee Admirals mid-season report at On The Forecheck.
Jay Grossman has the latest on Alexander Radulov's season in the KHL.
Hockey Night in Nashville doesn't like the new Tampa Bay Lightning jerseys which seems to be a common sentiment.
Linus Klasen and Mark Dekanich played well in Monday's AHL All-Star game but came out on the losing end.
Around the NHL...
Ryan Porth gives final kudos to Raleigh for putting on a first class NHL event. He also looks at strength of schedule for each team the rest of the way. There is a strong correlation between a teams conference and division and the toughness of the schedule.
Justin Bourne has some ideas on how to spice up the All-Star game.
Ray Emery is back from hip surgery and ready for another shot at the NHL. I'm not sure where he would go since so many new faces have arrived in goal since he left.
Here is an interesting tidbit from @jrlind: Going through Nielsen's Year in Sports. Stanley Cup Finals top rated sports event in households over $100K in income.
Top prospect, Cody Hodgson has been called up by Vancouver. It has been a rough ride for the youngster who may make his NHL debut tonight in Dallas.
Mark Spector takes a look at the dissing that Toronto took in the NHLPA poll.
Adrian Dater has his daily look at Peter Forsberg, this time at Sports Illustrated. He also has a second story at All Things Avs. I like flying through Denver and seeing real (multiple pages) hockey coverage in the Denver Post.
This is a really good story from Paul Hunter about a journeyman minor leaguer.
Odds and Ends...
If you have something to hide, don't talk about it on Facebook as the courts are allowing social media discussion as evidence in increasing numbers.
Here is an interesting video of a landing at LAX that circles the city on the approach.
The Maverick's surfer who almost died last week met with his rescuer on NBC yesterday.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Shea Weber will get a hero's welcome when he is introduced tonight after a four assist plus six rating at the All-Star game in Raleigh on Sunday. His 104.8 mph shot in the hardest shot skills competition on Saturday was good for second place behind Zdeno Chara. Expect chills, thrills and a standing ovation at some point tonight when the game ops folks show his highlights.
In spite of the five day break, none of the ailing Predators will be ready to play when the team hits the ice to the post-all-star game sprint to the playoffs. Steve Sullivan is skating but has missed 16 games since he strained a groin on December 23.
Jordin Tootoo has moved to a new phase in his rehabilitation treatment and is skating with the team for home practices. He has missed 15 games and there is no timetable for a return.
Matt Lombardi (Concussion), Francis Bouillon (Concussion), Cal O'Reilly (Broken leg), and Marik Svatos (Knee) are no where near close to returning.
Matt Halischuk and Chris Mueller have returned to Nashville after playing two games in Milwaukee over the All-Star break. They will probably return to to a line with J.P. Dumont which has found recent success.
After receiving the third star of the month for January, Pekka Rinne (17-13-4, 2.11, .929) is set to go in goal as Barry Trotz made a rare announcement last week that Rinne would play five games in a row with this being the fourth. Mikka Kiprusoff (20-18-2, 2.75, .901) should start for Calgary.
Other Predator Previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com.
The Canadian view of the game comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
In Pred Nation...
David Boclair has a nice piece on Jordin Tootoo's return to the practice rink.
Josh Cooper has the transcript of Jordin Tootoo's first media scrum since he left for rehab on December 27 as well as a feature article about his return to the ice.
Amanda DiPaolo writes that Shea Weber will put the weekend's activities behind him and will be focused on the Preds going forward.
Jim Diamond confirmed that Francis Bouillon's injury is a concussion with no date set for a return.
AJ's tip over the weekend was correct as the NHL announced that Jordin Tootoo was cleared to practice with the team at home while he continues out-patient treatment.
Paul McCann looks ahead at the Preds schedule in February and also looks at the David Shoalts piece that we linked yesterday.
Jas Faulkner kicks off the stretch run for the Preds with a report from yesterday's practice.
Ryan Miller has the Milwaukee Admirals mid-season report at On The Forecheck.
Jay Grossman has the latest on Alexander Radulov's season in the KHL.
Hockey Night in Nashville doesn't like the new Tampa Bay Lightning jerseys which seems to be a common sentiment.
Linus Klasen and Mark Dekanich played well in Monday's AHL All-Star game but came out on the losing end.
Around the NHL...
Ryan Porth gives final kudos to Raleigh for putting on a first class NHL event. He also looks at strength of schedule for each team the rest of the way. There is a strong correlation between a teams conference and division and the toughness of the schedule.
Justin Bourne has some ideas on how to spice up the All-Star game.
Ray Emery is back from hip surgery and ready for another shot at the NHL. I'm not sure where he would go since so many new faces have arrived in goal since he left.
Here is an interesting tidbit from @jrlind: Going through Nielsen's Year in Sports. Stanley Cup Finals top rated sports event in households over $100K in income.
Top prospect, Cody Hodgson has been called up by Vancouver. It has been a rough ride for the youngster who may make his NHL debut tonight in Dallas.
Mark Spector takes a look at the dissing that Toronto took in the NHLPA poll.
Adrian Dater has his daily look at Peter Forsberg, this time at Sports Illustrated. He also has a second story at All Things Avs. I like flying through Denver and seeing real (multiple pages) hockey coverage in the Denver Post.
This is a really good story from Paul Hunter about a journeyman minor leaguer.
Odds and Ends...
If you have something to hide, don't talk about it on Facebook as the courts are allowing social media discussion as evidence in increasing numbers.
Here is an interesting video of a landing at LAX that circles the city on the approach.
The Maverick's surfer who almost died last week met with his rescuer on NBC yesterday.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The Hockey Gods Even Things Up in Calgary and Tuesday Tidbits
There should be no reason for hand-wringing amongst the Predator faithful after last night's 3-1 loss to Calgary. It appeared to be one of those nights where the stars were aligned in favor of the Flames and Calgary solidified their opportunity by playing sixty minutes of solid hockey.
The Predators were not at their best and were out muscled at times and were too soft on the puck at others. The Predators also found themselves in the penalty box more that the would have wanted too.
There was also a little accounting by the hockey gods. After Pekka's stick saved the game on Sunday in Edmonton, a floating puck sailed high over Rinne and he had no idea where to find it. As the hockey gods would have it, a puck found the net when it shouldn't have to even things up.
The Calgary team that the Predators faced on Monday was not the same team that has been the subject of ridicule for most of the season. If the Flames can play with the same patience and intensity for the remainder of the season, there will be a playoff spot waiting for them in the Western Conference.
Wednesday's game in Vancouver should be interesting. It's close to home for several Predators like Cody Franson and captain Shea Weber. Dan Hamhuis and Shane O'Brien will each be facing their old teams.
Most importantly, the Preds are trying to chase down the Canucks for the Western Conference lead. Who could have said that a month ago with a straight face?
Hopefully the Preds will show up ready to play and realize that they have a four day vacation after the game and leave everything they have on the ice in beating the Canucks in their own barn.
Predators-Flames Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper has a quote from Barry Trotz that pretty much says it all.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
The happy side of the story comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
Programming Note...
I will be the guest co-host on Ryan Porth's RLD Hockey Radio today at noon. Craig Custance of the Sporting News is scheduled and a special surprise guest may be added. Check it out.
In Pred Nation...
Jim Diamond has everything you wanted to know about the Predators' tattoos including a slide show with a bunch of pictures that seems to be very popular.
Barry Trotz gives Mitch Korn credit for sending Cody Franson out for the shoot out on Sunday.
Rory Boylen gives props to Barry Trotz for the Jack Adams award for this year.
Admirals Roundtable has part two of their Darren Pang interview. It sounds like he enjoyed his trip to Milwaukee.
Jas Faulkner has her weekly Greetings from Nashville at The Hockey Writers.
From @coreypronman: #Preds Ryan Ellis on a 12 game point streak, 6 goals and 25 points in that span.
Here is a revived Twitter account of former Predator Ryan Jones from @brandon_felder: A former Pred re-joins Twitter. @jonesry28 is back. Welcome back Jonesy.
Around the NHL...
I would have liked to have seen Pekka Rinne get a little more respect for three stars of the week but he is holding out for the three stars of the month. Tim Thomas, Steven Stamkos, and Marty Brodeur took the honors.
It was reported over the weekend that Sidney Crosby would not play in this weekend's All-Star Game but now it appears that he will not attend at all.
In the hard to believe category from @mirtle: The NHLPA announces it "has retained Richard Rodier as a lawyer & economic consultant." Dirk Hoag reminds folks of accusations from a couple of years ago about Rodier. George Malik also has a few barbs about Rodier. I don't understand why the PA would associate themselves with someone of Rodier's kind when they want to have the public on their side.
The RLD has the latest power ratings leading up to the All-Star break.
Matt Reitz looks at the number of wins each team will need to make the playoffs.
Bleacher Report recounts all the good players that came out of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft that was held in Nashville.
The Goldwater Institute is jumping into the fray of Matthew Hulziser's purchase of the Coyotes. The Save the Coyotes folks have some ideas on the topic.
Chris Johnston says the business of Gretzky is still booming ten years after retirement.
The Preds-Canucks was not on Scott Burnside's games to watch this week. How do you omit that when you have the hottest team in the NHL vs the west leader?
Elliotte Friedman's weekly 30 thoughts includes a shout out to Josh Cooper.
The Fourth Period has their top 25 players for the trade deadline.
The Tampa Bay Lightning's presser set for yesterday was postponed due to the shootings in St Petersburg.
Here is a video for Kings fans who need a little picker-upper. H/T to Kingscast for pointing it out.
Odds and Ends...
Will The Palms in Las Vegas still be standing after MTV makes it the Spring Break 2011 headquarters. There really isn't any place cooler than the Palm's pool.
The USPS is looking at closing 2000 post offices. That's probably not enough if they are to remain competitive. It is amazing that FedX and UPS get by with few locations.
The waves are finally getting big at Mavericks at Half Moon Bay in California. This CNN report about an injured surfer has no idea of context of why folks are there or anything. Here are some photos of the situation from ESPN. Here is raw footage of the waves from KTVU and some still pictures from the cliff.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Predators were not at their best and were out muscled at times and were too soft on the puck at others. The Predators also found themselves in the penalty box more that the would have wanted too.
There was also a little accounting by the hockey gods. After Pekka's stick saved the game on Sunday in Edmonton, a floating puck sailed high over Rinne and he had no idea where to find it. As the hockey gods would have it, a puck found the net when it shouldn't have to even things up.
The Calgary team that the Predators faced on Monday was not the same team that has been the subject of ridicule for most of the season. If the Flames can play with the same patience and intensity for the remainder of the season, there will be a playoff spot waiting for them in the Western Conference.
Wednesday's game in Vancouver should be interesting. It's close to home for several Predators like Cody Franson and captain Shea Weber. Dan Hamhuis and Shane O'Brien will each be facing their old teams.
Most importantly, the Preds are trying to chase down the Canucks for the Western Conference lead. Who could have said that a month ago with a straight face?
Hopefully the Preds will show up ready to play and realize that they have a four day vacation after the game and leave everything they have on the ice in beating the Canucks in their own barn.
Predators-Flames Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper has a quote from Barry Trotz that pretty much says it all.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
The happy side of the story comes from The Calgary Sun, The Calgary Herald, Matchsticks and Gasoline, FlamesNation, Battle of Alberta, and Hit the Post.
Programming Note...
I will be the guest co-host on Ryan Porth's RLD Hockey Radio today at noon. Craig Custance of the Sporting News is scheduled and a special surprise guest may be added. Check it out.
In Pred Nation...
Jim Diamond has everything you wanted to know about the Predators' tattoos including a slide show with a bunch of pictures that seems to be very popular.
Barry Trotz gives Mitch Korn credit for sending Cody Franson out for the shoot out on Sunday.
Rory Boylen gives props to Barry Trotz for the Jack Adams award for this year.
Admirals Roundtable has part two of their Darren Pang interview. It sounds like he enjoyed his trip to Milwaukee.
Jas Faulkner has her weekly Greetings from Nashville at The Hockey Writers.
From @coreypronman: #Preds Ryan Ellis on a 12 game point streak, 6 goals and 25 points in that span.
Here is a revived Twitter account of former Predator Ryan Jones from @brandon_felder: A former Pred re-joins Twitter. @jonesry28 is back. Welcome back Jonesy.
Around the NHL...
I would have liked to have seen Pekka Rinne get a little more respect for three stars of the week but he is holding out for the three stars of the month. Tim Thomas, Steven Stamkos, and Marty Brodeur took the honors.
It was reported over the weekend that Sidney Crosby would not play in this weekend's All-Star Game but now it appears that he will not attend at all.
In the hard to believe category from @mirtle: The NHLPA announces it "has retained Richard Rodier as a lawyer & economic consultant." Dirk Hoag reminds folks of accusations from a couple of years ago about Rodier. George Malik also has a few barbs about Rodier. I don't understand why the PA would associate themselves with someone of Rodier's kind when they want to have the public on their side.
The RLD has the latest power ratings leading up to the All-Star break.
Matt Reitz looks at the number of wins each team will need to make the playoffs.
Bleacher Report recounts all the good players that came out of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft that was held in Nashville.
The Goldwater Institute is jumping into the fray of Matthew Hulziser's purchase of the Coyotes. The Save the Coyotes folks have some ideas on the topic.
Chris Johnston says the business of Gretzky is still booming ten years after retirement.
The Preds-Canucks was not on Scott Burnside's games to watch this week. How do you omit that when you have the hottest team in the NHL vs the west leader?
Elliotte Friedman's weekly 30 thoughts includes a shout out to Josh Cooper.
The Fourth Period has their top 25 players for the trade deadline.
The Tampa Bay Lightning's presser set for yesterday was postponed due to the shootings in St Petersburg.
Here is a video for Kings fans who need a little picker-upper. H/T to Kingscast for pointing it out.
Odds and Ends...
Will The Palms in Las Vegas still be standing after MTV makes it the Spring Break 2011 headquarters. There really isn't any place cooler than the Palm's pool.
The USPS is looking at closing 2000 post offices. That's probably not enough if they are to remain competitive. It is amazing that FedX and UPS get by with few locations.
The waves are finally getting big at Mavericks at Half Moon Bay in California. This CNN report about an injured surfer has no idea of context of why folks are there or anything. Here are some photos of the situation from ESPN. Here is raw footage of the waves from KTVU and some still pictures from the cliff.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Monday, January 24, 2011
Calgary Dominates Nashville as They Power (Play) to 3-1 Win
The Calgary Flames appear to be playing the best hockey of their season as they out-muscled the Nashville Predators in a 3-1 win at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday night.
Led by power-play goals by Jerome Iginla and Brendan Morrison and an even strength goal by Curtis Glencross, the Flames dominated the Predators as they cruised to their third win in a row over the best teams in the Western Conference. The Predators lone goal came from David Legwand.
Miikka Kiprusoff probably wishes that he played the Preds every night as he won in an overtime shutout in their first meeting this year and stopped 23 of 24 Nashville shots on Monday.
Pekka Rinne allowed three goals on 27 Flames shots and all three tallies were due to rebounds or deflections that left him with no chance to stop the secondary shots.
The game started with both teams wanting to establish the neutral zone early and the Flames did a much more effective job slowing the Predator attack and beating them on the boards.
Calgary got on the board first at 10:14 on a freak play that was payback from the hockey gods for the Pekka-less stick save in Edmonton on Sunday. Glencross shot the puck and it bounced up off Shea Weber's shin guard and floated over Rinne into the crease where even a diving Chris Meuller couldn't stop it.
In the opening stanza, Calgary out shot the Predators 8-6 and led the Corsi 22-14. Both teams had a pair of penalties that resulted in five of the Preds shots and four of Calgary's.
The second period produced more penalties on both side with the Preds picking up three and the Flames having two. The Predators got on the board with their only goal at 10:32 when Kiprusoff tried to dump the puck into the right corner. Joel Ward grabbed it and sent it to Colin Wilson who shot it at the net and Legwand finished it off to tie the game 1-1.
After a high-sticking penalty on Ward, the Flames got a power-play goal at 13:01 to take the lead 2-1. Matt Stajan picked up his second assist of the evening when he shot at the net and Rinne did not control the puck and it went to Iginla who had a shot at the empty side of the net.
For the period, the Flames were in full control, outshooting the Preds 14-7 and dominating the Corsi 24-9. The Predators continued to be out-worked and struggled moving the puck in the neutral zone.
The Predators showed more life in the third than they had earlier in the game. Jerred Smithson was called for hooking to give the Flames their sixth man-advantage of the evening and Morrison made the most of it by putting the Flames ahead 3-1 with 5:42 left in the contest.
In the final period the Preds out shot the Flames 11-5 and doubled Calgary in the Corsi 22-11. Unfortunately, for the Predators it was too little too late.
Calgary potentially could jump from 14th to 11th with the win, depending on how games on the West coast ended. The Predators remained in fourth place with 60 points.
The Preds are 3-2 on the current road trip and looked like they were in need of some post All-Star game home cooking when they will play 21 of 32 games at the Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators headed for Vancouver after the game where they will face the Canucks on Wednesday before breaking for the All-Star weekend.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Led by power-play goals by Jerome Iginla and Brendan Morrison and an even strength goal by Curtis Glencross, the Flames dominated the Predators as they cruised to their third win in a row over the best teams in the Western Conference. The Predators lone goal came from David Legwand.
Miikka Kiprusoff probably wishes that he played the Preds every night as he won in an overtime shutout in their first meeting this year and stopped 23 of 24 Nashville shots on Monday.
Pekka Rinne allowed three goals on 27 Flames shots and all three tallies were due to rebounds or deflections that left him with no chance to stop the secondary shots.
The game started with both teams wanting to establish the neutral zone early and the Flames did a much more effective job slowing the Predator attack and beating them on the boards.
Calgary got on the board first at 10:14 on a freak play that was payback from the hockey gods for the Pekka-less stick save in Edmonton on Sunday. Glencross shot the puck and it bounced up off Shea Weber's shin guard and floated over Rinne into the crease where even a diving Chris Meuller couldn't stop it.
In the opening stanza, Calgary out shot the Predators 8-6 and led the Corsi 22-14. Both teams had a pair of penalties that resulted in five of the Preds shots and four of Calgary's.
The second period produced more penalties on both side with the Preds picking up three and the Flames having two. The Predators got on the board with their only goal at 10:32 when Kiprusoff tried to dump the puck into the right corner. Joel Ward grabbed it and sent it to Colin Wilson who shot it at the net and Legwand finished it off to tie the game 1-1.
After a high-sticking penalty on Ward, the Flames got a power-play goal at 13:01 to take the lead 2-1. Matt Stajan picked up his second assist of the evening when he shot at the net and Rinne did not control the puck and it went to Iginla who had a shot at the empty side of the net.
For the period, the Flames were in full control, outshooting the Preds 14-7 and dominating the Corsi 24-9. The Predators continued to be out-worked and struggled moving the puck in the neutral zone.
The Predators showed more life in the third than they had earlier in the game. Jerred Smithson was called for hooking to give the Flames their sixth man-advantage of the evening and Morrison made the most of it by putting the Flames ahead 3-1 with 5:42 left in the contest.
In the final period the Preds out shot the Flames 11-5 and doubled Calgary in the Corsi 22-11. Unfortunately, for the Predators it was too little too late.
Calgary potentially could jump from 14th to 11th with the win, depending on how games on the West coast ended. The Predators remained in fourth place with 60 points.
The Preds are 3-2 on the current road trip and looked like they were in need of some post All-Star game home cooking when they will play 21 of 32 games at the Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators headed for Vancouver after the game where they will face the Canucks on Wednesday before breaking for the All-Star weekend.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Kiprusoff Out-duels Rinne in 1-0 Loss for Preds
Fans that showed up at Bridgestone Arena tonight got to see a battle between Finnish goaltenders Pekka Rinne and Miikka Kiprusoff. ‘Kipper’ got the upper-hand of the duel in Calgary’s shutout win in overtime, 1-0 over Nashville.
2:10 into the first period, the Preds lost defenseman Ryan Suter to a lower-body injury when he was in a collision with Calgary’s Cory Sarich right in front of Nashville’s bench. Suter had trouble getting to his feet and went straight to the locker room. He did not return.
That was the biggest news in what was otherwise a boring opening frame. Both teams had a handful of chances, but neither could beat the other’s goaltender. The teams were tied with 12 shots apiece after 20 minutes.
The second period was littered with penalties (three on Calgary; two on Nashville). The best scoring chance came when Martin Erat picked up a loose puck in front of the net, only to have his shot stopped on a sprawling pad save from Kiprusoff.
The game was still scoreless after two.
Going into the third, you felt one goal was going to be enough to win; neither team could get any flow or rhythm in the offensive zone.
Nashville had a golden opportunity late in regulation when Curtis Glencross was called for goalie interference. They couldn’t cash in on the man advantage, though, which went 0-for-5 on the night.
In the final minute, both teams had a rush to potentially win the game. Matt Stajan hit the post for Calgary, while the Preds had a late flurry.
For the second straight game, Nashville went to overtime. For the second straight game, Nashville lost in frustrating fashion.
Calgary’s Rene Bourque banged home a loose puck in mid-air in front of Rinne 2:10 into overtime, giving the Flames a 1-0 victory. It was their fifth straight win in Nashville.
Kiprusoff made 34 saves in the shutout. Rinne, in his first game back from a knee injury, also made 34 saves but on 35 shots.
Post-Game Quotes:
Barry Trotz on Ryan Suter injury:
“Just a lower-body injury right now; we’ll probably have a better update tomorrow. (It’s) not too serious. He may miss a little bit of time here, but nothing major.”
Barry Trotz on defense stepping up:
“Most of the guys did a really good job on the back end. There’s some heavy minutes crunched by some guys that got a lot more. Like Kevin (Klein) got a lot more… Shane O’Brien was about ten minutes more than he’s averaged. It’s a big adjustment when you go from playing 14 or 15 minutes a night to 25; it’s a huge adjustment, especially the way Calgary plays. They come at you hard. It’s quite taxing on you.”
Barry Trotz on first five games:
“This team has a lot of character. This team has pretty good goaltending. The depth on defense is going to be looked at. I think we can play four lines… I thought Nick Spaling going in with Kostitsyn and Smithson was a pretty good line. Colin, J.P., and Marty was a pretty good line, and Marty’s just coming back and is a little rusty… and Colin’s a little rusty at center ice. We’re okay. We’re gonna have to pull together, we’ll have to be really detailed in these next few games if we’re going to have any kind of success.”
Pekka Rinne on facing countryman Kiprusoff:
“He’s one of the top guys in this league, obviously. It doesn’t matter who you play against, you just want to beat everybody. He’s my countryman and a great goalie.”
Joel Ward on last two losses:
“Anytime you don’t win it’s frustrating, in your own building too. You try to collect as many points as you can. So it’s pretty frustrating, for sure.”
Cal O’Reilly on Suter injury:
“He’s such a big part of our team, and losing him in the first was tough. I thought the d-men played great and stepped up and really played well with five ‘D’ back there.”
Final Thoughts:
There really isn’t much to talk about after this one. It was a snooze-fest, as I’d like to call it. The goaltenders were sharp and obviously tough to beat. It’s a huge win for Calgary, but a tougher loss for Nashville, especially given Suter’s injury. They’ll have to bounce back quickly as their four-game home-stand ends on Thursday against the uber-talented Penguins.
Ryan Porth for Preds On The Glass
2:10 into the first period, the Preds lost defenseman Ryan Suter to a lower-body injury when he was in a collision with Calgary’s Cory Sarich right in front of Nashville’s bench. Suter had trouble getting to his feet and went straight to the locker room. He did not return.
That was the biggest news in what was otherwise a boring opening frame. Both teams had a handful of chances, but neither could beat the other’s goaltender. The teams were tied with 12 shots apiece after 20 minutes.
The second period was littered with penalties (three on Calgary; two on Nashville). The best scoring chance came when Martin Erat picked up a loose puck in front of the net, only to have his shot stopped on a sprawling pad save from Kiprusoff.
The game was still scoreless after two.
Going into the third, you felt one goal was going to be enough to win; neither team could get any flow or rhythm in the offensive zone.
Nashville had a golden opportunity late in regulation when Curtis Glencross was called for goalie interference. They couldn’t cash in on the man advantage, though, which went 0-for-5 on the night.
In the final minute, both teams had a rush to potentially win the game. Matt Stajan hit the post for Calgary, while the Preds had a late flurry.
For the second straight game, Nashville went to overtime. For the second straight game, Nashville lost in frustrating fashion.
Calgary’s Rene Bourque banged home a loose puck in mid-air in front of Rinne 2:10 into overtime, giving the Flames a 1-0 victory. It was their fifth straight win in Nashville.
Kiprusoff made 34 saves in the shutout. Rinne, in his first game back from a knee injury, also made 34 saves but on 35 shots.
Post-Game Quotes:
Barry Trotz on Ryan Suter injury:
“Just a lower-body injury right now; we’ll probably have a better update tomorrow. (It’s) not too serious. He may miss a little bit of time here, but nothing major.”
Barry Trotz on defense stepping up:
“Most of the guys did a really good job on the back end. There’s some heavy minutes crunched by some guys that got a lot more. Like Kevin (Klein) got a lot more… Shane O’Brien was about ten minutes more than he’s averaged. It’s a big adjustment when you go from playing 14 or 15 minutes a night to 25; it’s a huge adjustment, especially the way Calgary plays. They come at you hard. It’s quite taxing on you.”
Barry Trotz on first five games:
“This team has a lot of character. This team has pretty good goaltending. The depth on defense is going to be looked at. I think we can play four lines… I thought Nick Spaling going in with Kostitsyn and Smithson was a pretty good line. Colin, J.P., and Marty was a pretty good line, and Marty’s just coming back and is a little rusty… and Colin’s a little rusty at center ice. We’re okay. We’re gonna have to pull together, we’ll have to be really detailed in these next few games if we’re going to have any kind of success.”
Pekka Rinne on facing countryman Kiprusoff:
“He’s one of the top guys in this league, obviously. It doesn’t matter who you play against, you just want to beat everybody. He’s my countryman and a great goalie.”
Joel Ward on last two losses:
“Anytime you don’t win it’s frustrating, in your own building too. You try to collect as many points as you can. So it’s pretty frustrating, for sure.”
Cal O’Reilly on Suter injury:
“He’s such a big part of our team, and losing him in the first was tough. I thought the d-men played great and stepped up and really played well with five ‘D’ back there.”
Final Thoughts:
There really isn’t much to talk about after this one. It was a snooze-fest, as I’d like to call it. The goaltenders were sharp and obviously tough to beat. It’s a huge win for Calgary, but a tougher loss for Nashville, especially given Suter’s injury. They’ll have to bounce back quickly as their four-game home-stand ends on Thursday against the uber-talented Penguins.
Ryan Porth for Preds On The Glass
Friday, January 15, 2010
Predators Play Best Game Yet, Beat Calgary 1-0
The Nashville Predators may have played their best game of the season in beating a high energy Calgary Flames team 1-0 to sweep the Western Canada road trip for the second time in franchise history.
Patric Hornqvist scored the game's only goal with 6:22 left in the game and Dan Ellis stopped all 22 Calgary shots for his first shutout of the year. The Predators are now alone in fourth place in the Western Conference with 61 points.
The game got off to an ominous start at 2:11 on the game's second face off when Brian McGratton decided that he wanted a go with Wade Belak. Belak accommodated him and they both spent five minutes in the box. As much as I like a good fight, this one was pointless. Each of the two combatants only played two other shifts and were basically a waste of ink on the line-up card.
The Predators were aggressive from the start out shooting the Flames 10-2 through the first 10 minutes of the game. The Corsi margin was wider at 17-5.
At 11:54, Shea Weber was called for cross-checking Craig Conroy behind the Flames net. The Preds PK unit did not allow a shot on the resulting power play.
The Predators continued heavy pressure for the remainder of the period but Miikka Kiprusoff held firm stopping all 10 Pred shots, while Dan Ellis stopped six Flames shots. The Corsi numbers evened out somewhat as the period ended with a 23-14 margin.
The Flames came out with more life in the second period and appeared to be focusing on working the puck deep and trying to pass from behind the Predator net. The Preds worked hard to keep the puck out of the middle and toward the boards.
The pace and hitting picked up considerably at the mid point in the period as the Predators were skating about as well as they have at any point this season. At 11:16 the Preds pressure forced Mark Giordano into an interference penalty to put the Preds on the man advantage. Nashville was only able to get one shot off.
Seconds after the power play ended at 13:42, Dan Ellis was called for delay of game as he tried to clear the puck away from a charging Jerome Iginla. As the Preds killed off the Flames power play, at 15:52, Rene Bourque was called for high sticking on Cal O'Reilly on a delayed penalty. The Predators applied pressure but only had one shot officially on the man advantage.
The game remained scoreless after two periods of action. For the middle stanza, Calgary out shot the Preds 8-7 while the Corsi numbers were even at 13.
In watching the game through two periods, you got a feeling that it would be a matter of time before the Predators broke through and pick up a loose puck to get the first goal. With the game going scoreless deep through two periods, a freak play could be the difference. It appeared that he first team to score in the third would be the winner.
As the third period started at 1:55, famous referee Stephane Auger called Olli Jokinen for tripping. The Pred power play was cut short 1:04 in when Marty Erat was called for hooking. The series of penalties was all for naught when the Preds killed the 56 seconds of Flames man advantage.
Steve Sullivan had the best chance of the period for the Preds at 6:04 when he had an open net shot defected wide from a few feet in front of the goal. Going the other way at 7:52 Olli Jokinen took a break-away on a Cody Franson miscue and managed to get a post for the closest thing to a goal seen at that point in the game.
Patric Hornqvist finally broke trough with a goal when he sent the puck around the boards to Steve Sullivan who was waiting behind the net, Sully passed it back to Hornqvist who was charging the net and took the feed and slid it through Miikka Kiprusoff's five hole to give the Predators a 1-0 lead with 6:22 remaining in the game.
As the final minutes ticked down, the Predators intensified their work for the puck and even dominated control after the Flames pulled Kiprusoff with 70 seconds left in the game.
The final shot tally was Calgary 22, Nashville 21 with the Flames outshooting the Preds 8-4 in the third.
Storylines From the Game
Is Patric Hornqvist the Best Player in the NHL at This Time?...
Many would argue that no one is playing better hockey over the last few weeks than #27 for the Nashville Predators. 11 of Hornqvist's 19 goals have come in the third period. He has become the player that the Predators have never had who could work the area in front of the net distracting the opponent's goalie and picking up rebounds and putting them in the net to "receive his reward" as Barry Trotz says.
The game winning play started with Hornqvist musseling the puck and feeding it to Steve Sullivan who sent it back to him to finish the play.
Calgary obviously was focusing on Hornqvist the entire game and took every opportunity to hit him along the boards as well as in the dirty areas in front of the net. Hornqvist never flinched and let his stick do the talking by putting the difference maker in the net to win the game.
Goalie Rotation Is Working...
With the rotation in place, this was Dan Ellis' turn to star once again, picking up his first shut out of the year stopping all 22 Calgary shots. Ellis stood firm and appeared more confident than we have seen in a couple of seasons. With the Flames having an empty net, Ellis even launched a high shot at the opposite net that had a good chance of going in had it not been intercepted by Jay Bouwmeester as it landed in the Calgary zone.
Hard-nosed Toe to Toe Play...
The game was one of the harder fought games by both teams this season with heavy pressure on both ends of the ice. Both teams worked their game plans to control the puck and limit the other team's scoring opportunities. The game was full of energy and every inch of ice was a battle and the corners were an all out war. A student of the game would label this contest as an enjoyable one to watch even if you did not have a rooting interest.
Up Next...
The Predators will have a pleasant trip home after the game and have Saturday off before a Sunday practice at Centennial to prepare for Monday's rare visit from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Sommet Center.
More later,,,
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Patric Hornqvist scored the game's only goal with 6:22 left in the game and Dan Ellis stopped all 22 Calgary shots for his first shutout of the year. The Predators are now alone in fourth place in the Western Conference with 61 points.
The game got off to an ominous start at 2:11 on the game's second face off when Brian McGratton decided that he wanted a go with Wade Belak. Belak accommodated him and they both spent five minutes in the box. As much as I like a good fight, this one was pointless. Each of the two combatants only played two other shifts and were basically a waste of ink on the line-up card.
The Predators were aggressive from the start out shooting the Flames 10-2 through the first 10 minutes of the game. The Corsi margin was wider at 17-5.
At 11:54, Shea Weber was called for cross-checking Craig Conroy behind the Flames net. The Preds PK unit did not allow a shot on the resulting power play.
The Predators continued heavy pressure for the remainder of the period but Miikka Kiprusoff held firm stopping all 10 Pred shots, while Dan Ellis stopped six Flames shots. The Corsi numbers evened out somewhat as the period ended with a 23-14 margin.
The Flames came out with more life in the second period and appeared to be focusing on working the puck deep and trying to pass from behind the Predator net. The Preds worked hard to keep the puck out of the middle and toward the boards.
The pace and hitting picked up considerably at the mid point in the period as the Predators were skating about as well as they have at any point this season. At 11:16 the Preds pressure forced Mark Giordano into an interference penalty to put the Preds on the man advantage. Nashville was only able to get one shot off.
Seconds after the power play ended at 13:42, Dan Ellis was called for delay of game as he tried to clear the puck away from a charging Jerome Iginla. As the Preds killed off the Flames power play, at 15:52, Rene Bourque was called for high sticking on Cal O'Reilly on a delayed penalty. The Predators applied pressure but only had one shot officially on the man advantage.
The game remained scoreless after two periods of action. For the middle stanza, Calgary out shot the Preds 8-7 while the Corsi numbers were even at 13.
In watching the game through two periods, you got a feeling that it would be a matter of time before the Predators broke through and pick up a loose puck to get the first goal. With the game going scoreless deep through two periods, a freak play could be the difference. It appeared that he first team to score in the third would be the winner.
As the third period started at 1:55, famous referee Stephane Auger called Olli Jokinen for tripping. The Pred power play was cut short 1:04 in when Marty Erat was called for hooking. The series of penalties was all for naught when the Preds killed the 56 seconds of Flames man advantage.
Steve Sullivan had the best chance of the period for the Preds at 6:04 when he had an open net shot defected wide from a few feet in front of the goal. Going the other way at 7:52 Olli Jokinen took a break-away on a Cody Franson miscue and managed to get a post for the closest thing to a goal seen at that point in the game.
Patric Hornqvist finally broke trough with a goal when he sent the puck around the boards to Steve Sullivan who was waiting behind the net, Sully passed it back to Hornqvist who was charging the net and took the feed and slid it through Miikka Kiprusoff's five hole to give the Predators a 1-0 lead with 6:22 remaining in the game.
As the final minutes ticked down, the Predators intensified their work for the puck and even dominated control after the Flames pulled Kiprusoff with 70 seconds left in the game.
The final shot tally was Calgary 22, Nashville 21 with the Flames outshooting the Preds 8-4 in the third.
Storylines From the Game
Is Patric Hornqvist the Best Player in the NHL at This Time?...
Many would argue that no one is playing better hockey over the last few weeks than #27 for the Nashville Predators. 11 of Hornqvist's 19 goals have come in the third period. He has become the player that the Predators have never had who could work the area in front of the net distracting the opponent's goalie and picking up rebounds and putting them in the net to "receive his reward" as Barry Trotz says.
The game winning play started with Hornqvist musseling the puck and feeding it to Steve Sullivan who sent it back to him to finish the play.
Calgary obviously was focusing on Hornqvist the entire game and took every opportunity to hit him along the boards as well as in the dirty areas in front of the net. Hornqvist never flinched and let his stick do the talking by putting the difference maker in the net to win the game.
Goalie Rotation Is Working...
With the rotation in place, this was Dan Ellis' turn to star once again, picking up his first shut out of the year stopping all 22 Calgary shots. Ellis stood firm and appeared more confident than we have seen in a couple of seasons. With the Flames having an empty net, Ellis even launched a high shot at the opposite net that had a good chance of going in had it not been intercepted by Jay Bouwmeester as it landed in the Calgary zone.
Hard-nosed Toe to Toe Play...
The game was one of the harder fought games by both teams this season with heavy pressure on both ends of the ice. Both teams worked their game plans to control the puck and limit the other team's scoring opportunities. The game was full of energy and every inch of ice was a battle and the corners were an all out war. A student of the game would label this contest as an enjoyable one to watch even if you did not have a rooting interest.
Up Next...
The Predators will have a pleasant trip home after the game and have Saturday off before a Sunday practice at Centennial to prepare for Monday's rare visit from the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Sommet Center.
More later,,,
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Game Preview: Preds End Road Trip in Calgary
The Nashville Predators (28-16-3) will end their brief road trip to the Canadian Northwest with an important contest with the Flames (26-15-9) in Calgary tonight.
The Predators are in fourth place and are a point ahead of Calgary in the Western Conference race. Calgary is in a virtual tie with Colorado for the Northwest Division lead but are technically in fifth due to tiebreakers.
This is the final meeting of the year between the two teams with the road team winning the previous three contests.
The games in Nashville include what was considered the Flames best game of the year on November 30th when the Flames beat the Preds 5-0. The Flames also won 3-1 last week in a game where the Preds weren't fully engaged for the first part of the game.
In the Predators previous game in Calgary on December 19, they played well in 5-3 win.
Calgary was riding a hot streak when they were in Nashville last week as that win was their fifth in a row. Since that game they have gone 1-3-1. The Preds have won three of four since the last contest with the Flames including two on the road this week in Vancouver and Edmonton.
Jerome Iginla has been a Pred killer this year with three goals and three assists, and over his entire career as he has feasted on the Predators with 26 goals and 24 assists in 39 games.
The Predators will return to the goalie rotation sending Dan Ellis (10-8-1, 2.71, .911) out against Miikka Kiprusoff (23-12-6, 2.18. .926).
Predators Keys To the Game
Avoid Calgary Having a Break-Out Game...
Despite the Flames high powered line-up led by Jerome Iginla, Rene Bourque, Daymond Langkow, and Olli Jokinen, they have not scored more than three goals in a game since a 4-1 win over Edmonton on December 28. That was the only game where they exceeded three goals since the 5-0 win in Nashville in November.
In a stat that few would believe given the Pred's reputation for lack of scoring, Nashville is now tenth in the league in goals per game (2.81) while Calgary is 19th (2.62). On the other end of the ice, the Flame's success has come from their fifth place goals allowed (2.34) versus the Preds being in 16th place (2.79).
Continued Improvement on Special Teams...
Despite going 0-1 against Edmonton on Tuesday, the Preds are 5 of 17 in their last four games on the power play which has raised them from 28th to 23rd (16.7). After going five games being perfect on the penalty kill (10 for 10), the Preds have fallen off in the last two games stopping only 4 of 7 chances on the opponent's man advantage.
Special teams have continued to be the primary opportunity for improvement as the team heads to the second half of the season. Calgary has been surprisingly anemic on the power play (24th, 16.6%) but is capable of a break out at any time.
Solve Kiprusoff Early...
Miikka Kiprusoff has played well against the Preds this year registering a shut out and a one goal game in three appearances. His stats (2-1, 1.68, .928) need to be overcome by intense pressure early as he has been prone to give up rebounds at times. Patric Hornqvist needs to establish a presence in front of the net and create as much havoc as possible.
The Preds need to score early as they have the league's second best record when leading after one period (16-1) and are third best when scoring first (.818).
Up Next...
The Predators will return home after the game and have Saturday off before returning to the ice at Centennial on Sunday morning to prepare for the Toronto Maple Leafs third ever visit to Music City on Monday night.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Predators are in fourth place and are a point ahead of Calgary in the Western Conference race. Calgary is in a virtual tie with Colorado for the Northwest Division lead but are technically in fifth due to tiebreakers.
This is the final meeting of the year between the two teams with the road team winning the previous three contests.
The games in Nashville include what was considered the Flames best game of the year on November 30th when the Flames beat the Preds 5-0. The Flames also won 3-1 last week in a game where the Preds weren't fully engaged for the first part of the game.
In the Predators previous game in Calgary on December 19, they played well in 5-3 win.
Calgary was riding a hot streak when they were in Nashville last week as that win was their fifth in a row. Since that game they have gone 1-3-1. The Preds have won three of four since the last contest with the Flames including two on the road this week in Vancouver and Edmonton.
Jerome Iginla has been a Pred killer this year with three goals and three assists, and over his entire career as he has feasted on the Predators with 26 goals and 24 assists in 39 games.
The Predators will return to the goalie rotation sending Dan Ellis (10-8-1, 2.71, .911) out against Miikka Kiprusoff (23-12-6, 2.18. .926).
Predators Keys To the Game
Avoid Calgary Having a Break-Out Game...
Despite the Flames high powered line-up led by Jerome Iginla, Rene Bourque, Daymond Langkow, and Olli Jokinen, they have not scored more than three goals in a game since a 4-1 win over Edmonton on December 28. That was the only game where they exceeded three goals since the 5-0 win in Nashville in November.
In a stat that few would believe given the Pred's reputation for lack of scoring, Nashville is now tenth in the league in goals per game (2.81) while Calgary is 19th (2.62). On the other end of the ice, the Flame's success has come from their fifth place goals allowed (2.34) versus the Preds being in 16th place (2.79).
Continued Improvement on Special Teams...
Despite going 0-1 against Edmonton on Tuesday, the Preds are 5 of 17 in their last four games on the power play which has raised them from 28th to 23rd (16.7). After going five games being perfect on the penalty kill (10 for 10), the Preds have fallen off in the last two games stopping only 4 of 7 chances on the opponent's man advantage.
Special teams have continued to be the primary opportunity for improvement as the team heads to the second half of the season. Calgary has been surprisingly anemic on the power play (24th, 16.6%) but is capable of a break out at any time.
Solve Kiprusoff Early...
Miikka Kiprusoff has played well against the Preds this year registering a shut out and a one goal game in three appearances. His stats (2-1, 1.68, .928) need to be overcome by intense pressure early as he has been prone to give up rebounds at times. Patric Hornqvist needs to establish a presence in front of the net and create as much havoc as possible.
The Preds need to score early as they have the league's second best record when leading after one period (16-1) and are third best when scoring first (.818).
Up Next...
The Predators will return home after the game and have Saturday off before returning to the ice at Centennial on Sunday morning to prepare for the Toronto Maple Leafs third ever visit to Music City on Monday night.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Friday Odds and Ends in Pred Land
This has been an odd week and a great time for the Preds to be out of town. Having been down and out with a sinus/ear infection, my creative juices have not been flowing too clearly.
I was really invigorated by a visit to my regular doctor this morning after dealing with a walk in clinic previously. We spent most of the visit talking hockey. She is a New Brunswick native who grew up on HNIC and is an avid hockey fan.
She is headed to Vancouver next month and has tickets to several games highlighted by Canada and Sweden. It's amazing that even when you don't feel well, an unexpected conversation with a fellow passionate hockey fan can put a little extra pep in your step.
We'll be back with our game preview later today.
In Pred Nation...
John Glennon thinks the fire is hotter in Calgary when the Preds are around and has news of more stability with the Pred's coaches. Here's their game at a glance too. He also has news of possible returns for Arnott and Smithson next week.
Bavid Boclair at the City Paper also has an ominous look at tonight's game.
The Calgary Herald covered the Predators Curling outing on Wednesday. It appears that this is popular among other teams too. There is also a video with the story.
Mark has his Friday View including a look at chocolates versus jalapenos. His wisdom is never ending.
Dan Hamhuis has his view of things at Inside Predators and is looking forward to next week's fathers trip.
Preds101 looks at two goalies versus one and has a poll for your thoughts too.
AJ takes a look at tonight's game and other stuff at Pull My Fang Finger.
The Express in Milwaukee has a look at the Bradley Center and events staged there. As you would expect, with a 20 year old facility, there are calls for a new one. This sounds about like Nashville and the Convention Center.
For those in Milwaukee, the Ads are selling "on ice" passes for the Dropkick Murphys show next month. I don't understand that concept but would love to see the show. Would you really wamt to stand on the ice to watch a concert?
Another Tweet from @WBrettWilson: Tomorrow night the #Predators vs the #Flames - my heart is with the Flames, wallet says cheer for the Preds. Wallet wins (Is Kevin my god?) Will Wilson be the new cash cow once the bankruptcy issue is resolved? He would be a great owner and keeps dropping hints.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
I was really invigorated by a visit to my regular doctor this morning after dealing with a walk in clinic previously. We spent most of the visit talking hockey. She is a New Brunswick native who grew up on HNIC and is an avid hockey fan.
She is headed to Vancouver next month and has tickets to several games highlighted by Canada and Sweden. It's amazing that even when you don't feel well, an unexpected conversation with a fellow passionate hockey fan can put a little extra pep in your step.
We'll be back with our game preview later today.
In Pred Nation...
John Glennon thinks the fire is hotter in Calgary when the Preds are around and has news of more stability with the Pred's coaches. Here's their game at a glance too. He also has news of possible returns for Arnott and Smithson next week.
Bavid Boclair at the City Paper also has an ominous look at tonight's game.
The Calgary Herald covered the Predators Curling outing on Wednesday. It appears that this is popular among other teams too. There is also a video with the story.
Mark has his Friday View including a look at chocolates versus jalapenos. His wisdom is never ending.
Dan Hamhuis has his view of things at Inside Predators and is looking forward to next week's fathers trip.
Preds101 looks at two goalies versus one and has a poll for your thoughts too.
AJ takes a look at tonight's game and other stuff at Pull My Fang Finger.
The Express in Milwaukee has a look at the Bradley Center and events staged there. As you would expect, with a 20 year old facility, there are calls for a new one. This sounds about like Nashville and the Convention Center.
For those in Milwaukee, the Ads are selling "on ice" passes for the Dropkick Murphys show next month. I don't understand that concept but would love to see the show. Would you really wamt to stand on the ice to watch a concert?
Another Tweet from @WBrettWilson: Tomorrow night the #Predators vs the #Flames - my heart is with the Flames, wallet says cheer for the Preds. Wallet wins (Is Kevin my god?) Will Wilson be the new cash cow once the bankruptcy issue is resolved? He would be a great owner and keeps dropping hints.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Game Recap: Predators Lose to Flames 3-1
Coach Barry Trotz Postgame Comments
Dan Ellis, Steve Sullivan, Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Suter postgame comments
Coach Brent Sutter, David Moss, Daymond Langkow and Miikka Kiprusoff postgame comments
Coming into the contest between Nashville and Calgary, the Flames had won four in a row and the Preds had won three straight, so one streak was going to be broken. Calgary came out on top of a hard fought 3-1 battle on a bitter cold night at the Sommet Center.
The Flames had goals from David Moss, Olie Jokinen and an empty netter from Daymond Langkow. Six different Flames had assists.
The Predator's lone goal came from Patric Hornqvist who moved into a tie with Mary Erat for the team lead in goals with 14.
The game was a close battle until halfway through the second period when David Moss scored a goal on a mad scramble around the Pred's net.
"It hit me up high and I thought it was down on my pad," Dan Ellis explained. "They kept scrumming around so I thought maybe it had fallen loose so I tried to cover as much ice as possible. I thought I had possession of it long enough to get a whistle but obviously the ref thought the puck was loose and in the end it still was."
As the second period wound down, Olie Jokinen got a handy rebound off a shot from Dion Phaneuf and place it in the open side of the net past Dan Ellis to give the Flames a 2-0 lead to end the period.
At 13:45 in the third period, Patric Hornqvist brought the Predators within one with a power play goal on a shot from beside the net. Hornqvist continues to improve his play in the hard areas near the blue ice and has become a key component of this team.
The Predators played desperate hockey down the stretch and were pounding shots in the direction of the Flames net until the game was put away by Daymond Langkow's empty netter with 19 seconds left in the contest.
Miikka Kiprusoff was outstanding in net getting the win and stopping 27 of 28 Predator shots. Dan Ellis played well enough to win, stopping 31 of 33 Flames' shots but suffered from lack of support by the offense.
Ryan Suter was highly complementary of Miikka Kiprusoff, "(Kiprusoff) is better than advertised. He had traffic in front of him all night and he stopped them until the third period."
With the win, Calgary jumped past Colorado into the lead of the Northwest division with 55 points. The Predators fell into a ties for sixth with Los Angeles with 53 points.
Storylines from the Game
Flames Continue to Play Tough on the Road...
The Flames have taken both games from the Preds at the Sommet Center this year. Calgary improved their conference best road record to 13-5-3.
"They play simple hockey," said Steve Sullivan. "They play defense first and wait for their opportunities and they got a fifty goal scorer for how many years in a row. They are dangerous, and a strong hockey club. Their one of the best in the West."
When asked about Calgary's success on the road Barry Trotz said, "We find the same thing that we can get guys to buy in a little easier on the road because it’s you against the world. They seem to play a very detailed game on the road and play hard. They’ve got a good team. They’re hard to play. Tonight they were just a little bit better."
Flames' Second Goal was a Killer...
The turning point in the game was Calgary slipping a goal in with only 18 seconds left in the second period to take a two goal lead into the dressing room at the second intermission.
Barry Trotz very frustrated by the goal, "For them it was great timing. For us, it couldn’t have been worse. It was a one goal hockey game. You’re one puck away, and then all of a sudden you’re two pucks back, three to win. That was huge."
Trotz continued, "I just wish we could have those 18 seconds back in the second period. You might have been looking at overtime, just like Canada and the US."
Ryan Suter explained the frustration of the goal, "When you give up a goal at the end of the period or at the beginning of the period, it usually comes back to bite you."
Too Little, Too Late...
The Predators played fairly average for two periods but went into the third period down 2-0 with Olympic goalie Miikka Kiprusoff in net. They got withing a goal with 6:15 left and had several chances down the stretch but never could tie the game up.
Barry Trotz discussed the effort late in the game, "Today we played hard, but we were missing that little edge until we got down two pucks and then finally got that goal. In the third we played very well, in terms of forcing them to take penalties. Looking back, 20/20, that second goal was absolutely monumental for them."
Dan Ellis was positive about the Preds play late in the game saying, "The first two periods we weren't overly engaged in the game but once the third period rolled around we started to get it going but it was a little bit too late."
'If we had played with a little more desperation early on it could have been a different outcome, said Ryan Suter. "We didn't and they did, and they won."
Patric Hornqvist said, "If we play the same game we played in the third we will win a lot more hockey games this year."
Up Next...
The Predators will play Carolina Thursday night and then the Ducks on Saturday to close out the homestand.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Game Preview: Preds Hope to Snuff Out Flames
The Nashville Predators (25-14-3) hope to extend their modest three-game win streak against the Calgary Flames (24-12-5) at the Sommet Center tonight as the Flames appear to have brought the frigid Canadian weather with them.
With temperatures dipping into single digits and snow in the forecast, Calgary may feel more at home than the Predators. In two previous meetings this season between the Preds and Flames the visiting team has been victorious.
The Flames beat the Preds 5-0 on November 30th in Nashville in what was deemed Calgary's best game of the year. The Preds proved turnabout was fair play with a 5-3 win at Calgary on December 19th in Calgary.
The Flames are currently riding a season high four game win streak and are tied in points with he Predators at 53, but do have a game in hand. They have allowed only one goal in each of the last four games. At times this year, the Flames have not seemed to be hitting on all cylinders in a season where they were expected to be one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
The Predators will continue their every other game goalie rotation by starting Dan Ellis (9-7-1, 2.79, .908) in goal. The Flames are expected to go with Miikka Kiprusoff (21-10-5, 2.16, 9.28)
Both teams have players out due to injuries. The Preds are still missing Marty Erat, Jerred Smithson and Jordin Tootoo. According to the Calgary Sun "Cory Sarich (ankle/foot) and D Dion Phaneuf are probable. C Craig Conroy (foot/ankle) is out".
Predator's Keys to the Game
Contain Calgary's Top Scorers...
Calgary has four players at 27 points or more (Jarome Iginla 41, Rene Bourque 34, Daymond Langkow 27, and Olli Jokinen 27) while the Preds leading producer is Marty Erat at 27 points who remains out for another week or so. The Predators have been especially victimized by Jerome Iginla who has 3 goals and 2 assists in the prior two meetings between the teams this year.
Improved Special Team Play...
I realize that this sounds like a broken record that this is a key to every game, but this is the area that he Predators have the biggest potential for upside during the second half of the season. A casual fan looking at the stats, seeing a team ranked 28th (14.9%) on the power play and 29th (76.3%) on the penalty kill would expect to see that team mired in the bottom of the conference standings.
In fact, statistically the Preds do not look good in may areas other than having the fewest penalties in the league (9.3 min per game). The fact that they are in the middle of the playoff hunt is a testament to the team concept where a different player seems to step up every night.
Control the Area in Front of the Flames Net...
One of the biggest improvements this season has been the the increased pressure put on the opposing goaltender by players like Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones in establishing position in front of the opponent's goal. In franchise history, the Preds have rarely had much of a presence in front of the net so it is good to see players that are willing to go to the "hard" and "dirty" areas to receive their "rewards" as Barry Trotz like to say..
Up Next...
The Preds have games on Thursday against Carolina and Saturday against the Ducks before hitting the road again for a trip through Western Canada next week.
More later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
With temperatures dipping into single digits and snow in the forecast, Calgary may feel more at home than the Predators. In two previous meetings this season between the Preds and Flames the visiting team has been victorious.
The Flames beat the Preds 5-0 on November 30th in Nashville in what was deemed Calgary's best game of the year. The Preds proved turnabout was fair play with a 5-3 win at Calgary on December 19th in Calgary.
The Flames are currently riding a season high four game win streak and are tied in points with he Predators at 53, but do have a game in hand. They have allowed only one goal in each of the last four games. At times this year, the Flames have not seemed to be hitting on all cylinders in a season where they were expected to be one of the top teams in the Western Conference.
The Predators will continue their every other game goalie rotation by starting Dan Ellis (9-7-1, 2.79, .908) in goal. The Flames are expected to go with Miikka Kiprusoff (21-10-5, 2.16, 9.28)
Both teams have players out due to injuries. The Preds are still missing Marty Erat, Jerred Smithson and Jordin Tootoo. According to the Calgary Sun "Cory Sarich (ankle/foot) and D Dion Phaneuf are probable. C Craig Conroy (foot/ankle) is out".
Predator's Keys to the Game
Contain Calgary's Top Scorers...
Calgary has four players at 27 points or more (Jarome Iginla 41, Rene Bourque 34, Daymond Langkow 27, and Olli Jokinen 27) while the Preds leading producer is Marty Erat at 27 points who remains out for another week or so. The Predators have been especially victimized by Jerome Iginla who has 3 goals and 2 assists in the prior two meetings between the teams this year.
Improved Special Team Play...
I realize that this sounds like a broken record that this is a key to every game, but this is the area that he Predators have the biggest potential for upside during the second half of the season. A casual fan looking at the stats, seeing a team ranked 28th (14.9%) on the power play and 29th (76.3%) on the penalty kill would expect to see that team mired in the bottom of the conference standings.
In fact, statistically the Preds do not look good in may areas other than having the fewest penalties in the league (9.3 min per game). The fact that they are in the middle of the playoff hunt is a testament to the team concept where a different player seems to step up every night.
Control the Area in Front of the Flames Net...
One of the biggest improvements this season has been the the increased pressure put on the opposing goaltender by players like Patric Hornqvist and Ryan Jones in establishing position in front of the opponent's goal. In franchise history, the Preds have rarely had much of a presence in front of the net so it is good to see players that are willing to go to the "hard" and "dirty" areas to receive their "rewards" as Barry Trotz like to say..
Up Next...
The Preds have games on Thursday against Carolina and Saturday against the Ducks before hitting the road again for a trip through Western Canada next week.
More later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Predators Stun Calgary and Tie for Western Conference Lead
Game Highlights from NHL.com
The Nashville Predators beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 in an afternoon match where the Flames looked to be the better team on the ice for the last half of the game. At the conclusion of the game, the Predator's 47 points was tied with Chicago, San Jose and Los Angeles at the top of the tightly bunched Western Conference.
The Predators were led by an outstanding goaltending performance by Dan Ellis who made up for many Pred defensive miscues.
Martin Erat and Marcel Goc each had a goal and and two assists to lead the Predator scoring effort. Cody Franson, David Legwand and Dave Scatchard also had goals. Joel Ward added two assists.
The Predators entered the game without captain Jason Arnott who was out with an "upper body injury". The Preds did what they had to do early with a makeshift first line that resulted in the first goal of the game by Marty Erat on a great feed from Jerred Smithson 4:22 into the contest.
At 7:39 in the first Robin Regehr was called for interference when he knocked down Patric Hornqvist in the open ice. The Preds managed two shots on the man advantage but was unable to covert. At one point Shea Weber had an open net after Kiprusoff went down prematurely but missed high over the cross bar.
The Preds got another opportunity on the power play at 10:29 when David Moss was called for roughing. As the man advantage was expiring, at 12:30, Marty Erat fired a shot at the net that was surrounded by Patric Hornqvist and David Legwand. Legwand was credited with the gaol as he and Hornqvist to the rebound off of Kiprusoff to pick up his eight goal of the season.
Before the Predators could get comfortable with the two goal lead, Jerred Smithson was called for hooking at 13:03. Calgary wasted no time on the man advantage when Deon Phaneuf picked up his eigth goal on the power play at at 13:41. Phaneuf's goal was his second in two games after going 19 games without a goal.
The teams traded coincidental roughing penalties at 15:30 when Patric Hornqvist and Adam Pardy were called for roughing after a brief skirmish.
The first period ended with the Preds leading 2-1. The Predators out shot Calgary 10-7, and were ahead 13-10 in Corsi numbers.
Early in the second period Wade Belak and Brian McGrattan hooked up in a "staged fight" after a face off at 2:14. The fight was stopped by the officials prematurely with McGrattan getting the best of Belak.
As the Flames rallied of the the McGrattan pugilistic win, Dan Hamhuis turned the puck over in the neutral zone to set up Jerome Iginla for a goal to tie the game 2-2. The goal broke Iginla's eight game goal drought that dated back to the last game between the Preds and Flames on November 30.
The Predators returned to the man advantage at 5:04 when Craig Conroy was called for tripping but were unable to get a shot off on the power play.
Calgary was the recipient of a second goal off of a Dan Hamhus turnover near the Predator blue line. Jerome Iginla picked up the misplayed puck and moved in for a shot that Ellis stopped but Iginla got his own rebound and used a sliding Dan Hamhuis to ricochet a second attempt into the Pred net to put the Flames ahead 3-2.
Dave Scatchard was called for boarding Adam Pardy at 12:34 and amazingly the Predator penalty kill unit was able to hold of the Flames power play attack.
With the Preds looking somewhat shaky, Joel Ward provided the remedy as he fired a shot from the slot and a breaking Marcel Goc picked up the rebound to put the puck in the net to tie the game 3-3 at 17:10 in the second.
Although the Preds were able to tie the game, they struggled for much of the period with the Calgary pressure. Dan Ellis was the star of the period in spite of giving up two goals to Jerome Iginla that he had little to do with. The Flames out shot the Preds 15-6 and had many scoring chances that Ellis was able to control.
The third period started much as the second period was played. Miscommunication led to a Craig Conroy breakaway at 2:37 that Dan Ellis luckily was able to control.
At 4:14, Jerred Smithson and Joel Ward, working for the puck in the Calgary zone, were able to get the puck to a waiting Cody Franson near the blue line who fired a bomb through traffic that found the right side of the Flames net to put the Preds ahead 4-3. Franson's goal ended up being the game winning goal.
At 12:14 in the third, Calgary missed a prime opportunity to tie the game when Dan Ellis was far from the net but a Calgary shot was wide of the empty net. At 13:40 Ellis held off a Curtis Glencross breakaway to again save a goal.
The game was finally decided when Dave Scatchard got the empty net goal at 19:34 on a feed from Marty Erat to give the Predators a two goal cushion that left the final score at 5-3. The empty netter tied a Predator record of scoring five goals for four games in a row.
The Predators were out shot 10-4 in the third period and 32-20 for the game.
Story Lines from the Game
Dan Ellis' stellar goaltending...
Dan Ellis single-handedly kept the Predators in the game with an outstanding goaltending performance stopping 29 of 32 Flame's shots. In the second and third period Calgary repeated pressured the Predators and forced the puck toward Ellis and the Predator net. Ellis made numerous saves where he had little help around the net. It was easily Ellis' best performance of the season.
Players are rewarded when they go to the net...
The Predator players are learning what Barry Trotz loves to preach, that you get your reward when you go to the net and work in the "dirty" and "hard" areas near the blue ice. The goal by Legwand was almost a competition to see who could take control of the area in front of the net. Marcel Goc's goal came from picking up a rebound while skating toward the net.
Christmas is not the time for giving on the ice...
The Predators continue to have problems with turnovers and giveaways that lead to odd man rushes and break-aways. Sloppy puck handling and bad decision making by Dan Hamhuis led to two Jerome Iginla goals. The Predators overcame the error in this game but cannot continue to win with the number of unforced errors that they have committed in recent games.
Up Next...
The Predators head to Vancouver for a couple of days of practice before closing out the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule against the Canucks on Tuesday night.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Game Preview: Preds Meet Flames Wanting Revenge
The Nashville Predators (21-11-3) seek revenge for an embarrassing loss last month against the Calgary Flames (20-10-4) in an early 3 p.m. CST game at the Saddledome in Calgary.
The Flames beat the Preds in their only other meeting this season 5-0 in what was possibly one of the most lackadaisical showings by the Predators all season. After surviving the first 20 minutes, the floodgates opened and the Flames never looked back.
The Calgary press indicated that it was the most complete game that he Flames had played up to that point in the season. The Flames scored twice on the power play and got a short handed empty netter with four minutes left in the game. Mikka Kiprusoff had an outstanding game stopping all 22 Predator shots and received first star of the game honors.
In most statistical categories, Calgary has an advantage over the Predators. On the power play Calgary is 19th (18.2%) while the Preds are 26th (16.7). On the penalty kill the Preds are 29th (76.5%) while the Flames are 14th (82.1%). The Preds do have an advantage in face offs 49.9% to 45.7% where the Flames are in last place in the NHL.
The Predators have been on a run lately going 5-0-1 in their last six games, capped off by Thursday's come from behind 6-3 victory over the Oilers. Ryan Jones bring a four game goal streak into the game while Patric Hornqvist has four goals in his last three games.
The Flames won their last game against the L.A. Kings on Thursday by a 2-1 margin. While still leading the Northwest Division, the Flames have cooled a bit lately going 3-4-1 in December since their last game with the Preds.
Likewise, the Flame's big stud, Jerome Iginla, has zero goals and five assist for the month. Unfortunately for the Preds, Iginla likes playing day games and had a hat trick in his last one against the Kings last month.
Mikka Kiprusoff (18-8-4, 2.14, .930) will start in net for the Flames and the Nashville goalkeeper has not been announced. With a good outing in relief on Thursday, and Pekka Rinne (14-6-2, 2.75, .905) reportedly a bit under the weather, I would think that Dan Ellis (7-5-1, 2.65, .911) may get the call.
Predator's Keys To The Game
Preds Need a Quick Start...
After finding a higher level of play after going down 2-0 in their last game against Edmonton, the Preds need to start with that higher level of intensity from the beginning of the game. No slight to Edmonton, but the Flames are an elite team in the Western Conference and can not be trifled with. When the Preds went down 3-0 against Calgary in Nashville Barry Trotz called it "game, set, match."
Focus on Special Teams...
In their last outing against the Flames the Predators were horrible on the penalty kill giving up two goals on two opportunities to a star studded group that is always dangerous. At the same time the Preds were 0-3 on the power play and gave up a short handed goal to boot. Overall, the Preds managed only 22 shots on goal for the game. The Predators simply cannot expect to remain at the top of the conference standing with out improvement on special teams.
Remember How The Last Loss To Calgary Felt...
In the locker room after the 5-0 loss to Calgary three weeks ago, there were no happy faces. The Predators do not want to come away from this game today questioning their effort or talking about not getting their feet moving. Without getting too worked up over a "revenge" factor, it would be helpful if they did have a little extra motivation to pay back Calgary on the their home ice for the Preds loss in Nashville.
Up Next...
The Preds play Tuesday night in Vancouver to close out the pre-Christmas schedule before taking three days off. It doesn't get any easier after the break as the Preds come back with a home and away with the Chicago Blackhawks next weekend.
_________________________________
In Pred Nation...
John Glennon has a story about Ryan Jones and a game at a glance at the Tennessean.
Dirk the Forechecker has a note about the Sports Authority assigning a liaison to deal with the Predators. I agree with Dirk that this is a positive thing. Dirk also crunches numbers to discuss the current Preds scoring surge and whether or not it is sustainable. He also has his game preview up here.
Point 2 Point has a look at today's game too.
The week is never complete without Mark's View.
New blogger Preds 101 has a great analysis of Ryan Jones' goal against the Oilers. This is better than Terry Crisp.
NHL Hot Stove takes a look at the Pred's injuries so far this year. I'm not sure who Ryan Wilson is. Maybe it's Collin's evil twin.
The great authority on sports, Forbes, has the Pens rated as the NHL's best fans. Jim Diamond points out that the Preds are # 26.
By the way, the Preds are up to a 72% chance of making the playoffs at SportsClubStats, a level that was never reached last season.
Around the NHL...
Something you never have thought of is a team losing all its equipment by a truck fire. It happened to the Wild in Ottawa.
Here's a geeky story about the technology that drives the NHL web sites.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Flames beat the Preds in their only other meeting this season 5-0 in what was possibly one of the most lackadaisical showings by the Predators all season. After surviving the first 20 minutes, the floodgates opened and the Flames never looked back.
The Calgary press indicated that it was the most complete game that he Flames had played up to that point in the season. The Flames scored twice on the power play and got a short handed empty netter with four minutes left in the game. Mikka Kiprusoff had an outstanding game stopping all 22 Predator shots and received first star of the game honors.
In most statistical categories, Calgary has an advantage over the Predators. On the power play Calgary is 19th (18.2%) while the Preds are 26th (16.7). On the penalty kill the Preds are 29th (76.5%) while the Flames are 14th (82.1%). The Preds do have an advantage in face offs 49.9% to 45.7% where the Flames are in last place in the NHL.
The Predators have been on a run lately going 5-0-1 in their last six games, capped off by Thursday's come from behind 6-3 victory over the Oilers. Ryan Jones bring a four game goal streak into the game while Patric Hornqvist has four goals in his last three games.
The Flames won their last game against the L.A. Kings on Thursday by a 2-1 margin. While still leading the Northwest Division, the Flames have cooled a bit lately going 3-4-1 in December since their last game with the Preds.
Likewise, the Flame's big stud, Jerome Iginla, has zero goals and five assist for the month. Unfortunately for the Preds, Iginla likes playing day games and had a hat trick in his last one against the Kings last month.
Mikka Kiprusoff (18-8-4, 2.14, .930) will start in net for the Flames and the Nashville goalkeeper has not been announced. With a good outing in relief on Thursday, and Pekka Rinne (14-6-2, 2.75, .905) reportedly a bit under the weather, I would think that Dan Ellis (7-5-1, 2.65, .911) may get the call.
Predator's Keys To The Game
Preds Need a Quick Start...
After finding a higher level of play after going down 2-0 in their last game against Edmonton, the Preds need to start with that higher level of intensity from the beginning of the game. No slight to Edmonton, but the Flames are an elite team in the Western Conference and can not be trifled with. When the Preds went down 3-0 against Calgary in Nashville Barry Trotz called it "game, set, match."
Focus on Special Teams...
In their last outing against the Flames the Predators were horrible on the penalty kill giving up two goals on two opportunities to a star studded group that is always dangerous. At the same time the Preds were 0-3 on the power play and gave up a short handed goal to boot. Overall, the Preds managed only 22 shots on goal for the game. The Predators simply cannot expect to remain at the top of the conference standing with out improvement on special teams.
Remember How The Last Loss To Calgary Felt...
In the locker room after the 5-0 loss to Calgary three weeks ago, there were no happy faces. The Predators do not want to come away from this game today questioning their effort or talking about not getting their feet moving. Without getting too worked up over a "revenge" factor, it would be helpful if they did have a little extra motivation to pay back Calgary on the their home ice for the Preds loss in Nashville.
Up Next...
The Preds play Tuesday night in Vancouver to close out the pre-Christmas schedule before taking three days off. It doesn't get any easier after the break as the Preds come back with a home and away with the Chicago Blackhawks next weekend.
_________________________________
In Pred Nation...
John Glennon has a story about Ryan Jones and a game at a glance at the Tennessean.
Dirk the Forechecker has a note about the Sports Authority assigning a liaison to deal with the Predators. I agree with Dirk that this is a positive thing. Dirk also crunches numbers to discuss the current Preds scoring surge and whether or not it is sustainable. He also has his game preview up here.
Point 2 Point has a look at today's game too.
The week is never complete without Mark's View.
New blogger Preds 101 has a great analysis of Ryan Jones' goal against the Oilers. This is better than Terry Crisp.
NHL Hot Stove takes a look at the Pred's injuries so far this year. I'm not sure who Ryan Wilson is. Maybe it's Collin's evil twin.
The great authority on sports, Forbes, has the Pens rated as the NHL's best fans. Jim Diamond points out that the Preds are # 26.
By the way, the Preds are up to a 72% chance of making the playoffs at SportsClubStats, a level that was never reached last season.
Around the NHL...
Something you never have thought of is a team losing all its equipment by a truck fire. It happened to the Wild in Ottawa.
Here's a geeky story about the technology that drives the NHL web sites.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Tuesday Tidbits in Pred Nation
Last night's shellacking of the Predators by the Flames is one every Pred fan will want to put in the rear view mirror as soon as possible.
After being unable to upload our post game videos and audio last night they are now available with our post game article here.
During the early part of the game it was easy to be distracted from the ice with three big hockey stories breaking at one.
Locally, David Freeman shared an email with the Tennessean that he had sent to his senior staff explaining the situation with the tax lien filed by the IRS. Here is the email and here is the Tennessean story. The Globe and Mail gives the Canadian twist to the story.
This is one of the best cases of coming clean with the public and acknowledging what has occurred and that he mater will soon be resolved. Had Sommet not taken the low road in their response to the recent suit, it would have been resolved with little fan fare but since it became public this was the best way to come clean on the matter. Tiger Woods could take a lesson here.
The second big story was Keith Ballard's baseball type swing at the net that caught ex-Pred Thomas Vokoun in the head. This is one of the dumbest things I've seen in a while.
The third item that will receive a lot of pub was Alexander Ovechkin's second knee on knee hit in a week. This time he took out Carolina's Tim Gleason as well as injuring himself on the play. No secondary action was taken by the league in last week's incident but I don't see how it can be avoided this time. Unfortunately, suspending an injured player is not really punishment.
Other Stories on the Preds-Flames Game...
Bryan Mullen has a game story and a notes column at the Tennessean.
Jim Diamond has his story at the Examiner as does David Boclair at The City Paper.
Fellow bloggers Brandon Felder, Forechecker, What The Puck, and AJ and have all the angles covered in their posts.
The Preds will regroup for practice this morning at 10 a.m. and then hit the road this afternoon for Minnesota. Fortunately, it probably can't get much worse than it did last night.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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