Preds' Offense Awakens In 5-2 Win over Carolina

Thanks to a great all-around effort from all four lines and defensive pairings, the Predators wrapped up another two points and their third straight win by beating the Hurricanes 5-2 at home on Saturday. Martin Erat (along with the rest of his line) was named the first star as he stole the show with three assists.

The Preds started out with a bang when Patric Hornqvist slammed home a Cody Franson point shot at 2:33. Hornqvist’s goal was his first since Nov. 7, a long drought for the 30-goal scorer from a year ago.

Carolina didn’t waste much to respond, though. 18 seconds later, Joe Corvo’s wrist shot from an off-angle eluded Anders Lindback to tie the game at one apiece.

At 10:08 of the first, Shea Weber put Nashville back on top with his fourth goal of the season. He snuck in back-door, where Martin Erat found him wide open. Seven minutes later, Marcel Goc ripped home his sixth of the year to give the Preds a 3-1 lead. The goal came at the end of a long shift from the Goc/Erat/Kostitsyn line.

The opening frame was one of Nashville’s best all season. They generated many scoring chances and maintained pressure in the offensive zone.

Period two started with a much slower pace, and Carolina struck at 9:43 to cut the deficit to 3-2. Jiri Tlusty pounced on a loose puck and deposited it over Lindback’s glove shoulder. For the rest of the period, both teams traded scoring chances but couldn’t get on the board.

The Preds finally got their first power play opportunity early on in the third, but could not capitalize. However, they did have many scoring chances as they held possession in Carolina’s zone for the full two minutes.

16 seconds after the power play expired, Cal O’Reilly buried a beautiful cross-ice feed from Erat to put the home team on top 4-2. It was one of those goals that you could anticipate as it was unfolding.

The red-hot penalty kill went back to work (twice) later on in the third, and once again stoned the ‘Canes. Nashville killed all four Carolina power plays on the night.

With approximately three minutes left, Paul Maurice decided to pull Cam Ward, down two goals. It didn’t pay off as Steve Sullivan immediately iced the 5-2 win with an empty-netter at the 17:10 mark.

Post-Game Observations:
- Nashville’s penalty kill is now 32-for-32, ever since ‘that day’ in Toronto.
- The Erat/Goc/Kostitsyn line was a force in this game. They contributed to three of the five goals, including three assists from Erat. They combined for five points and a plus-8 rating.
- J.P. Dumont received only 4:30 of ice-time. Trotz would only go as far as saying it was a coach’s decision to give him that much time.
- The Preds dominated the first, seemingly taking advantage of a Hurricanes team that was on the second half of a back-to-back. Midway through the first, the Preds held a 9-2 shot advantage and had a lot of offensive zone pressure.
- Lindback was a bit rusty to start, allowing a soft goal on the first shot he faced. He looked more comfortable as the game went on, though, and put forth a solid effort in Pekka Rinne’s absence.

Post-Game Quotes:
Barry Trotz on taking advantage of Carolina on back-to-back…
“I think everybody wanted to come out with a good effort. The fans have been fantastic and we usually give them 65 minutes of pure enjoyment. One thing I was really happy with today is that sometimes when you play an eastern team – and Carolina has Staal and some really dynamic players – we didn’t take them for granted and showed a lot of respect to them as a team. They are well-coached and play with a lot of pace. Our guys came out and matched the effort and we were really smart with the puck.”

Barry Trotz on Kostitsyn…
“I think you can see he’s coming over to our culture, if you will, and is starting to play the way we want him to play. When he’s doing the things we want, it really shows us what he’s capable of doing.”

Barry Trotz on Lindback…
“Early in the game he may have looked a little nervous, but he settled in just fine and was pretty good.”

Martin Erat on the resurgent offense…
“Sometimes it takes longer to find chemistry in the lines. Right now we’re going good; all four lines are playing good. We’re getting goals from everybody and that’s important us because the opponents don’t know who exactly to match up against.”

Steve Sullivan on the resurgent offense…
“I think it’s just players playing a little bit better. When you look at who is scoring most of the goals, it has been Erat’s line. He’s been the catalyst behind it… he’s starting to find his rhythm and when he gets going like that, he’s a tough player to stop. He’s got some good chemistry with Kostitsyn, and he’s playing really well, too.”

Anders Lindback on the game…
“I should’ve had that first goal, but I felt better as the game went on and the last period I felt good. I didn’t really feel any nerves, it was more of a timing thing. It was pretty easy to play, otherwise.”

Jerred Smithson on the penalty kill…
“It’s just been a lot of hard work. From the goaltender out, he’s got to be our best penalty killer, and tonight he was. And also some great sacrifice – you look at Nick Spaling and Kevin Klein and those guys blocking shots doing whatever it takes to keep the puck out of the net. That’s what it takes to kill off penalties these days.”

Final Thoughts:
This was a pretty big win for the Preds, knowing the upcoming schedule. They took care of some opportunities early, which gave them a little bit of a cushion. They let Carolina back into the game in the second, but locked things down and pulled away to take home two crucial points.

Up next are two measuring stick road games. First up, the Preds will take on their southern neighbors in Atlanta on Monday; the Thrashers are one of the hottest teams in the league. Then they’ll head north to face rival Detroit in a key divisional tilt. It will be important for Trotz’s gang to keep this momentum going against two playoff contenders.

Ryan Porth for Preds On The Glass

Predators Close Ranks Against Hurricanes and Saturday Round-Up

The Nashville Predators (11-8-5) are presented with a new challenge in an already frustrating season tonight as they face the Carolina Hurricanes (11-11-3) without goalie Pekka Rinne.

Rinne's left knee injury, that resulted in it being scoped, is the latest in a series of absences that has seen the team lose 68 man-games so far this season David Legwand and Matthew Lombardi are also out for tonight's game. As usual, the team will close ranks and move forward with those that are healthy.

The team realized when the season started that with injuries that at least thirty players would have the opportunity to wear Predator colors and contribute to the cause. So far, 27 players have dressed for the Preds in their first 24 games.

For the second time this year, Anders Lindback (3-1-1, 2.78, .913) will move front and center and have Mark Dekanich serve as his back-up. Whe Rinne was out earlier this season, Lindback performed well, going 3-0-1.

The Hurricanes come to Nashville after an overtime 2-1 win over the Avalanche in Raleigh last night where Cam Ward stopped 34 of 35 shots and was named the games first star. Per Canes Country, Ward (11-8-2, 2.61, .922) is expected to go again tonight against the Preds.

The Preds are riding a two game win streak and extended their franchise record eight game penalty kill streak in their win in Columbus on Wednesday. The Preds are now eight in the NHL on the PK with an 84.6% kill rate.

The Preds and Canes met two weeks ago in Raleigh when the Preds won 2-1 in a shootout in what many felt was a boring game. There is a good possibility of another shootout tonight as the Preds have gone to the skills contest six times in the last eleven games.

Tickets are still available including mine in 301, row B which are listed at the Predators Ticket Exchange.

I will not be in attendance at tonight's game but POTG will be in the capable hands of Ryan Porth from RLD Hockey who will have tonight's wrap up.

For other previews, check out Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, Jeremy Gover, Paul McCann, and The Tennessean.

For previews from the East, see Canes Country and the News and Observer.

In Pred Nation...

Bryan Mullen has the latest this morning on Pekka's injury and Barry Trotz's confidence in Anders Lindback.

Mark Dekanich was recalled to the Predators due to Pekka Rinne's new left knee injury and Chet Pickard will return to Milwaukee. Jim Diamond had the early news about Pekka. Rinne is expected to miss between two and four weeks. Brian Mullen adds a quote from Lindback and Deckanich.

Jim Diamond talks to Sergei Kostitsyn and Barry Trotz bout Sergei's increased ice time lately.

Section 303 has a new edition of the 303:30 out this morning with Canes blogger Brian LeBlanc.

Dirk Hoag is ready to wave the pom-poms with the new paid attendance figures released to the Nashville Sports Authority. He also has today links with an audio interview with David Poile from yesterday.

Robby at Hockey Night in Nashville speculates that Shea Weber is being hampered by the C on his chest.

Ryan Ellis was named the OHL Defenseman of the month for November.

With the recall of Mark Dekanich, it appears that the Hockey Tonk Angels may have material for a new T-shirt design.

Jas Faulkner discusses concussions and their effect on her and Marc Savard at The Hockey Writers.

With Mark Dekanich gone, the Milwaukee Admirals turned to Jeremy Smith and came away with a 5-2 loss to Grand Rapids.

We had it wrong yesterday, Ryan Suter actually appeared on Puck Daddy Radio on Friday, not Thursday.

The latest on the Space Shuttle with Pekka's jersey from RT @InsideKSC: The first February, 2011 launch window for STS-133 is 2/3-2/10 from Kennedy Space Center's LC-39A..

Around the NHL...

Ryan Porth looks at some early picks for the big individual trophies in the NHL.

Chris Johnson is now reporting that the number of concussions this year is the same as last in spite of the new head shot rules.

Tim Rosenthal has the first installment of his Rosie Awards. These are done on an January to December basis so it is a different twist.

The Active Stick has an interesting primer for sisters who want to learn hockey, especially if they are in Montreal.

It appears that Sean Avery has the say so on the New York club scene so don't make him mad if you want to go to an exclusive club.

Odds and Ends...

I'm not sure how a dead beaver carcass could be confused with a human body but leave it to the wizards in Bellevue to have trouble telling the difference. This is so far out of hand that you can become a fan of the beaver on Facebook.

In a true local travesty, Belmont University "accepted the resignation" of women's soccer coach Lisa Howe. The Nashville Scene reports that she was given a choice to quit of be fired for having a child with here same sex partner. It is amazing how a "student-centered Christian community" as they claim to be on their website would take this stance. Jesus approves of Lisa Howe's actions much more than the people responsible for perverting Scripture to fire this young lady.

I did not realize that there are glacier caves. Here are some pictures and a story about one explorer.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Beat Canes 2-1 In Shoot-Out

The Nashville Predators made a rare appearance at the RBC Center in Raleigh and came away with a 2-1 shoot-out win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Pekka Rinne was an odd bounce away from his second shutout in a row as he stopped all but one of the Canes shots. The lone Cane's goal was a shot by Joni Pitkanen that behaved strangely after being tipped by a defenseman's stick.

"It was obviously a tough goal," Rinne said. "It hit our D's stick and it was bouncing. You just try to put it behind you and play the game."

Jerred Smithson scored the only goal for the Predators off of a feed by Jordin Tootoo at 3:53 in the second period.

In the shootout, Jeff Skinner and Cal O'Reilly scored in the first round. Marty Erat scored the game winner in the third round to give the Predators the win.

Cam Ward was the hard luck loser as he stopped 26 of 27 Predators shots including four in the overtime when the Preds applied pressure while Ward held firm.

The Canes missed two excellent scoring chances that could have led to a different outcome. In the first period at 5:36, Jeff Skinner fired a wrister at the open side of the net that hit the post and caused a premature goal horn to be sounded.

As the third period started at :40, Sergei Samsonov came out of the penalty box and had a breakaway that was stopped in a very athletic move by Rinne. "At the end of the penalty he came out of the box and they got a big break and I was able to make the save, Rinne explained.

Except for the second period in Toronto, Rinne has had five straight strong outings and is starting to look more comfortable in net. "I feel pretty god and the team has helped me a lot. The team has played really strong in front of me in Montreal and here. The game in Toronto was disappointing and after that we have responded really well."

"Peks was really good," Barry Trotz said. "They scored their first goal on one of their weaker chances, sort of a bouncing ball which was unfortunate but he responded well after that. He gave us a chance to be really good"

As to the flow of the game when the Preds out shot the Canes 5-3 in the first period, Trotz explained, "They had a good first and had us on our heels a little bit. We made poor decisions coming out of the zone. Smithson's line did a good job on Staal's line and they were really dominant and got our goal on a turnover. Ward, Smithson, and Tootoo really had a good outing."

The Predators were with out David Legwand who remains day to day and Ryan Suter who's wife is expecting their first child at any time. Suter also aggravated his "lower body" injury in Thursday's win against Montreal and will be reevaluated in Nashville.

The Predators left immediately after the game for Columbus where they will play Monday night.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Off to Carolina for the Weekend

By the time you read this we will be on the bus headed to Raleigh with Paul and Denise McCann and about 60 others on the SlapShot Radio road trip.

Updates may be limited this weekend due to lack of internet availability. We will report as we can. It's always an odd situation on road trips that you get to be at the scene of the game but sometimes it's difficult to report.

Take note that tonight's Pres-Canes game is one of six contests that start at 6:00 p.m. Central and are all considered to be the NHL's 50,000th game. Here's more on the first 50k NHL games.

Hopefully this is good information from @CVHD: Our feed will also be on Center Ice on Saturday. Check the Center Ice schedule to see if the Jumbotron feed is indeed there.

Dirk Hoag speculates on who will fill David Legwand's shoes (or skates) tonight in Raleigh. The easy solution is to put Spaling in the line-up and drop the puck.

Amanda DiDaolo is also on the trip and filed this pregame report.

We also send condolences to the family of former coach, Pat Burns, who lost his battle with cancer yesterday. He was 58.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Preds Veterans Beat Younger Canes 2-1

With the tables turned from the night before, the Nashville Predators beat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 in Raleigh on Friday night. The game was the opposite of Thursday's encounter in Nashville where the Canes had the more veteran squad. This time, the Preds had the vets and Carolina played more of their prospects.

Carolina scored first at 16:45 in the opening period on a five on three power play goal by Patrick O'Sullivan. The Preds tied the game at 7:45 in the second, when Justin Pogge misplayed the puck and left it behind the net for David Legwand who scored a wrap-around goal to the open side of the Carolina net.

The game winner was scored by Jordin Tootoo off a nifty drop pass from Matt Halischuk at 12:06 in the second period.

Mark Dekanich started the game and faced only seven shots and allowed the power play goal when Carolina did a good job of screening the O'Sullivan wrister. Anders Lindback picked up the win as he stopped all 15 shots that he faced. He appeared to have had more opportunity to prove himself with Carolina being more active in the second half of the game.

The Predator power play was o-3 while the penalty kill was three of four giving up the second goal in two games. Jordin Tootoo led the Preds with five shots while Ryan Suter added four.

The Predators returned home immediately after the game and will face the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. at the Bridgestone Arena.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators First Preseason Game Round-Up and Friday Findings

Last night the Predators played their first game against an outside opponent and the outcome was fairly predictable with a 3-1 loss that was much closer than the score appeared. The team had several chances to tie the game up until Eric Cole's empty netter with 38 seconds remaining.

The Preds were out-experienced at almost every position as they went with a young line-up while Carolina brought a near full complement of players. Here is our story from last night that includes tonight's line-up against these same Hurricanes for the game in Raleigh at 6.p.m.

There is no local radio or TV for tonight's rematch, but the Carolina radio cast may be found here. Earlier this week, in their prior home game, there was also a video feed at the Hurricanes' web site.

Predators-Hurricanes Game Round-Up...

Josh Cooper had his game story and postgame ponderings. Bryan Mullen also chipped in with a notes column.

Jim Diamond has his game story at the Examiner.

David Boclair has his view of the game at The City Paper.

From the blogs comes reports from Predlines, Brandon Felder, Section 303, On The Forecheck, See Puck City, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Big Kev.

From Carolina comes the AP story (Jim Diamond) from the News and Observer and from Bob Wage at Cane Country.

In Pred Nation...

Josh Cooper has a few quotes from Blake Geoffrion on his first game as a Pred and from Ryan Ellis on skating with Shea Weber. Jon Blum also talks about his chances to make the team.

Just in time for the season, Brandon Felder returns (without actually physically leaving).

Mark Willoughby is still under observation from his dog bite episode but still filled his weekly "My View."

Dirk Hoag has his comprehensive team preview for the Predators.

The Hockey News Puck Panel has the Predators as a "sleeper" pick. Phoenix was a "sleeper" last year. When you make the playoffs five out of six seasons, I would think that it would be an expectation and not a "sleeper."

The Predators announced the first annual Play With a Pro casino night fundraiser that is set for October 7. Go here for details.

The Predators Green Lady is back. Follow her at @PredsGreenLady.

The Milwaukee Admirals announced a return engagement by the Dropkick Murphys for their game on February 25.

Traditional Predator Drama with the Tennessean...

Mark at The View From 111 shares his Letter to the Editor at the Tennessean which shoots holes in yesterday's very tired storyline about the Predators' alleged lease violation. It's too bad most Pred fans have resorted to reading the paper on line, because most canceled a long time ago. It is a real shame that all of the great work that new Pred beat writer Josh Cooper is doing has to be associated with the muck that business writers like to sensationalize.

Paul McCann also jumps in with a rebuttal to the Tennessean article.

Dan Bradley adds humor to the Tennessean situation at Excellence Through Guesswork.

Predator officials admitted that the issue should not have come up and promised to rectify the past misdeeds at the Sports Authority meeting yesterday. Having a new President and CEO in place should prevent future problems in the compliance area.

Around the NHL...

Drafted 2 did give Launy "The" Schwartz five questions after he was DQed and actually published them. I don't understand why they can't accept the fact that he did not lie and showed far more integrity than anyone associated with the show.

An the official announcement of a "Hard Knocks" type series on the Caps and Pens came yesterday. That one snuck up on everyone.

In a controversial early suspension, Nick Boynton gets a game for a "throat slashing" gesture. The season can't be far away now.

There is nothing worse than ownership uncertainty in a franchise. Mike Heika reports that it could be next season before the Stars' situation is resolved.

On Frozen Blog has a nice post about the latest NHL decision on bloggers in visitor locker rooms.

The war of words between Damian Cox and Ted Leonsis rages on.

NHL.com has an update on Mandi Schwartz's stem cell transplant on Wednesday.

The Hockey Writers are starting a new radio show on Sunday. Here are the details.

The Southeast Division gets the treatment from Intent to Blow.

Odds and Ends...

My friend @tapeleg is looking out for my interests and showed me this clip of a new roller derby documentary that just came out in a few markets. Brutal Beauty: Tales of The Rose City Rollers looks like a must see.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Young Predators Lose 3-1 to Hurricanes in Preseason Opener

A youthful group of Nashville Predators played fairly well in a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville's first preseason action.

Carolina brought a veteran lineup that included Eric Staal, Sergei Samsonov, Eric Cole, Brandon Sutter, and others with plenty of NHL experience. The Predators countered with young prospects mixed in with veterans J.P. Dumont, Patric Hornqvist, and Pekka Rinne.

The Predators were especially young on defense with Ryan Parent and Cody Franson being the only D-men with more than a few games experience.

Barry Trotz commented on the mis-match in experience, "They probably had three of their lines in and four of their top D. Our top four defensemen weren't in the game."

The Predators got on the board first on an unassisted shot through the middle by J.P. Dumont at 9:18 of the first period. Patrick O'Sullivan and Sergei Samsonov scored for the Canes in the second period. An empty netter by Eric Cole in the waning minutes of the game was the final nail in the coffin for the Preds as they missed a couple of opportunities to tie as the clock wound down.

"I thought in the second that we stopped skating," Trotz lamented.. "They played a real pressure game as we did. In the third, I thought we turned it on them a bit. We could have tied it up and didn't."

What We Learned...

J.P. Dumont is in the best shape that he has been in in a couple of years and hustles like we have not seen in recent times. His goal was indicative of his work over the summer.

Sergei Kostitsyn plays much better than he practices. I had questions as to whether he would make the squad after watching him over the weekend, but those were erased in last night's game. Trotz commented, "I thought Kostitsen had his best night. He does a really good job o the penalty kill. He skated well offensively."

Patric Hornqvist picked up where he left off last year with six shots and plenty of pushing and shoving around the net, fighting for space in the hard areas.

Blake Geoffrion made his first start in a Preds' sweater in front of the home crowd. He said his biggest thrill was "taking my first face-off against Eric Staal and getting the win was pretty special." He also claimed he had no jitters in front of his friends and family once the game started.

Trotz was pleased with Geoffrion's game, "I thought Blake had a really good game. He was one of our best face off guys. He was real solid on the penalty kill and showed really good poise."

In goal, Pekka Rinne looked better than he has in past year's preseason games. Playing just over half the game, he stopped 17 of 18 Canes' shots that included one highlight film save at the end of the first period that brought the crowd to their feet.

"For the most part I was pleased with Pekka. He looked sharp and made some really good saves," explained Trotz, post-game.

Mark Dekanich stopped six of seven shots in relief as Carolina's offensive push slowed. While he kept from making any big mistakes, Dekanich did not look completely comfortable in net.

Ryan Ellis was paired with Cody Franson and was a -2 for the game. "Offensively he was pretty good. I thought a couple of times he didn't support his partner coming out of our end," said Trotz. Ellis either has to make the team out of camp or return to Windsor for another year in Juniors. Milwaukee is not an option.

The Predator special teams picked up where they left off last year going 0-4 on the power-play and 5-6 on the penalty kill. The movement on the man advantage was much improved is spite of not finding the net. Trotz was disapointed in the dicipline that led to six penalties, "Last year we were one of the most disciplined teams and we've got to get back to that."

Notes...

There was plenty of confusion on the lower level of the arena as the Predator locker room renovation remains unfinished from the flood. Barry Trotz commented that he hoped the contractors were listening and could get the team back in the room by October 5.

The crowd was lively for a preseason crowd, with over 10,000 actual bodies in seats which is not bad for a Thursday in September in Tennessee.

Next Up...

The Predators leave this afternoon to fly to Raleigh for a return engagement with the Hurricanes. Puck drop is at 6 p.m. tonight. Here is the roster that will make the trip.

POS. NO. PLAYER
D 2 Aaron Johnson
D 7 Jonathon Blum
D 8 Kevin Klein
RW 10 Martin Erat
C 11 David Legwand
LW 12 Andreas Thuresson
C 13 Nick Spaling
C 16 Cal O'Reilly
D 20 Ryan Suter
C 21 Jamie Lundmark
RW 22 Jordin Tootoo
RW 24 Matt Halischuk
LW 28 Jonas Andersson
RW 29 Joel Ward
D 32 Teemu Laakso
RW 33 Colin Wilson
RW 45 Ryan Flynn
D 51 Francis Bouillon

NO. GOALTENDER
31 Mark Dekanich
39 Anders Lindback


More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Bunch of Mid-Day Pred News and a Clarification

Several things have transpired today with the Predators. John Glennon cleared up the squirrely ending to Barry Trotz's postgame presser where the question of Jason Arnott leaving the bench wasn't fully addressed.

Barry Trotz has agreed to "swear on a Bible" that there wasn't an issue other than an "upper body" injury with Arnott. I'm glad that is resolved.

The injury update now includes Steve Sullivan and Marty Erat as probable for Saturday's game with Anaheim and Joel Ward and Jason Arnott are questionable.

Pekka Rinne will break the alternating goalie scenario that has been going for for the last eight games as he will start his second game in a row against the Ducks. Pekka never really looked comfortable last night but did cover for numerous Pred mistakes against a feisty Canes team.

Here is a video of the hit on Steve Sullivan by Andrew Alberts for those who have not seen several angles on it.



Swap with Milwaukee...

The Preds also swapped Mike Santorelli and Cal O'Reilly and did so in a way that neither will have to clear waivers.

Here is the Preds Press Release on the swap...

NASHVILLE PREDATORS RECALL CAL O’REILLY FROM MILWAUKEE
-Also reassign Santorelli to the Admirals-

Nashville, Tenn. (January 8, 2010) – Nashville Predators President of Hockey Operations/General Manager David Poile announced today that the club has recalled center Cal O’Reilly from Milwaukee (AHL), and reassigned forward Mike Santorelli to the Admirals.

O’Reilly, 23 (9/30/86), has one assist in nine games during two previous stints with Nashville this season (Oct. 15-29 and Dec. 4-10). Named to the 2010 AHL All-Star Classic on Dec. 29, the Toronto, Ont., native is ranked fifth in the AHL in assists (26), and tied for eighth in points (35), in 31 games. Nashville’s fourth choice, 150th overall (fifth round), in the 2005 Entry Draft has six points (3g-3a) in 20 contests since making his NHL debut on Feb. 28, 2009.

Santorelli, 24 (12/14/85), was held pointless in four games during his most recent recall to the Predators (Dec. 31-Jan. 7). In 25 games at the NHL level in 2009-10, the Vancouver, B.C., native has posted three points (2g-1a). He has 17 points (9g-8a) in 15 points for the Admirals this season.

The Predators close out a four-game homestand tomorrow night when they host the Anaheim Ducks at 7 p.m. (WGFX-104.5 The Zone). Tickets to this game, and all other regular season contests, are now on sale and can be purchased by logging onto nashvillepredators.com. Tickets are also available by calling (615) 770-PUCK and at all Ticketmaster locations.

Fenway Revisited...

One final item that I failed to mention this morning was a reminder for the Men's and Women's College Double header on the NHL network from the ice at Fenway. Here is the NHL Network schedule for the US (all times CST).

3:00: Northeastern Women vs. New Hampshire Women Outdoors at Fenway
5:30: Sun Life Frozen Fenway Postgame Show
6:30: Boston College vs. Boston University Outdoors at Fenway

Here are a couple of articles from Inside Hockey's Tim Rosenthal on the women's game and the men's game with video included in both posts.

Unrelated to hockey, but big news for Nashville is a report from the Nashville Post of proposed "free" wireless for the downtown area with potential for expansion to other areas.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

TGIF Round-Up and Trouble in Pred Land?

The Predators kept pace in the Western Conference race with their win over Carolina on Thursday night at the Sommet Center. The Preds are officially in sixth place but have the same number of points at 55 as Calgary (3rd place) and Vancouver (5th place) . Three points separate third place down to eighth so any slip up, or even a night off, can move a team down very quickly.

With Detroit's win over the Kings last night, they pulled within three points of a playoff position. I can't imagine that anyone expects the Wings not to be back in the middle of the tight Western Conference playoff race once their injuries heal and they return to a full lineup.

So when that happens which current team will fall out of the top eight? Sorry Av fan friends, with all things being equal, I'm betting on you to be the first to go. Unfortunately, the realistic part is that injuries and movement at the trade deadline will probably be the deciding factors.

Trouble in Pred Land?

One of the oddest responses I've seen Barry Trotz give to a question was in an exchange between him and John Glennon at the end of the post game presser regarding Jason Arnott leaving the bench before the game was over. Glennon touches on it here at Inside Predators and here is the link to our video from last night if you want to see it first hand (look at the 4:00 mark).

Preds-Canes Stories...

Video Highlights from NHL.com

Here is our story and video interviews from last night.

John Glennon has the game story and notes column at the Tennessean.

Jim Diamond has his story at the Examiner while David Boclair checks in with his report for the City Paper.

In the world of Predator blogs See Puck City, Forechecker, Paul McCann, Point2Point, and The View From 111.

For the other side of the story the News and Observer has the Canes covered as does Canes Now.

In Pred Nation...

Puck Daddy has a fun interview with Ryan Suter. It's neat to hear that he has played on one team or another with everyone on the US Olympic team.

Forechecker has another clip from the Thom Abraham show, this time with Brandon Gee who has written several of the Predator Business stories. He is a little less dramatic in the audio than recent newspaper articles.

Admiral's short Shifts has the story of the Ads win over the Rampage and also about Eric Kent lighting the lap as the goal judge for the game.

Ryan from the RLD has another post at Crash the Crease on the Carolina Game.

Preds101 puts out a call to action for Pred fans to enlist new supporters for the Preds now that football season is officially for the Titans and college teams.

WSMV did a rare feature on the Preds with Shea Weber and Ryan Suter talking about the great snow fail of 2010 and how folks in Tennessee react to the snow.

As always on Friday, we get Mark's View which is always thought provoking. I don't believr the burrito-Merry go round story. He's still healthy which he wouldn't be with a stunt like that.

Around the NHL...

#NHL Saturday Picks time again.

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Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Game Preview: Trap Game Looms for Predators with Hurricanes in Town

The Nashville Predators (25-15-3) face the ultimate trap game tonight at the Sommet Center when they face the league worst Carolina Hurricanes (11-23-7).

The game with the Canes is wedged between a hard fought game with Calgary on Tuesday, who is one of the NHL's best teams, and the second meeting in a week with the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday. Additionally, Carolina is an Eastern Conference team that is rarely faced and is missing several of their key players.

Carolina is 3-13-4 on the road this year (league worst) and 2-12-2 in back to back games of which this is one since they play Colorado at home tomorrow night. On the positive side, they are 4-5-1 in their last ten and won 2-1 in their last game out at MSG against the Rangers. They have also had four days off so they should be well rested.

If there was ever an opportunity for the Predators to take an opponent lightly, or not be fully engaged from the opening puck drop, this could be the game. If mediocre play led to a loss, this could be devastating to the team and fans.

Both teams are missing key players. The Preds continue to be without Marty Erat, Jerred Smithson and Jordin Tootoo. Now they have added Joel Ward to the list of walking wounded and have brought Ben Guite in to replace his spot in the lineup.

Carolina will be without Joe Corvo, Erik Cole, Sergei Samsonov, Ex Pred Scott Walker, and Chad Larose. They have lost 152 man-days to injuries compared to the Pred's 78. They will also be without Eric Staal who will be attending his sister-in-law's funeral.

Pekka Rinne (16-7-2, 2.74, .906) will continue the alternate game rotation in net for the Preds while Cam Ward (6-14-5, 3.02, .901) will be in goal for the Hurricanes.

Pred's Keys to the Game

Give 100% from the Opening Puck Drop...

If there was ever a time to demoralize an oppenent by outplaying them from the start, this is the time. With a depleted line up, the Canes are behind the eight ball and don't need the Preds to give them any hope that they can compete at the beginning of the game. While not admitting it, I am sure in the back of a few players minds, they have written off the season so there's no reason to help them think otherwise by the Preds showing up with half-hearted play at the start of the game.

An early goal or two (or three, four or five) could do wonders for the Preds and the home crowd who haven't had a frosty in a while.

Differentiate Themselves on the Special Teams...

The Predators have been horrible in special team play this year, even worse than the Canes. The canes are 26th(15.6%) on the power play while the Preds are 28th (15.3%). The same applies on the penalty kill 26th (77.8%) to 28th (76.6%).

The Preds did score on the power play against Calgary and have gone three games at 100% on the PK (5-5) so they need to continue this trend against an inferior opponent.

Pekka Needs to be Last Year's Version of Pekka...

Pekka Rinne has had a good year by most standards but still has not reached the dominating level that we saw last year on a consistent basis. With the Olympic choice out of the picture it is time for Pekka to get back to where he played down the stretch last season.

He has not played poorly but has not been the imposing figure that we saw before. Miikka Kiprusoff was here on Tuesday and opponents go into the game knowing that they have their work cut out for them when he is in net. They squeeze the stick harder and try to be a little more perfect. We saw some of that against Pekka last year and we need to see it again as the season progresses.

Up Next...

The Preds close out the homestand against the Ducks on Saturday and then head out for a three game swing in Western Canada starting in Vancouver on Monday.

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Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Nashville Gets the Big Green Weenie

With days of forecasts of impending bad weather that started out with crippling forecasts of 4-6" and was downgraded to about an inch yesterday, I awoke this morning to dry ground and a few blowing flurries.

My friend, Don Poston, who is a weather man (think Nick Cage in the Weatherman) calls this "the big green weenie." Unfortunately, the one time he used that on air, it was under appreciated by the TV producer.

After years of hearing Don say that Murfreesboro Road was "glazed over by the Krispy Kreeme" at the first sign of snow and watching Don walk by scared Tennesseans saying very loudly "the really big stuff is starting to move in, we'll get at least 8-10" I have a much better appreciation for his weather humor.

I'm sure if you live in Buffalo or Edmonton none of this makes any sense. But down here, at the first sign of flurries, the whole town shuts down and everyone goes to the store for bread, milk and eggs. There is no snow on the road anywhere in the area this morning and here is the school closing map. Most closed yesterday based on the forecast.

Basically, you get the picture of why Nashville is a "non-traditional (hockey) market."

In Pred Nation...

Slow news day for the Preds it appears so John Glennon writes about not stepping on the Preds Logo in the dressing room. My Buddy Dirk Hoag likes to say "put it on the ceiling if you don't want it stepped on." In his notes he also discussed the "weather related" recall of Ben Guite. There is also the always favorite "game at a glance" feature for tonight's match with Carolina.

David Shoalts at the Globe and Mail has a surprisingly decent take on the Pred's financial situation and indicates that the escape clause could be pushed out a few years.

Jim Diamond wraps up the Junior World Championships with a rundown of what Pred prospects did at the tourney.

Short Shifts has a brief update on the Guite recall and we had the press release on it too.

AJ analyzes the Pred's second period woes with Tuesday's loss to Calgary as the impetus.

Point2Point takes a look at the Pred's second half of the season.

Chris Burton talks with a Carolina Hurricanes blogger about what to expect in tonight's game.

Kelly at Pred's Fanantic checks in on Ryan Suter's Olympic selection.

Around the NHL...

The worst five NHL teams ever? Here's Adrian Dater's choices.

Puck report projects what will be needed to make the playoffs in each conference. His numbers sow 104 points in the West and 84 in the East will be needed to be in the top eight. Has there been this big a disparity in conferences at any point since the original six became twelve teams?

Ex-Pred Darren Haydar was named the AHL Player of the Decade by The Hockey News. He has played 22 NHL games and holds virtually every AHL offensive record in the booms having played 531 games in eight seasons. I am amazed that he has never made it to the NHL.

Fenway Park's ice is not done yet. Boston College practiced there yesterday for Friday's big game. Tim Rosenthal has the story and video from the post practice presser.

Matt Reitz writes about the Life Cycle of NHL Coaches. Is Hitch next on the list? They are up to episode four on their podcast. Check it out.

Kukla's has the story of a seven year old beating cancer and returning to the ice.

As cold as it has been here, it is even more unusual for it to freeze in Cocoa, Florida. Here are some interesting pictures of ice on the plants at a nursery.

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Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Preds Lose to Canes on an Off Night

Pekka Rinne, J. P. Dumont and Patric Hornqvist Post Game Comments

Barry Trotz Post Game Comments

On Saturday night at the Sommet Center, the Nashville Predators experienced a game where the pucks weren't bouncing their way as they lost to the Carolina Hurricanes by a 5-2 score in preseason action.

The game was full of odd goals that clearly were not going the Predators way. Carolina scored early at 1:13 when Jussi Jokinen put the puck in the net as the Predator were wearing down on the games opening shift as they had not gotten a change and things were clearly out of kilter.

The Preds played better for a while and tied the game at 14:19 when Patric Hornqvist fed the puck in front of the Carolina net to J. P. Dumont who stuffed the puck past Michael Leighton.

As the period ended Ray Whitney tipped a shot by Joe Corvo that left Pekka Rinne helpless to stop making it 2-1 Carolina. Coach Barry Trotz described it as being "like a rubber ball out there bouncing around."

Things did not get any better for the Preds in the second period. On the Carolina power play Eric Staal fired a puck from the blue line that went high, hit the glass, and rebounded back into the net as a surprised Pekka Rinne couldn't handle the odd bounce off of his shoulder and glove.

Later in the second period, Patric Hornqvist brought the game within a goal on a play where he stuffed the puck from the side and forced it behind Leighton for a goal.

The game remained close until the Preds had a complete come-apart in the waning seconds. After the Preds had killed off a Carolina power play there was more confusion around the net when Marty Erat bumped Pekka Rinne allowing Scott Walker to put the puck on net to make it 4-2 with 35 seconds remaining.

The final nail in the coffin was Dan Hamhuis mishandling the puck and knocking it into the empty Preds net while attempting to stop a Tim Conboy breakaway. This capped a poor performance by Hamhuis and Kline as the second defensive pairing that led Barry Trotz to comment after the game that "they weren't very good."

Coach Barry Trotz was clearly frustrated as he had envisioned this game as one where he could put his lines together and develop some chemistry prior to Next Saturday's season opener at Dallas against the Stars.

Nagging injuries to Steve Sullivan, Joel Ward, Wade Belak and others put a crimp in Trotz's plans as he said, "You are going to have injuries during the year that you can't control and we are having some right now."

Patric Hornqvist took Sullivan's spot on the Pred's top line and responded with a goal and an assist. Trotz explained how me made the choice, "You talk about at training camp doing the things to earn a spot and to get into the mix and he goes to hard areas, plays hard and does a lot of those things and he's been productive doing that."

Trotz further stated, "Arnie J.P. and Hornqvist were my best line by a long shot."

Trotz called out the second line saying, "I didn't think the Legwand line was very good tonight, at all. It wasn't mis-reads, it was mis-trys, they just weren't very sharp tonight. It's one of those starange games that you chalk up to being preseason and not everybody having their A-game which was the difference."

When asked about players that may have made strides toward the roster Trotz mentioned Patric Hornqvist, He went further, "As far as the young guys on the fence, there was no one that is really separating themselves from each other, they are all sort of in a pack. I thought Triston Grant was really good and I don't see anyone else that was outstanding other than Hornqvist." Trotz later added that Mike Santorelli did have a good game.

In summary, Trotz said, "the games where we have been good, the best players were the best players and not all of our best players were the best players tonight. You win or lose and that is a big responsibility that they carry every night. They have to be better."

Looking forward to Sunday's game at Columbus, Trotz indicated that the healthy forwards that didn't play on Saturday will play on Sunday. "We've got a lot of players that are sort of nicked up and we are reevaluating. We really don't have any spare bodies up front."

Known scratches for Sunday include Steve Sullivan, Joel Ward, and Wade Belak. Newcomer, Francis Bouillon is scheduled to make his debut.

So what is Barry Trotz looking for on Sunday, "I want to finish strong. This will be the last chance for some of the guys, for lack of a better tern, to make the team. There are some guys not playing as well as they should and that may force them down to Milwaukee."

The Predators travel to Columbus for a 4 p.m. Central game with the Blue Jackets. That will conclude the pre-season schedule for the Predators. The roster for the season opener will be finalized soon after the game is reviewed and evaluated.

New Goal Song... Creating the most discussion at the Sommet on Saturday was a substitute goal song. Tim McGraw's "I Like It, I Love It" was replaced by Pennywise's "Bro Hymn" which has become a staple goal song at several NHL arenas. We have no idea if this is a permanent change or merely a pre-season experiment.



POTG on the 303:30... Jeremy and Codey at Section 303 hosted a Predator Blogger Roundtable on Saturday and we were able to participate along with Dirk Hoag, the Forechecker, Rachel Raines from What The Puck and Hockey Buzz's Brandon Felder. So much was covered that there may be more to come in the future. To find out which Pred's player inadvertantly got the nickname "sprinkles", you will have to coax one of the participants into telling the story becasue it is currenly laying on the cutting room floor.

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Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass