Were it not for the Vezina Trophy quality performance by Pekka Rinne last night as the game wound down, there would be no joy in Mudville (or Nashville either) this morning as the entire team wore down and left Rinne to fend off the Avalanche by himself.
Colorado played dead for most of the game but came alive in the last seven minutes of the game after the Predators had claimed a 3-0 lead. It is hard to say if the problem was the altitude or the fact that Colorado had shown little to fear throughout most of the game, or a combination of both.
Regardless, this scene of a collapse and not finishing off teams in the final minutes is becoming a major issue. After a similar collapse against a much better Anaheim team a week ago, Barry Trotz said "When are we going to learn?" He referenced game five against Chicago last year in the playoffs as another game to learn from. Now he has another object lesson to point to for the Predators.
Saturday's match with Detroit should be a meeting of two coaches who aren't happy with their team's last outing. Detroit was man-handled by St. Louis 10-3 on Wednesday which was the most goals given up by a Wings team in 17 years.
Detroit, who has 98 points, fell into third place behind the Sharks last night. The Predators moved into sixth with 94 points, the same as fifth place Los Angeles. The Preds are also a point behind Phoenix who is in fourth.
For the month of March the Predators went 10-3-2 for 22 points which bests January's 18 and December's 17 as the most productive month of the season.
The win over the Avs made it a perfect 4-0 season sweep over Colorado.
In an oddity last night, the Predators never went on the penalty kill, with the only infraction being after time expired when David Legwand and Erik Johnson mixed it up.
The Predators scheduled practice at noon at Centennial has been confirmed. With an early game on Saturday, the Predators cannot take the day off.
Preds-Avs Round Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
The City Paper points out that Marty Erat became the team's top scorer with a goal and an assist.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, Predatorial, Fang Faction, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
For the other side of the story from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Preds Nation...
NHL.com caught up with the Predators in Denver for a feature on how the Preds get things done.
Dobber Hockey had an early April Fools for Pred fans - Radulov Returns!
Jeremy at Section 303 has a post on stats to keep in mind.
Be carefull what you read at Section 303 today. It appears that their site has been hijacked.
AJ at PMFF takes a look at the possibilities for the Predators but it all comes back to Just Win, Baby.
Fang Faction has already moved on to Hating Detroit.
I don't understand what he is doing, but Eklund has the Predators in the SCF against Philadelphia. With his track record, this may not be a good omen.
Cap Geek has the preliminary figures for the Austin Watson contract.
The Predators get a special dishonorable mention as a team in Dobber Hockey's top ten fantasy busts at Puck Daddy.
Vote for the Preds over the Sounds in the latest round of Music City Brand Madness.
Bryan Mullen has a cool story about Dan Hamhuis's recent return to Bridgestone Arena.
If you are looking for Predator action tonight, try the wine festival. On Saturday, you can adopt a dog at the Bridgestone Arena when you go to buy your playoff tickets.
Jim Diamond has more about the adopt a dog event on Saturday.
Interesting Admirals stat from @mkeadmirals forward Kelsey Wilson becomes team's all-time @TheAHL games leader tomorrow. 294 games, passing Darren Haydar.
The Admirals have a crucial game with Houston tonight as the two teams are battling for first place in the Western Division in the AHL playoff race.
No Admirals were named to the AHL post season all-star teams.
This video has been around for a while but it is one of my favorites with Pekka working the drive thru at Wendy's.
Around the NHL...
Ryan Porth crams the whole month of March into one post. This is an epic story.
Tickets are now on sale to this years NHL Awards at the Palms in Las Vegas.
Steve Lapore has the "tentative" schedule for the Stanley Cup Finals. They will start off with back to back games once again then spread the next five over two weeks. He also has the schedule for eight games on NBC/Versus in the last eight days of the season.
Craig Custance has John Tortorella in the lead for the Jack Adams Trophy and does not have Barry Trotz on his list.
Ottawa signed free agent college prospect Stephane Da Costa to end the recent jockeying for his services.
Michelle Kenneth accesses the prospects of a retirement for Marty Brodeur.
Due to prior complaints, I did not post the latest Sidney Crosby practice video, but you can go here to see it.
TSN Radio 1050 will begin in Toronto on April 13 to spread the TSN brand to a new venue.
A Coyote fan is a suspect in the missing cobra case in New York.
Odds and Ends...
The cobra was indeed actually found 200 feet from its home.
What are the odds of going on a date with a long lost sibling? Bookies have the answer here.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Showing posts with label nashville predators colorado avalanche. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nashville predators colorado avalanche. Show all posts
Friday, April 1, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Predators Happily Leave Colorado with 3-2 Win
The Nashville Predators hung on for dear life in the closing minute of their game with the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on Thursday night and were thrilled to death to get out of town with a 3-2 victory.
Had there been a few more seconds in the game, the outcome could have been totally different as the Predators were gassed and the Avs were fighting hard in the final moments.
It was a classic rope-a-dope by the Avalanche who lulled everyone asleep for fifty-three minutes and then caught on fire for the final portion of the contest. As the clock ticked down, the Avalanche dominated play and kept the puck in the Predators end. The Avs hit pay dirt twice at the end of the game and just fell short of a tying goal as time expired.
The Predators received goals from Colin Wilson, Jordin Tootoo, and Marty Erat, while Paul Stastny and John-Michael Lyles tallied for Colorado.
Pekka Rinne was the difference maker in the game as he stopped 27 of 29 Colorado shots including a barrage in the third period. Brian Elliot had a decent night, stopping all but three of the 34 Predator shots that he faced.
The Predators and Avs skated end to end as the game opened and actually played fairly evenly until Matt Halischuk found Wilson skating through the slot and sent a pass from behind the net that Wilson flipped past Elliott to give the Preds a 1-0 lead at 15:35.
The Predators out shot the Avalanche 12-9 and led the Corsi 21-19 in the first period.
The second period was a hard one to watch. Neither team appeared to be playing inspired hockey. The Predators were playing good "road game" hockey, containing the Avalanche and not giving them many chances.
The Preds got on the board at 10:20 when Marty Erat sent a pass from the corner to Cody Franson at the blue line who then fired it at the net and Tootoo made a perfect redirect to make it 2-0 Preds.
For the period, the Preds out shot Colorado 18-5 and led the Corsi 25-11. The Predators had back to back power play opportunities but did not convert on three shots.
The intensity level picked up for both teams in the second half of the final period. After a roughing penalty on Cody McLeod, Erat was able to shake loose from a Avs defender and go in and beat Elliott one on one to give the Preds a 3-0 lead at 12:52 which seemed like "game, set, match.
Before the Preds were able to celebrate, 43 seconds later, Stastny was battling with Joel Ward in front of the Preds' net and took a pass from Milan Hejduk and slipped it past Rinne to end the shut out possibility.
The Avalanche continued to keep the puck in the Predators zone and kept heavy pressure on Rinne and scored again on the goalie pull at 18:58 during a major poke-fest on Rinne by three Avs players around the net. Lyles was credited with the goal.
The game was still up in the air down to the last second when Hejduk put a shot on Rinne with less than a second left. The final icing on the cake was David Legwand and Erik Johnson taking coincidental roughing penalties for a scrum behind the net after the game ended.
In the final period, the Avalanche dominated the Predators, outshooting them 14-4 and leading the Corsi by an astounding 29-7 margin.
Coming out of the game, injuries may be a concern as Erat was struck by a Shea Weber slapshot and had to miss a couple of shifts in the second period. More problematic was Jordin Tootoo leaving the game with an "upper body" injury after a collision with John-Michael Lyles with 3:01 left in the second period. Joel Ward and Patric Hornqvist were also shaken up in the final period but were able to return.
The win gave Nashville 94 points and moved them back ahead of Anaheim into sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Predators left immediately after the game and will play Detroit at the Bridgestone Arena in a special 2 p.m. start time on Saturday. Practice is scheduled for Friday at Centennial Sportsplex but it would not be surprising to see it canceled or become an off ice work out or optional skate.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Had there been a few more seconds in the game, the outcome could have been totally different as the Predators were gassed and the Avs were fighting hard in the final moments.
It was a classic rope-a-dope by the Avalanche who lulled everyone asleep for fifty-three minutes and then caught on fire for the final portion of the contest. As the clock ticked down, the Avalanche dominated play and kept the puck in the Predators end. The Avs hit pay dirt twice at the end of the game and just fell short of a tying goal as time expired.
The Predators received goals from Colin Wilson, Jordin Tootoo, and Marty Erat, while Paul Stastny and John-Michael Lyles tallied for Colorado.
Pekka Rinne was the difference maker in the game as he stopped 27 of 29 Colorado shots including a barrage in the third period. Brian Elliot had a decent night, stopping all but three of the 34 Predator shots that he faced.
The Predators and Avs skated end to end as the game opened and actually played fairly evenly until Matt Halischuk found Wilson skating through the slot and sent a pass from behind the net that Wilson flipped past Elliott to give the Preds a 1-0 lead at 15:35.
The Predators out shot the Avalanche 12-9 and led the Corsi 21-19 in the first period.
The second period was a hard one to watch. Neither team appeared to be playing inspired hockey. The Predators were playing good "road game" hockey, containing the Avalanche and not giving them many chances.
The Preds got on the board at 10:20 when Marty Erat sent a pass from the corner to Cody Franson at the blue line who then fired it at the net and Tootoo made a perfect redirect to make it 2-0 Preds.
For the period, the Preds out shot Colorado 18-5 and led the Corsi 25-11. The Predators had back to back power play opportunities but did not convert on three shots.
The intensity level picked up for both teams in the second half of the final period. After a roughing penalty on Cody McLeod, Erat was able to shake loose from a Avs defender and go in and beat Elliott one on one to give the Preds a 3-0 lead at 12:52 which seemed like "game, set, match.
Before the Preds were able to celebrate, 43 seconds later, Stastny was battling with Joel Ward in front of the Preds' net and took a pass from Milan Hejduk and slipped it past Rinne to end the shut out possibility.
The Avalanche continued to keep the puck in the Predators zone and kept heavy pressure on Rinne and scored again on the goalie pull at 18:58 during a major poke-fest on Rinne by three Avs players around the net. Lyles was credited with the goal.
The game was still up in the air down to the last second when Hejduk put a shot on Rinne with less than a second left. The final icing on the cake was David Legwand and Erik Johnson taking coincidental roughing penalties for a scrum behind the net after the game ended.
In the final period, the Avalanche dominated the Predators, outshooting them 14-4 and leading the Corsi by an astounding 29-7 margin.
Coming out of the game, injuries may be a concern as Erat was struck by a Shea Weber slapshot and had to miss a couple of shifts in the second period. More problematic was Jordin Tootoo leaving the game with an "upper body" injury after a collision with John-Michael Lyles with 3:01 left in the second period. Joel Ward and Patric Hornqvist were also shaken up in the final period but were able to return.
The win gave Nashville 94 points and moved them back ahead of Anaheim into sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Predators left immediately after the game and will play Detroit at the Bridgestone Arena in a special 2 p.m. start time on Saturday. Practice is scheduled for Friday at Centennial Sportsplex but it would not be surprising to see it canceled or become an off ice work out or optional skate.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Predators Hope to Bounce Back in Colorado and Thursday Thoughts
The Nashville Predators are in Colorado tonight to play the Avalanche in a game that goes beyond being a "must win" situation. The Preds are in a dogfight in the Western Conference for a playoff spot and postseason positioning and cannot afford a loss.
The Predators are coming off a 3-1 loss to Vancouver on Tuesday that broke their six game winning streak. For the first half of the season, all of their regulation losses came in streaks as did their wins. Fans are hoping that the loss was an anomaly and that the team can bounce back in a game that on paper that they should clearly win.
This is the final meeting of the year between the two teams. The Predators have won all three games so far with the most recent being on March 12 in Nashville which was a 4-2 win. A month earlier, there was a circus type atmosphere leading up to the game in Nashville on February 12 which was the Predator debut of Mike Fisher and what would end up being Peter Forsberg's final NHL game. The Preds won that game 5-3 in a big comeback. Their other meeting was in Colorado on January 20 when the Preds won 5-1 and were flying high during one of their better stretches of the season.
This meeting is totally different. The Avalanche have won only three times since January 24 and have looked horrible in most games. They basically have nothing to lose. The Predators fell to seventh place last night when Anaheim virtually eliminated Calgary in a 4-2 win and slipped past the Preds.
Barry Trotz was asked how to prepare for the Colorado game after playing the best team in the league. "Show up and play, play hard. How do you do it? You come committed, knowing that you have to have a lot of determination and urgency."
"Colorado is a dangerous team. They've played us tough all year. They've got lots of speed. They've got lots of skill. Duchene is on fire right now and they are at home. They are going to be very determined to put a wrench into our plans."
Pekka Rinne (30-21-8, 2.10, .929) will be in net for the Predators while it is anyone's guess who will start for the Avalanche. Either Peter Budaj (13-18-4, 3.29, .891) or Brian Elliott (15-25-9, 3.33, .893) could get the start for Colorado.
Update: Looks like it is Elliott tonight vs. the Predators according to @TheGoalieGuild: Brian Elliott the first goalie off for Colorado.
After the game, the Predators will return home and prepare for the game with Detroit on Saturday that has a special 2 p.m. start.
Other previews come from Amanda Dipaolo, Robby Stanley, Predatorial, Marc Torrence, The Tennessean, Fang Faction, and Predators.com.
For previews from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Preds Nation...
David Poile will be on the NHL Hour with Gary Bettman today at 5 p.m. on XM NHL Home Ice and the NHL.com.
David Boclair has interesting numbers on the Predators regulation wins.
Brian Mullen has an update on Steve Sullivan and Cal O'Reilly and neither are close to a return. He also has a feature on Joel Ward and a few notes.
Paul McCann has a valid rant about the Tennessean's editorial bias against the Predators.
Robby at HNIN calls for the Preds to end their streaky tend this year.
Pierre LeBrun places Pekka Rinne second in the Vezina race behind Tim Thomas.
Ryan Ellis is called one of the most highly decorated junior hockey players of the decade at Hockey's Future.
J.R. Lind guests at On the Forecheck with a hockey related real estate post.
In what some might consider an upset, Pekka Rinne won the OTF March Madness competition which clearly marks him as the Preds MVP (and Hart candidate).
The Milwaukee Admirals clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 win over San Antonio last night.
Around the NHL...
Rob Rossi broke the news that Sidney Crosby will travel to Florida today after a day off ans has been cleared to practice with the team. Craig Custance says that Crosby may still not see the ice this season.
Ryan Miller is injured with an "upper body injury" and did not play last night in the Sabres 1-0 win over the Rangers.
In a couple of surprise games last night, the Blues annihilated Detroit 10-3, and a desparate Carolina team beat Montreal 6-2 to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Down goes Brown may have the best look at the Awards voting that I've seen.
Tuesday night marked the final game for Oilers broadcast legend Rod Phillips. TSN dropped the ball by not showing the pre-game ceremony where the 3542 game banner was raised to the rafters. I heard an interview with Phillips and when he was hired he had never done a hockey play-by-play before.
RLD Hockey does a reset with the Olympic point system. Toronto fans would like it.
Best wishes in recovery to Manny Malhotra after successful eye surgery.
As much as I would like to see Barry Trotz win the Jack Adams, if I had a vote, Dan Bylsma would get it at this point. Here is an Adam Kimelman piece on how he has cobbled together the season with injuries and distractions.
Odds and Ends...
NASA's Messenger satellite is orbiting Mercury and is sending back high quality photos. It's hard to believe that this is a first. Here is more detail about the mission that began in 2004.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
The Predators are coming off a 3-1 loss to Vancouver on Tuesday that broke their six game winning streak. For the first half of the season, all of their regulation losses came in streaks as did their wins. Fans are hoping that the loss was an anomaly and that the team can bounce back in a game that on paper that they should clearly win.
This is the final meeting of the year between the two teams. The Predators have won all three games so far with the most recent being on March 12 in Nashville which was a 4-2 win. A month earlier, there was a circus type atmosphere leading up to the game in Nashville on February 12 which was the Predator debut of Mike Fisher and what would end up being Peter Forsberg's final NHL game. The Preds won that game 5-3 in a big comeback. Their other meeting was in Colorado on January 20 when the Preds won 5-1 and were flying high during one of their better stretches of the season.
This meeting is totally different. The Avalanche have won only three times since January 24 and have looked horrible in most games. They basically have nothing to lose. The Predators fell to seventh place last night when Anaheim virtually eliminated Calgary in a 4-2 win and slipped past the Preds.
Barry Trotz was asked how to prepare for the Colorado game after playing the best team in the league. "Show up and play, play hard. How do you do it? You come committed, knowing that you have to have a lot of determination and urgency."
"Colorado is a dangerous team. They've played us tough all year. They've got lots of speed. They've got lots of skill. Duchene is on fire right now and they are at home. They are going to be very determined to put a wrench into our plans."
Pekka Rinne (30-21-8, 2.10, .929) will be in net for the Predators while it is anyone's guess who will start for the Avalanche. Either Peter Budaj (13-18-4, 3.29, .891) or Brian Elliott (15-25-9, 3.33, .893) could get the start for Colorado.
Update: Looks like it is Elliott tonight vs. the Predators according to @TheGoalieGuild: Brian Elliott the first goalie off for Colorado.
After the game, the Predators will return home and prepare for the game with Detroit on Saturday that has a special 2 p.m. start.
Other previews come from Amanda Dipaolo, Robby Stanley, Predatorial, Marc Torrence, The Tennessean, Fang Faction, and Predators.com.
For previews from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Preds Nation...
David Poile will be on the NHL Hour with Gary Bettman today at 5 p.m. on XM NHL Home Ice and the NHL.com.
David Boclair has interesting numbers on the Predators regulation wins.
Brian Mullen has an update on Steve Sullivan and Cal O'Reilly and neither are close to a return. He also has a feature on Joel Ward and a few notes.
Paul McCann has a valid rant about the Tennessean's editorial bias against the Predators.
Robby at HNIN calls for the Preds to end their streaky tend this year.
Pierre LeBrun places Pekka Rinne second in the Vezina race behind Tim Thomas.
Ryan Ellis is called one of the most highly decorated junior hockey players of the decade at Hockey's Future.
J.R. Lind guests at On the Forecheck with a hockey related real estate post.
In what some might consider an upset, Pekka Rinne won the OTF March Madness competition which clearly marks him as the Preds MVP (and Hart candidate).
The Milwaukee Admirals clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 win over San Antonio last night.
Around the NHL...
Rob Rossi broke the news that Sidney Crosby will travel to Florida today after a day off ans has been cleared to practice with the team. Craig Custance says that Crosby may still not see the ice this season.
Ryan Miller is injured with an "upper body injury" and did not play last night in the Sabres 1-0 win over the Rangers.
In a couple of surprise games last night, the Blues annihilated Detroit 10-3, and a desparate Carolina team beat Montreal 6-2 to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Down goes Brown may have the best look at the Awards voting that I've seen.
Tuesday night marked the final game for Oilers broadcast legend Rod Phillips. TSN dropped the ball by not showing the pre-game ceremony where the 3542 game banner was raised to the rafters. I heard an interview with Phillips and when he was hired he had never done a hockey play-by-play before.
RLD Hockey does a reset with the Olympic point system. Toronto fans would like it.
Best wishes in recovery to Manny Malhotra after successful eye surgery.
As much as I would like to see Barry Trotz win the Jack Adams, if I had a vote, Dan Bylsma would get it at this point. Here is an Adam Kimelman piece on how he has cobbled together the season with injuries and distractions.
Odds and Ends...
NASA's Messenger satellite is orbiting Mercury and is sending back high quality photos. It's hard to believe that this is a first. Here is more detail about the mission that began in 2004.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Monday, March 14, 2011
Preds Begin Huge Week Against Top Opponents and Monday Wrap-Up
The Nashville Predators have four critical games against top opponents this week. The Predators have clawed their way back to ninth place and sit one point outside of eighth and the final playoff spot and three points out of fourth in the tightly bunched Western Conference.
Sunday produced a trio of games that were somewhat favorable to the Predators plight. In the early game, Washington beat Chicago 4-3 in overtime when they couldn't hold Chicago off in regulation.
Then, in a dramatic finish, Dallas tied the Kings with 43 seconds left in the contest and then Michael Hanzsus scored the game winner with 21 seconds left. It was great to see a team not playing for the tie at the end of a game.
Finally, in a less thrilling game, Phoenix beat Anaheim, 5-2 in the final contest of the day.
The Predators return to action on Tuesday against the Kings who currently sit three points ahead of the Preds in fourth place in the West. The Predators have lost two of three to the Kings this season.
On Thursday, the Preds have their only meeting of the year with the Boston Bruins who currently have 85 points and sit a top of the Northeast Division. It should be a meeting between the top two Vezina trophy contenders with Pekka Rinne facing Tim Thomas in a St. Patrick's Day showdown.
Saturday, the Detroit Red Wings come to Nashville in the biggest traditional rivalry in franchise history. The Wings have 90 points and will easily win the Central Division title barring a complete collapse.
After the game on Saturday, the Preds will fly to Buffalo where they will play the Sabres on Sunday night. Buffalo is fighting for a playoff position int the the Eastern Conference as they sit in seventh place with 76 points.
By this time next week, we should have a lot better idea of whether this Predators team is ready to make a run to get in the playoffs as well as making noise if they do. These four games against top caliber opponents will provide a good measuring stick for the team.
Preds-Avs Round-Up...
Here is our game story from Saturday night with post game video.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond has the story of Joel Ward's stick replacement leading to the game winning goal.
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper that focuses on Joel Ward's hot streak.
From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Teresa Walker, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton, Jeremy Gover, Predatorial, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
Ryan Porth has the memory of an elephant as he pulled out a carbon copy of Joel Ward's goal on Saturday night from a game against Dallas two years ago.
HockeyFights.com has the video and tale of the tape of the Jordin Tootoo - Ryan Wilson fight on Saturday.
The other side of the story comes from Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
Audio clips from Saturday come from Joel Ward, Jordin Tootoo, Pekka Rinne, Colorado Coach Joe Sacco, Adam Foote, and Ryan O'Reilly.
In Pred Nation...
David Boclair looks at the Predators' uneven performances. Consistency is not something this team has been known for.
Kristopher Martel met with Nick Spaling for an interview and has an excellent post on the Preds' young defensive specialist.
Preds.com met with Jeff Cogen for a mid-season update on the Predators financial situation.
Shea Weber will be at Walmart on Mallory Lane at 3:30 today signing autographs.
There was a speculative story out of Edmonton that the Oilers may make a play for Sea Weber in the offseason. This is not the first time we have heard this.
Here's a post that I missed from Edward Fraser at THN making a case for it being good business sense for the Predators to trade Shea Weber rather than pay his market value. I've said all along that the Preds should not over pay to keep him.
Robby at HNIN is happy to see the revival of Marty Erat. He is also sporting a #Pekka4Hart logo that I really like.
The Milwaukee Admirals beat Peoria 2-1 last night.
Here is a sad tale of a dinner with Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher that never happened.
Around the NHL...
Forer Buffalo Saberes star Rick Martin was killed in a car accident after suffering a heart attack yesterday.
Chris Johnson has a complete preview of this week's GM meetings in Florida.
Matt Reitz has interesting perspective about the union wanting the GM's to do something about head shots in the past and still no solution as the GM meetings start today.
Nick Cotsonika looks at the concussion issue as the GM meetings begin.
RLD Hockey's Saturday Face-off takes a look at the Zdeno Chara hit. Ryan also thinks out loud on several topics including Pekka for Hart.
Terry Frei has a piece on Erik Johnson getting a second chance with Colorado.
PHT has the exclusive "Kane cam" view of Chicago's visit to the White House.
Charlie Sheen Night at the Bakersville Condor game on Saturday was a major success.
Odds and Ends...
Here's what happens when you have a saxophone and aren't afraid to play it anywhere. It's a funny video.
Are earthquakes headed to the Americas? This Russian scientist thinks so.
Baseball Spring Training my be leaving Brevard County, Florida for the first time in years. Here's a story on how East Coast teams are disappearing.
More Later...
Buddy aokes for PredsOnTheGlass
Sunday produced a trio of games that were somewhat favorable to the Predators plight. In the early game, Washington beat Chicago 4-3 in overtime when they couldn't hold Chicago off in regulation.
Then, in a dramatic finish, Dallas tied the Kings with 43 seconds left in the contest and then Michael Hanzsus scored the game winner with 21 seconds left. It was great to see a team not playing for the tie at the end of a game.
Finally, in a less thrilling game, Phoenix beat Anaheim, 5-2 in the final contest of the day.
The Predators return to action on Tuesday against the Kings who currently sit three points ahead of the Preds in fourth place in the West. The Predators have lost two of three to the Kings this season.
On Thursday, the Preds have their only meeting of the year with the Boston Bruins who currently have 85 points and sit a top of the Northeast Division. It should be a meeting between the top two Vezina trophy contenders with Pekka Rinne facing Tim Thomas in a St. Patrick's Day showdown.
Saturday, the Detroit Red Wings come to Nashville in the biggest traditional rivalry in franchise history. The Wings have 90 points and will easily win the Central Division title barring a complete collapse.
After the game on Saturday, the Preds will fly to Buffalo where they will play the Sabres on Sunday night. Buffalo is fighting for a playoff position int the the Eastern Conference as they sit in seventh place with 76 points.
By this time next week, we should have a lot better idea of whether this Predators team is ready to make a run to get in the playoffs as well as making noise if they do. These four games against top caliber opponents will provide a good measuring stick for the team.
Preds-Avs Round-Up...
Here is our game story from Saturday night with post game video.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond has the story of Joel Ward's stick replacement leading to the game winning goal.
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper that focuses on Joel Ward's hot streak.
From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Teresa Walker, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton, Jeremy Gover, Predatorial, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
Ryan Porth has the memory of an elephant as he pulled out a carbon copy of Joel Ward's goal on Saturday night from a game against Dallas two years ago.
HockeyFights.com has the video and tale of the tape of the Jordin Tootoo - Ryan Wilson fight on Saturday.
The other side of the story comes from Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
Audio clips from Saturday come from Joel Ward, Jordin Tootoo, Pekka Rinne, Colorado Coach Joe Sacco, Adam Foote, and Ryan O'Reilly.
In Pred Nation...
David Boclair looks at the Predators' uneven performances. Consistency is not something this team has been known for.
Kristopher Martel met with Nick Spaling for an interview and has an excellent post on the Preds' young defensive specialist.
Preds.com met with Jeff Cogen for a mid-season update on the Predators financial situation.
Shea Weber will be at Walmart on Mallory Lane at 3:30 today signing autographs.
There was a speculative story out of Edmonton that the Oilers may make a play for Sea Weber in the offseason. This is not the first time we have heard this.
Here's a post that I missed from Edward Fraser at THN making a case for it being good business sense for the Predators to trade Shea Weber rather than pay his market value. I've said all along that the Preds should not over pay to keep him.
Robby at HNIN is happy to see the revival of Marty Erat. He is also sporting a #Pekka4Hart logo that I really like.
The Milwaukee Admirals beat Peoria 2-1 last night.
Here is a sad tale of a dinner with Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher that never happened.
Around the NHL...
Forer Buffalo Saberes star Rick Martin was killed in a car accident after suffering a heart attack yesterday.
Chris Johnson has a complete preview of this week's GM meetings in Florida.
Matt Reitz has interesting perspective about the union wanting the GM's to do something about head shots in the past and still no solution as the GM meetings start today.
Nick Cotsonika looks at the concussion issue as the GM meetings begin.
RLD Hockey's Saturday Face-off takes a look at the Zdeno Chara hit. Ryan also thinks out loud on several topics including Pekka for Hart.
Terry Frei has a piece on Erik Johnson getting a second chance with Colorado.
PHT has the exclusive "Kane cam" view of Chicago's visit to the White House.
Charlie Sheen Night at the Bakersville Condor game on Saturday was a major success.
Odds and Ends...
Here's what happens when you have a saxophone and aren't afraid to play it anywhere. It's a funny video.
Are earthquakes headed to the Americas? This Russian scientist thinks so.
Baseball Spring Training my be leaving Brevard County, Florida for the first time in years. Here's a story on how East Coast teams are disappearing.
More Later...
Buddy aokes for PredsOnTheGlass
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Preds Win 4-2, Avs Continue to Be Snowed Under
The Nashville Predators battled a young Colorado Avalanche team that played like they had nothing to lose and came away with a 4-2 win that pulled them within a point of eight place and the final playoff position.
Nashville did not have their best outing managed to win a game where they entered the contest as clear favorites. Colorado has now lost 18 of their last 19 games. Pekka Rinne also did not have his best night in goal but improved his save percentage and his Vezina chances by stopping 36 of 38 Colorado shots.
Rinne was pleased with the second consecutive win at home, "It's huge. I think we responded pretty well and we are looking forward to to playing here for the next few games. It's going to be a good challenge, and right now I think things are going well for us. We just have to build momentum from now on."
Nashville got goals from Shea Weber, Matt Halischuk, Joel Ward, and Marty Erat while Colorado's scoring came from Ryan O'Reilly and Daniel Winnik.
The Predators played a strong opening period, putting plenty of pressure on Budaj. At 4:16, Weber picked up the final rebound in a volley of three shots (two from Erat and one from Ward) and put it in the net to give the Preds an early 1-0 lead.In similar fashion, Halischuk, picked up a rebound off of a Kevin Klein shot at 11:36 to make it 2-0 Preds.
The Avalanche ended up out shooting the Predators 13-12 and leading the Corsi 24-20 in the first period. Surprisingly, Colorado out hit the Preds 13-4 as they tried to make it a physical match.
Colorado continued their enthusiastic play and got on the board at 4:15 in the second on a wrister from O'Reilly from in front of the net to make it 2-1.
The Predators then faced back to back penalties by Jon Blum and Ward that produced 43 seconds of five on there advantage for the Avs. At 11:53, during five on four play, the Avalanche appeared to have scored the game tying goal but it was waived off as it had been played with a high stick that was above Rinne's head.
Trotz was pleased with the penalty kill, "That was a big turning point. Any time you kill a five on three, it gives us a little momentum."
In a play that was a defining moment in the game, at 13:31, Ward scored in a move that had "goal of the week" written all over it. He broke his stick behind the net and raced to the bench to pick up a new one. As he returned, he intercepted the puck, made a deek move on Budaj that left him sprawling on the ice, and then skated past him and made a nifty curl move to slip it into the unattended net for an unassisted goal to give the Preds a 3-1 lead.
Colorado came back and scored on a goal by Winnik at 19:30 where Colin Wilson could have been credited with a pair of assists. Wilson lost the puck as he tried to clear the zone then skated to the net and Winnik's shot caromed off his shin guard and deflected straight past Rinne to make it a 3-2 contest.
Trotz called out Wilson on the play without mentioning him by name. "We made a real soft play on the wall. Our winger was not committed to getting sandpaper against the wall and ended up battling and it was really light and turned it over and then it went to the point and they shot and it went off the winger and into the net."
As the clock wore down, with 18 seconds left, Jordin Tootoo and Ryan Wilson squared off in one of the more spirited fights that the Bridgestone crowd has seen in Nashville this season.
Tootoo was pleased with his effort. "Emotions run high, and it's a spur of the moment type of deal. It brings a lot of energy and I think the boys really like it."
Trotz denied sending Tootoo out but stated, "I didn't send him out or anything like that. I just said, if he's out there and you want to go, go. Instead of chatting at each other, you guys can settle it as men."
In the middle stanza Colorado poured on the shots, outshooting the Preds 16-8 and leading the Corsi 26-10. There was no scoring in the final period until Erat scored the empty netter with two seconds left. The Predators did out shoot the Avs in the third period 9-8 and led the Corsi 17-16.
After taking Sunday off, the Predators will return to the ice on Monday to prepare for Tuesday night's key match with the Los Angeles Kings as the five game home stand continues.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Predators Want to Be Point Collectors Against Avs and Saturday Round-Up
After Thursday's win over Minnesota, Preds coach Barry Trotz made a very specif point that offered no wiggle room, "We got points in five of our last six games. We just have to collect points. How you do it, we don't really care."
Last night, every game that involved teams that the Predators are battling with went the way that negatively affected the Predators playoff chances. While the Predators were snugly nestled in the middle of the top eight for over a month and a half, they no longer have that luxury.
The Preds are in tenth place and two points tonight will still leave them outside the top eight at eighty points. All is not lost, however, four teams are at 80 points and the Preds start the day only four points behind fourth place Dallas.
Other than the games the Preds play, they cannot affect what other teams do so they are left with the sole task of being "point collectors."
Tonight's target is the hapless Colorado Avalanche who will visit the Predators tonight at 7 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena. The Avs have lost 17 of 18 and got drilled 6-2 by Anaheim last night in Colorado. Can anyone say "trap game"?
This is the third meeting between the two teams and is totally different than the circus type atmosphere leading up to the game in Nashville on February 12 which was the Predator debut of Mike Fisher and what would end up being Peter Forsberg's final NHL game. The Preds won that game 5-3 in a big comeback. Their other meeting was in Colorado on January 20 when the Preds won 5-1 and were flying high during one of their better stretches of the season.
The Avalanche team that will be here tonight is far different than the ones the Preds have faced previously. Gone are goalie Craig Anderson (traded to Ottawa for Brian Elliott),young stars Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart (sent to St. Louis for Erik Johnson and Jay McClement), and obviously Forsberg.
The Avalanche also lead the league in man-games lost due to injury at 349. Last night, Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk joined the long list of injuries that already included Kyle Cumiskey,
Tomas Fleischmann, T.J. Galiardi, John-Michael Liles,Peter Mueller, Kyle Quincey, and Ryan Stoa (appendectomy).
Mike Fisher left Thursday's game in the third period and did not return. He was said to be probable after yesterday's off ice practice and Josh Cooper Tweets that Fisher says he's playing tonight.
Pekka Rinne (24-19-8, 2.08, .930) will be in net for Nashville tonight and the Avalanche will chose between Brian Elliott (13-23-9, 3.32, .891), who gave up six goals last night, and Peter Budaj (13-14-4, 3.20, .895).
The Predators return to the ice in the third of five games in the current homestand when they play the L.A, Kings on Tuesday.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, Patten Fuqua, The Tennessean, and Predators.com.
For previews from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Pred Nation...
Amanda DiPaolo has the story of the future being now for Blake Geoffrion and Jon Blum.
In Goal Magazine has a tremendous feature on Anders Lindback is a story titled Goon to Goalie. It is a must read.
Bryan Mullen looks at the Erat, Legwand, Ward line sticking to basics and has notes from yesterday's practice.
Josh Cooper explains what Barry Trotz wants from Colin Wilson.
Predators Prospects Ryan Ellis, Taylor Beck, and Michael Latta racked up in the OHL Western Conference coaches poll of superlatives.
Chris Burton breaks down Joel Wards goal against Minnesota.
Paul McCann discusses the ramifications of Thursday's win over Minnesota.
Mark Willoughby has his weekly "My View" with an interesting note about where all the nation's money is sitting.
Mass Live talked to Paul Fenton about Blake Geoffrion's arrival in the NHL.
Milwaukee Coach Lane Lambert is very concerned about the Admirals 2-0 loss to the Rockford Icehogs last night.
Rachel at What the Puck reminds everyone that tonight's game is a Hockey Fights Cancer fundraiser.
Your used Predators ticket stub is worth a quarter of a Hunt Brothers Pizza at participating location.
Around the NHL...
The Chicago Blackhawks finally made their visit to the White House to meet the president yesterday in a festive media event that was well attended. The appearance tied in to Gary Bettman's appearance promoting kids playing hockey as a part of the "Let's Move" initiative. Here's what Obama said followed by a video of a highlight.
Bob McKenzie sets the stage for the head hit discussions in the upcoming GM meetings in Florida.
Ryan Porth has the latest edition of his Trophy Tracker at the RLD and updates his stretch run series.
There were rumors yesterday that Sidney Crosby's family wanted him to retire but they appear to have been properly refuted.
The Wings appear to have another budding young star forward from Europe in Teemu Pulkkinen. Takien 11th in last summers fraft, he is playing at a point a game pace for Jokerit.
Adam Proteau has the top ten surprises of this NHL season. Obviously the Devils are number one.
Here is an excellent point from @JeffMarek: And the ultimate point that was underscored again this week is that nhl hockey is too fast to be safe. When it get to that point like in in NASCAR where they implemented restrictor plates to slow the cars down. I don't think that is possible with humans.
The Tea Party folks were not happy with the answers that they got from Glendale officials about the Coyote's situation. So what other groups are going to come out of the wood work to cast an opinion?
Odds and Ends...
This post has a cool picture from the early space era in Cocoa Beach.
Tina Fey separates the men from the women in this post about her SNL experience.
Here is someone else's account of what is my favorite hike in Sedona, Arizona, going up the back side of Cathedral Rock.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Last night, every game that involved teams that the Predators are battling with went the way that negatively affected the Predators playoff chances. While the Predators were snugly nestled in the middle of the top eight for over a month and a half, they no longer have that luxury.
The Preds are in tenth place and two points tonight will still leave them outside the top eight at eighty points. All is not lost, however, four teams are at 80 points and the Preds start the day only four points behind fourth place Dallas.
Other than the games the Preds play, they cannot affect what other teams do so they are left with the sole task of being "point collectors."
Tonight's target is the hapless Colorado Avalanche who will visit the Predators tonight at 7 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena. The Avs have lost 17 of 18 and got drilled 6-2 by Anaheim last night in Colorado. Can anyone say "trap game"?
This is the third meeting between the two teams and is totally different than the circus type atmosphere leading up to the game in Nashville on February 12 which was the Predator debut of Mike Fisher and what would end up being Peter Forsberg's final NHL game. The Preds won that game 5-3 in a big comeback. Their other meeting was in Colorado on January 20 when the Preds won 5-1 and were flying high during one of their better stretches of the season.
The Avalanche team that will be here tonight is far different than the ones the Preds have faced previously. Gone are goalie Craig Anderson (traded to Ottawa for Brian Elliott),young stars Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart (sent to St. Louis for Erik Johnson and Jay McClement), and obviously Forsberg.
The Avalanche also lead the league in man-games lost due to injury at 349. Last night, Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk joined the long list of injuries that already included Kyle Cumiskey,
Tomas Fleischmann, T.J. Galiardi, John-Michael Liles,Peter Mueller, Kyle Quincey, and Ryan Stoa (appendectomy).
Mike Fisher left Thursday's game in the third period and did not return. He was said to be probable after yesterday's off ice practice and Josh Cooper Tweets that Fisher says he's playing tonight.
Pekka Rinne (24-19-8, 2.08, .930) will be in net for Nashville tonight and the Avalanche will chose between Brian Elliott (13-23-9, 3.32, .891), who gave up six goals last night, and Peter Budaj (13-14-4, 3.20, .895).
The Predators return to the ice in the third of five games in the current homestand when they play the L.A, Kings on Tuesday.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, Patten Fuqua, The Tennessean, and Predators.com.
For previews from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Pred Nation...
Amanda DiPaolo has the story of the future being now for Blake Geoffrion and Jon Blum.
In Goal Magazine has a tremendous feature on Anders Lindback is a story titled Goon to Goalie. It is a must read.
Bryan Mullen looks at the Erat, Legwand, Ward line sticking to basics and has notes from yesterday's practice.
Josh Cooper explains what Barry Trotz wants from Colin Wilson.
Predators Prospects Ryan Ellis, Taylor Beck, and Michael Latta racked up in the OHL Western Conference coaches poll of superlatives.
Chris Burton breaks down Joel Wards goal against Minnesota.
Paul McCann discusses the ramifications of Thursday's win over Minnesota.
Mark Willoughby has his weekly "My View" with an interesting note about where all the nation's money is sitting.
Mass Live talked to Paul Fenton about Blake Geoffrion's arrival in the NHL.
Milwaukee Coach Lane Lambert is very concerned about the Admirals 2-0 loss to the Rockford Icehogs last night.
Rachel at What the Puck reminds everyone that tonight's game is a Hockey Fights Cancer fundraiser.
Your used Predators ticket stub is worth a quarter of a Hunt Brothers Pizza at participating location.
Around the NHL...
The Chicago Blackhawks finally made their visit to the White House to meet the president yesterday in a festive media event that was well attended. The appearance tied in to Gary Bettman's appearance promoting kids playing hockey as a part of the "Let's Move" initiative. Here's what Obama said followed by a video of a highlight.
Bob McKenzie sets the stage for the head hit discussions in the upcoming GM meetings in Florida.
Ryan Porth has the latest edition of his Trophy Tracker at the RLD and updates his stretch run series.
There were rumors yesterday that Sidney Crosby's family wanted him to retire but they appear to have been properly refuted.
The Wings appear to have another budding young star forward from Europe in Teemu Pulkkinen. Takien 11th in last summers fraft, he is playing at a point a game pace for Jokerit.
Adam Proteau has the top ten surprises of this NHL season. Obviously the Devils are number one.
Here is an excellent point from @JeffMarek: And the ultimate point that was underscored again this week is that nhl hockey is too fast to be safe. When it get to that point like in in NASCAR where they implemented restrictor plates to slow the cars down. I don't think that is possible with humans.
The Tea Party folks were not happy with the answers that they got from Glendale officials about the Coyote's situation. So what other groups are going to come out of the wood work to cast an opinion?
Odds and Ends...
This post has a cool picture from the early space era in Cocoa Beach.
Tina Fey separates the men from the women in this post about her SNL experience.
Here is someone else's account of what is my favorite hike in Sedona, Arizona, going up the back side of Cathedral Rock.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Monday, February 14, 2011
Two and Done, Peter Forsberg Retires
It is hard to believe that in a blink of an eye, Peter Forsberg was here at Bridgestone Arena and now he is gone. This morning, the Colorado Avalanche had a brief press release on their web site stating:Peter Forsberg Announcement
Forward Will Announce His Retirement On Monday Afternoon
Colorado Avalanche forward Peter Forsberg will hold a press conference today at 2:30 p.m. MT at Pepsi Center.
At that time, he will announce his retirement from the game of hockey.
ColoradoAvalanche.com will provide a live stream of the event.
Just like that, half of the duo that provided all the Fisher vs Foppa frenzy on Saturday night is out of the game. If indeed, Forsberg does not make another comeback attempt in the future, the 17,113 in attendance at the game will go down in history as the last folks to see a great star play his final game.
Officially, in his two game stint, he had three shots, was a (-4), and had two weak penalties on Saturday night. It may have been the hooking penalty when he was getting beat by Jerred Smithson that best tells the story that Foppa had slowed to the point that he could not play at the level that he expected of himself.
Our condolences to all the Avalanche fans who were hoping to see one of their favorite players tonight in a game at the Pepsi Center against Calgary and to beat writer Adrian Dater who has followed Forsberg for his whole career and will miss all the comeback stories, if indeed this is truly the final rodeo.
Here is Dater's take including a clue dropped on Saturday night after the game. Here is a photo album of Forsberg's comeback including a few from the final game in Nashville.
Best wishes to Peter Forsberg and his family as he moves on toward retirement. Hopefully, he is at peace with the fact that he gave it all he had and can walk away from the game knowing that he is indeed finished.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Important Week for The Predators and Monday Wrap-Up
The Nashville Predators face a critical three games this week at the Bridgestone that will go a long way in determining whether they will still be sitting in the top eight a week from now.
On Sunday, the Predators fell out of a tenuous fourth place in the Western Conference and slipped to seven points behind the Red Wings when Anaheim beat the Oilers to move into fourth and the Wings added two points to their total by beating the Bruins in the NBC game of the week.
Only four points separate third and tenth in the Western Conference. A three game losing streak would easily knock the Preds out of a current playoff seed.
On Tuesday, The Preds will face the San Jose Sharks, that have been one of the hottest teams in the west recently. They have lost their last two games including yesterday's 3-2 loss in Florida. The Sharks are a point behind the Preds in seventh.
The Vancouver Canucks come to town on Thursday to give the Preds a stern test. The Nucks have the best record in the league and have been almost unbeatable over the last two and one half months.
The game on Saturday will feature a visit from the Phoenix Coyotes, who have rebounded from a six game losing streak to win their last four, and currently reside in sixth place with the same point total as the Preds but with one extra game played.
With the closeness of the race and games with other contenders in town, the hype of the Mike Fisher trade needs to be put into the rear view mirror and the team needs to get down to work.
Marcel Goc will return and there will be a slight juggling of the lines as Barry Trotz looks for combinations that will work for the stretch run. This is a make or break time of the year and this week will give us an idea of where the Predators are headed.
Predators-Avalanche Round-Up...
Here is our game story from Saturday night with post game Barry Trotz video.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond has a good story and even better headline on the clash of the Swedes on Saturday..
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, Paul McCann, Predatorial, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
The other side of the story comes Adrian Dater at the Denver Post. I'd like to thank Adrian for kind words about POTG on his site yesterday. Other wrap-ups come from Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast. John Manasso has a good story on Peter Forsberg after two games.
In Pred Nation...
Jim Diamond has done his undercover work and found that Montreal Scouts will be in Nashville all week and may have their eyes on a Predator defenseman.
Amanda DiPaolo gets an early start on previewing Tuesday's game by talking to Dany Heatly.
Mike Fisher took out a full page ad in the Ottawa Citizen thanking the team and the fans for all they did for him in his eleven year stay in the city.
Robbie at HNIN discusses Nashville's growth as a true hockey town.
John Manasso of NHL.com explains that Mike Fisher should have no problem fitting in in Music City.
Ryan Porth has his take on the Mike Fisher signing.
Mark Willoughby is with a very giddy Barry Trotz at the Predators Gala on Thursday night.
Jeremy at Section 303 is starting some serious scoreboard watching.
The Predatorial is all caught up with the potential of too many players on the Preds' roster. I'm not worried, we are due another injury any game now.
It is no surprise that Ryan Ellis heads the list of OHL drafted defensemen at Hockey's Future.
Admirals Roundtable gets to the bottom of the Casey Piero-Zabotel story and finds that Pittsburgh has retained his rights. They also have the story of the Ads 5-2 win over the Icehogs but only had three total shots in the last 40 minutes.
Over 1500 folks took part in the Predators 5K road race on Saturday. The big winner was the Monroe Carell Children's Hospital that got $5 from each entry.
The New York Times takes a whack at the Tennessean's "husband" headline.
Icethetics discusses the jerseys worn by the Predators at the Gala last week.
Around the NHL...
Mario Lemieux is not pleased with the discipline handed down by the NHL from Friday's Pens-Isles debacle. I personally think Trevor Gillies should be suspended for the rest of the season. It was really odd that the fines were announced near midnight on a Saturday night.
Bruce Garrioch takes a look at the status of 29 teams heading into the trade deadline. There is no entry for Colorado. I wonder why.
Mickey "The Fighter" Ward sat down with NHL.com and talked after dropping the opening puck on Friday at TD Garden.
It's now or never for the Rangers as they have been sliding lately. They did manage a win over the struggling Pens yesterday who were shaken up in a bus wreck on Saturday.
John Grigg analyzes the Devils' turnaround at The Hockey News.
Odds and Ends...
Dahlia Kurtz found this article that shows how manufacturers are ripping you off with their products.
NASA now says that they were lucky that there weren't more disasters with the Space Shuttle.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
On Sunday, the Predators fell out of a tenuous fourth place in the Western Conference and slipped to seven points behind the Red Wings when Anaheim beat the Oilers to move into fourth and the Wings added two points to their total by beating the Bruins in the NBC game of the week.
Only four points separate third and tenth in the Western Conference. A three game losing streak would easily knock the Preds out of a current playoff seed.
On Tuesday, The Preds will face the San Jose Sharks, that have been one of the hottest teams in the west recently. They have lost their last two games including yesterday's 3-2 loss in Florida. The Sharks are a point behind the Preds in seventh.
The Vancouver Canucks come to town on Thursday to give the Preds a stern test. The Nucks have the best record in the league and have been almost unbeatable over the last two and one half months.
The game on Saturday will feature a visit from the Phoenix Coyotes, who have rebounded from a six game losing streak to win their last four, and currently reside in sixth place with the same point total as the Preds but with one extra game played.
With the closeness of the race and games with other contenders in town, the hype of the Mike Fisher trade needs to be put into the rear view mirror and the team needs to get down to work.
Marcel Goc will return and there will be a slight juggling of the lines as Barry Trotz looks for combinations that will work for the stretch run. This is a make or break time of the year and this week will give us an idea of where the Predators are headed.
Predators-Avalanche Round-Up...
Here is our game story from Saturday night with post game Barry Trotz video.
Josh Cooper had his game story, notes column, and postgame ponderings.
Jim Diamond has a good story and even better headline on the clash of the Swedes on Saturday..
David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.
From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, Paul McCann, Predatorial, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.
The other side of the story comes Adrian Dater at the Denver Post. I'd like to thank Adrian for kind words about POTG on his site yesterday. Other wrap-ups come from Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast. John Manasso has a good story on Peter Forsberg after two games.
In Pred Nation...
Jim Diamond has done his undercover work and found that Montreal Scouts will be in Nashville all week and may have their eyes on a Predator defenseman.
Amanda DiPaolo gets an early start on previewing Tuesday's game by talking to Dany Heatly.
Mike Fisher took out a full page ad in the Ottawa Citizen thanking the team and the fans for all they did for him in his eleven year stay in the city.
Robbie at HNIN discusses Nashville's growth as a true hockey town.
John Manasso of NHL.com explains that Mike Fisher should have no problem fitting in in Music City.
Ryan Porth has his take on the Mike Fisher signing.
Mark Willoughby is with a very giddy Barry Trotz at the Predators Gala on Thursday night.
Jeremy at Section 303 is starting some serious scoreboard watching.
The Predatorial is all caught up with the potential of too many players on the Preds' roster. I'm not worried, we are due another injury any game now.
It is no surprise that Ryan Ellis heads the list of OHL drafted defensemen at Hockey's Future.
Admirals Roundtable gets to the bottom of the Casey Piero-Zabotel story and finds that Pittsburgh has retained his rights. They also have the story of the Ads 5-2 win over the Icehogs but only had three total shots in the last 40 minutes.
Over 1500 folks took part in the Predators 5K road race on Saturday. The big winner was the Monroe Carell Children's Hospital that got $5 from each entry.
The New York Times takes a whack at the Tennessean's "husband" headline.
Icethetics discusses the jerseys worn by the Predators at the Gala last week.
Around the NHL...
Mario Lemieux is not pleased with the discipline handed down by the NHL from Friday's Pens-Isles debacle. I personally think Trevor Gillies should be suspended for the rest of the season. It was really odd that the fines were announced near midnight on a Saturday night.
Bruce Garrioch takes a look at the status of 29 teams heading into the trade deadline. There is no entry for Colorado. I wonder why.
Mickey "The Fighter" Ward sat down with NHL.com and talked after dropping the opening puck on Friday at TD Garden.
It's now or never for the Rangers as they have been sliding lately. They did manage a win over the struggling Pens yesterday who were shaken up in a bus wreck on Saturday.
John Grigg analyzes the Devils' turnaround at The Hockey News.
Odds and Ends...
Dahlia Kurtz found this article that shows how manufacturers are ripping you off with their products.
NASA now says that they were lucky that there weren't more disasters with the Space Shuttle.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Predators Beat Avalanche 5-3 in Fisher Debut
The Nashville Predators defeated the Colorado Avalanche 5-3 in a comeback victory before a sold out Bridgestone Arena Saturday night crowd.
Cody Franson's goal with 2:30 left in the contest broke a 3-3 tie to send the fans home happy and the Avalanche to their seventh straight loss. David Legwand's empty netter with 46 seconds left was the icing on the cake.
The Preds also got goals from Shea Weber, Marty Erat, and Patric Hornqvist. Erat added a pair of assists for a three point effort and Legwand and Hornqvist had helpers for two point games.
Colorado's goals came from Kevin Porter, David Jones, and Matt Duchene.
Pekka Rinne did not have his best night, allowing three goals on 18 shots, but still brought home the victory. Peter Budaj was a hard luck loser as he was pelted with shots the entire game. He gave up four goals on 38 shots.
Playing his first game as a Predator, Mike Fisher received applause when he first entered the ice and even more when he was shown on the Jumbotron early in the contest. He picked up an assist and was a plus 2 for the game.
Barry Trotz was pleased with the new addition, "He did well, as advertised. That's the Mike Fisher I remember; strong on draws and hard to play against."
Fisher was pleased after the game, "It was definitely an exciting and fun game for me, a lot of nerves early, that's for sure, but I kind of calmed down and got into it."
The game got off to a flying start in the opening period with only one stoppage in the first 7:19 of play. The Predators were forcing the play when shades of Monday's Edmonton loss showed up at 11:06 when Porter took a pass from Paul Stastny and flipped it past Rinne to give the Avs a 1-0 lead.
The Predators quickly answered eleven seconds later on a wrister from near the blue line by Weber to tie it up 1-1 quickly bring the crowd back into the game. The key to the play was a screen by Mike Fisher that shielded Budaj from seeing the shot.
In the first period the Predators out shot the Avs 10-4 and dominated the Corsi 26-8.
The first infraction of the game came when David Jones was called for hooking at 3:53. On the ensuing power play at 4:36, Erat scored on his second shot consecutive on a puck that was actually behind Budaj. Kostitsyn and Hornqvist made a couple of nice passes to set the play in motion.
Colorado came back to tie the game 2-2 at 9:13 when Jones skated in to the net from Rinne's right side without resistance from the Predators' defense and slid it into the net.
After a Steve Sullivan cross-checking penalty Shane O'Brien and Nick Spaling almost scored a goal on a two on one short-handed breakaway but Spaling caught the post instead of the open side of the net.
The Preds dominated the shot count again in the second period 18-5 and the Corsi 29-15.
The Predators fell behind 3-2 at 2:54 in the third period when Duchene skated down the left wall and shot unobstructed at Rinne who could not grab the puck.
The Preds recovered quickly 77 seconds later, when Nashville was working the puck in the Avalanche zone and David Legwand sent the puck from behind the net to Hornqvist in the slot who sent it past Budaj to knot the score 3-3.
Franson's big goal came at 17:30 and was unassisted after he intercepted a pass from Daniel Winnik and skated to his left to get open and sent the puck through traffic to give the Predators a 4-3 lead.
Legwand's empty-netter was icing on the cake and provided Fisher with his first point as a Predator.
The game marked Peter Forsberg's second game in his most recent comeback. He was better on the ice than he looked on paper. He skated 14:53 and had two shots while taking two penalties.
Trotz had god things to say about Forsberg, "I'll tell you what, he's still dynamite. He's still hard to handle. It's amazing, you don't play and then you are that hard to handle in the best league in the world."
The win moved the Predators into fourth place with 67 points as they remain five points behind Detroit for the Central Division lead.
The Predators return to to the ice on Tuesday against their long time nemesis, the San Jose Sharks at the Bridgestone Arena. It doesn't get any later in the week as they stay home and play Vancouver and Phoenix.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes from PredsOnTheGlass
It's Fisher vs. Foppa at the Bridgestone and Saturday Round-Up
Thanks to Danielle Browne for our picture of Peter Forsberg.
Mike Fisher will play against Peter Forsberg tonight in the highlight of today's NHL action. And oh, by the way, they will bring the Nashville Predators (29-18-7) and the Colorado Avalanche (25-24-6) along with them to fill out the rosters when the puck is dropped at the sold out Bridgestone arena at 7 p.m. Central.
The number one key to the game tonight for the Predators is to overcome all the Mike Fisher hype that has run rampant in Smashville for the last 48 hours and play a good solid hockey game against a team that is mired in a six game losing streak and has not looked good in the process.
As David Poile clearly stated Fisher "is not a savior" but should put the team back in the position it was in before Matt Lombardi went down in the Preds' second game of the season. Don't judge Fisher by what he does tonight because he is yet to have a practice with the full squad.
Colorado avoided bringing it's "counter-hype" by having the return of Forsberg last night in Columbus where the Avs lost 3-1 and did not look good in doing so. Adrian Dater has a postgame video of Foppa's reaction to his first game back. He already appeared to be playing at a higher level than the rest of the team that has payed all year.It seems like it has been a long time since the Predators big 4-1 win in Detroit on Wednesday night. Hopefully, that will help them forget that in spite of two wins over Detroit in the last week that they are mired in a 2-4-1 slum and really need to put together a win streak to regain lost ground in the tough Western Conference.
The Predators have fallen to sixth in the west (65 points) while the Avalanche have dropped all the way to 14th (56points) during their respective slides.
Pekka Rinne (19-14-5, 2.08, .930) will be in goal for the Predators while it appears Peter Budaj (12-9-3, 3.03, .898) will start the for the second night in a row with Craig Anderson out until Monday dealing with personal issue (birth of a child per Scott Laughlin of XM's power play). John Grahame (0-0-0, 0.00, .000) is also available for the Avs.
After tonight's game, the Predators have a tough week ahead, albeit at home, with San Jose, Vancouver, and Phoenix all visiting Bridgestone Arena.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, Predatorial, Paul McCann, The Tennessean, and Predators.com.
For previews from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Pred Nation...
Josh Cooper has post morning skate quotes from Mike Fisher and yes, Carrie Underwood-Fisher will be at the game (with bells on).
After yesterday's conference call with Mike Fisher there were stories from Bryan Mullen, David Boclair, and Amanda Dipaolo.
Cellblock 303 has an episode of the 303:30 with Kevin Allen and includes audio of the Mike Fisher conference call.
Sam Page has another look at Mike Fisher's contract and what it means for the Predators' future.
Bryan Mullen has a new post this morning on the Preds' eagerness to see Mike Fisher on the ice.
Ryan Porth discusses Pekka Rinne's chase for the Vezina at The Fourth Period. He also takes a look at how the West may respond to the three big trades that have gone down so far.
Rob Higgins says that Mike Fisher is the perfect fit in Nashville and has the facts to back it up. Chris Botta also thinks it's a good deal for all involved. Kevin Allen likes the trade for off the ice reasons too.
The View from 111 takes a look at all the attributes that Mike Fisher brings to the Predators.
David Singleton looks at the Predators week and the Fisher trade at Hockey Independent.
The flip side of the story comes from Ben McCoy of Inside Hockey who sounds like he lost a family member in the trade.
Barry Trotz was on HNIC Radio with Jeff Marek talking about the Fisher Trade. (H/T to Predlines for the find)
Puck Daddy Radio had Shea Weber on as a guest yesterday. Listen here.
Dirk Hoag is concerned about the glut of forwards on the Predators if everyone returns to health.
Shea Weber spoke with Bryan Mullen about the Fisher trade and seems happy with it.
Chris Burton breaks down David Legwand's goal from the games with the Wings.
Chris Link of Puck and Punk appeared on the Up the Pucks podcast from Buffalo.
Predatorial takes a look at the Predators' power play woes.
The Gnashvegas Gala raised over $100,000 for the Predator Foundation on Thursday night. Here are some pictures.
NHL.com has a good look at Blake Geoffrion's recent surge.
The Chicago Wolves beat the Milwaukee Admirals 5-2 last night in a less than stellar performance by the Ads.
In a simi-Preds related story, J R Lind has a neat Valentines Day story about his year long romance of @janeqpublic aka Olivia.
Around the NHL...
Ryan Porth has all the videos and fights from last night's 8-3 Isles-Pens debacle on Long Island,his Trophy Tracker updated. Several races have tightened up while others haven't.
"The Fighter" Micky Ward dropped the ceremonial puck at last night's Wings-Bruins game. If you haven't seen the movie, you should.
Jas Faulkner announces that Alexander Ovechkin will play the role of "Baby" in the upcoming Coen Brothers remake of Dirty Dancing.
Rick Jeanneret has another great call to end the Sabres-Panthers game. No one does it better.
Down Goes Brown has a primer on "bland-speak" as perfected in the NHL.
Congrats to Launy and Dahlia at Hockey 54 for their new sponsorship by Booster Juice!
Ex-Pred Dan Hamhuis is joining the concussion parade and will be out indefinitely.
PHT has the news that an agreement to appear on 24/7 will be a part of Winter Classic participation in the future. That is great news.
Adrian Dater has his five players most likely to be dealt at the deadline and Peter Forsberg heads the list.
One more city Counsel meeting is needed in Glendale to tweak the Coyotes lease before the bonds go on sale to complete the deal.
Odds and Ends...
Neighbors in Omaha are upset with a woman that is feeding wild turkeys at her house. I've never heard of folks being this upset about feeding birds in the winter.
Here's ten tips for administrators for the new Facebook design.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Friday, January 21, 2011
Predators Riding High in the Saddle and Friday Wrap-Up
The Predators will celebrate their 5-1 domination victory over the Colorado Avalanche last night with a day of team-building activities in Denver today.
In the past they have done things like going curling and bowling but the team has been tight lipped about this year's plan.
Last night's win gave the Predators control of fourth place in the West with 58 points, one point ahead of the Coyotes who beat the Kings last night to stay close.
It may be premature to start looking up in the standings but the Preds are now eight points behind the Western Conference leading Vancouver Canucks and six points behind Central Division leading Detroit.
After today's activities, the Predators will travel to Edmonton where they will play the Oilers on Sunday and then move on to Calgary to play the Flames on Monday. A Wednesday game in Vancouver finished the pre-all-star portion of the schedule.
After the break, the Predators will play 21 of their final 32 games at home. There is only one road trip longer than an overnight trip and it is only four games long.
Sports Club Stats has the Preds at the high water mark of the season with a 93.2% chance of making the playoffs. The Predators have put themselves in excellent shape for the stretch run and a couple of more wins on this trip would really solidify their position.
Predators - Avalanche Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, and Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats).
The story from the Colorado side comes from Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
Shameless Self Promotion...
I received an email from a new web venture called Sulia.com congratulating me for being the #2 Predators "expert" in their rankings. That was well and good and to be taken with many grains of salt, but upon further investigation, the overall list of Hockey "experts" is a really good list of folks to follow for Tweets about hockey. Click on the "Top Expert's Tab" at the top of the page to get a list of 298 Tweeters that are widely followed.
In Preds Nation...
Stunning news on the Predators' net worth, the team is worth more than $50 million. Here is the certification. The Tennessean reports that he actual value is more than the $193 million that was paid for the franchise. J.R. Lind also points out that the Predators budget was approved for the coming fiscal year with no issues.
David Singleton is starting a new Friday Faceoff feature over at Hockey Independent.
Section 303 asks the question as to whether the Predators should claim Evgeni Nabokov off waivers.
The Nashville Business Journal has a locked article about the Predators seeking additional investors.
It was a wild game in Milwaukee on Thursday where the Ads tied the game with 39 seconds left but lost to Oklahoma City in a shootout 2-1.
Around the NHL...
The Detroit Red Wings signed Evgeni Nabokov to a one year contract last night for a reported $570,000. He will have to pass through waivers which is highly unlikely at that price.
The missed goal cal for the Avs in the game last night wasn't the only call that was questionable it appears. The Kings Terry Murry and Dean Lombardi called out the NHL war room post game for making a bad call on a Coyote goal. This will be discussed more today.
As an emergency measure, the San Jose Sharks signed Jordan White from the University of British Columbia to back up Antti Niemi in last night's game against the Canucks.
Ryan Porth and I talked Dennis Bernstein to of the Fourth Period on Tuesday and he did his best to convince us that he Kings were in trouble. Ryan writes about the upcoming critical stretch of games that will make or break this year's team.
Steve Lapore has the latest on the All-Star weekend coverage on Versus.
NBC Sunday game this week is a cup final rematch, Flyers at Chicago. In two weeks, it will be Caps and Pens on Super Bowl Sunday.
Wayne Gretzky is supportive of the NHL's actions on head shots.
Elliotte Friedman points out the issues with an automatic ejection for a shot to the head.
Tomas Fleischmann was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and is out for the season.
Kyle Wellwood returned to the NHL last night at only 180 pounds. That is no fun. He had one shot for the Sharks in a little over 11 minutes of play.
OK, this is a reversal of what we heard yesterday. From @yyzsportsmedia Being told now by multiple sources that Damien Cox, @damospin is staying put at the Toronto Star.
Odds and Ends...
Surfer Magazine has a story about the rivalry between Surfer Kelly Slater and Andy Irons who passed away unexpectedly late last year.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
In the past they have done things like going curling and bowling but the team has been tight lipped about this year's plan.
Last night's win gave the Predators control of fourth place in the West with 58 points, one point ahead of the Coyotes who beat the Kings last night to stay close.
It may be premature to start looking up in the standings but the Preds are now eight points behind the Western Conference leading Vancouver Canucks and six points behind Central Division leading Detroit.
After today's activities, the Predators will travel to Edmonton where they will play the Oilers on Sunday and then move on to Calgary to play the Flames on Monday. A Wednesday game in Vancouver finished the pre-all-star portion of the schedule.
After the break, the Predators will play 21 of their final 32 games at home. There is only one road trip longer than an overnight trip and it is only four games long.
Sports Club Stats has the Preds at the high water mark of the season with a 93.2% chance of making the playoffs. The Predators have put themselves in excellent shape for the stretch run and a couple of more wins on this trip would really solidify their position.
Predators - Avalanche Round-Up...
Here is our game story from last night.
From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, and Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats).
The story from the Colorado side comes from Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
Shameless Self Promotion...
I received an email from a new web venture called Sulia.com congratulating me for being the #2 Predators "expert" in their rankings. That was well and good and to be taken with many grains of salt, but upon further investigation, the overall list of Hockey "experts" is a really good list of folks to follow for Tweets about hockey. Click on the "Top Expert's Tab" at the top of the page to get a list of 298 Tweeters that are widely followed.
In Preds Nation...
Stunning news on the Predators' net worth, the team is worth more than $50 million. Here is the certification. The Tennessean reports that he actual value is more than the $193 million that was paid for the franchise. J.R. Lind also points out that the Predators budget was approved for the coming fiscal year with no issues.
David Singleton is starting a new Friday Faceoff feature over at Hockey Independent.
Section 303 asks the question as to whether the Predators should claim Evgeni Nabokov off waivers.
The Nashville Business Journal has a locked article about the Predators seeking additional investors.
It was a wild game in Milwaukee on Thursday where the Ads tied the game with 39 seconds left but lost to Oklahoma City in a shootout 2-1.
Around the NHL...
The Detroit Red Wings signed Evgeni Nabokov to a one year contract last night for a reported $570,000. He will have to pass through waivers which is highly unlikely at that price.
The missed goal cal for the Avs in the game last night wasn't the only call that was questionable it appears. The Kings Terry Murry and Dean Lombardi called out the NHL war room post game for making a bad call on a Coyote goal. This will be discussed more today.
As an emergency measure, the San Jose Sharks signed Jordan White from the University of British Columbia to back up Antti Niemi in last night's game against the Canucks.
Ryan Porth and I talked Dennis Bernstein to of the Fourth Period on Tuesday and he did his best to convince us that he Kings were in trouble. Ryan writes about the upcoming critical stretch of games that will make or break this year's team.
Steve Lapore has the latest on the All-Star weekend coverage on Versus.
NBC Sunday game this week is a cup final rematch, Flyers at Chicago. In two weeks, it will be Caps and Pens on Super Bowl Sunday.
Wayne Gretzky is supportive of the NHL's actions on head shots.
Elliotte Friedman points out the issues with an automatic ejection for a shot to the head.
Tomas Fleischmann was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism and is out for the season.
Kyle Wellwood returned to the NHL last night at only 180 pounds. That is no fun. He had one shot for the Sharks in a little over 11 minutes of play.
OK, this is a reversal of what we heard yesterday. From @yyzsportsmedia Being told now by multiple sources that Damien Cox, @damospin is staying put at the Toronto Star.
Odds and Ends...
Surfer Magazine has a story about the rivalry between Surfer Kelly Slater and Andy Irons who passed away unexpectedly late last year.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Predators Beat Avalanche 5-1 in Offensive Explosion
For the second game in a row the Nashville Predators scored five goals as they man-handled the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center on Thursday night in a 5-1 victory.
The Preds got goals from five different players including Sergei Kostitsyn, Cody Franson, Matt Halischuk, David Legwand, and Colin Wilson. Franson and Legwand added assists and Patric Hornqvist had two helpers for two goal games.
The lone Avalanche goal came from Matt Duchene, long after the game was decided, spoiling Pekka Rinne's shut out.
Rinne was unbelievable for the entire game. He stopped 32 of 33 Colorado shots and many of the saves were of the highlight reel variety. You could really see the disappointment when he lost the shutout after such a stellar performance. Craig Anderson stopped 23 of 28 Preds shots in taking the loss.
Coach Barry Trotz worked his bench well, rolling four lines in the mile-high altitude which resulted in an evenly spread workload for most of the team.
The Predators got on the board first at 3:15 when the Preds fook advantage of a three on two mismatch and when Marcel Goc passed to Marty Erat who gave Kostitsyn a perfect set up to score the goal and take a quick 1-0 lead.
Nashville scored again late in the period at 16:37 when David Legwand worked the puck away from the right wall and sent it to Hornqvist who fed it to Franson who nailed it from the left circle to make it 2-0 Predators.
The best play of the first period was by Rinne when he stopped a series of shots at 14:06 doing some interesting acrobatics to prevent goals on several quick scoring chances for the Avs.
The Preds out shot the Avs 9-8 and led the Corsi 17-13. The most interesting statistic of the period was the Avalanche out-hitting the Preds 11-0.
One of the more controversial no goal calls that we have seen in a while occurred after a series of four shots in a row on Rinne with the last one by Ryan Stoa at 12:49 going into the goal and bouncing back out. After an extended review, and in spite of a clear overhead picture, the officials ruled that it was not a goal.
For the period, the Avs out shot the Preds 12-7 and led the Corsi 20-16.
Just as the third period was starting at 2:05, Halischuk got his first goal as a Predator on a wrap-around from behind the net after J.P. Dumont sent the puck behind the net into a good position.
At 4:22, Legwand brought the puck down the ice on Anderson's left in an odd man situation and the Avs defender was expecting a pass to Colin Wilson, giving Legwand a clear shot to put it past Anderson from the faceoff circle to make it 4-0 Predators.
One of the most aggressive goals the Preds have scored lately came from Wilson at 9:57 when he took the puck from center ice and went through traffic and straight for the net and back-handed it past Anderson to make it 5-0.
In the final period, Colorado out shot the Preds 13-12 and led the Corsi 18-17.
The win left Nashville clearly in control of fourth place in the Western Conference with 58 points, six behind the Detroit Red Wings, the Central Division leader, and seven behind Vancouver.
The Predators will have a day off in Denver for an unspecified team building activity before heading to Edmonton for Sunday's game with the Oilers.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
The Preds got goals from five different players including Sergei Kostitsyn, Cody Franson, Matt Halischuk, David Legwand, and Colin Wilson. Franson and Legwand added assists and Patric Hornqvist had two helpers for two goal games.
The lone Avalanche goal came from Matt Duchene, long after the game was decided, spoiling Pekka Rinne's shut out.
Rinne was unbelievable for the entire game. He stopped 32 of 33 Colorado shots and many of the saves were of the highlight reel variety. You could really see the disappointment when he lost the shutout after such a stellar performance. Craig Anderson stopped 23 of 28 Preds shots in taking the loss.
Coach Barry Trotz worked his bench well, rolling four lines in the mile-high altitude which resulted in an evenly spread workload for most of the team.
The Predators got on the board first at 3:15 when the Preds fook advantage of a three on two mismatch and when Marcel Goc passed to Marty Erat who gave Kostitsyn a perfect set up to score the goal and take a quick 1-0 lead.
Nashville scored again late in the period at 16:37 when David Legwand worked the puck away from the right wall and sent it to Hornqvist who fed it to Franson who nailed it from the left circle to make it 2-0 Predators.
The best play of the first period was by Rinne when he stopped a series of shots at 14:06 doing some interesting acrobatics to prevent goals on several quick scoring chances for the Avs.
The Preds out shot the Avs 9-8 and led the Corsi 17-13. The most interesting statistic of the period was the Avalanche out-hitting the Preds 11-0.
One of the more controversial no goal calls that we have seen in a while occurred after a series of four shots in a row on Rinne with the last one by Ryan Stoa at 12:49 going into the goal and bouncing back out. After an extended review, and in spite of a clear overhead picture, the officials ruled that it was not a goal.
For the period, the Avs out shot the Preds 12-7 and led the Corsi 20-16.
Just as the third period was starting at 2:05, Halischuk got his first goal as a Predator on a wrap-around from behind the net after J.P. Dumont sent the puck behind the net into a good position.
At 4:22, Legwand brought the puck down the ice on Anderson's left in an odd man situation and the Avs defender was expecting a pass to Colin Wilson, giving Legwand a clear shot to put it past Anderson from the faceoff circle to make it 4-0 Predators.
One of the most aggressive goals the Preds have scored lately came from Wilson at 9:57 when he took the puck from center ice and went through traffic and straight for the net and back-handed it past Anderson to make it 5-0.
In the final period, Colorado out shot the Preds 13-12 and led the Corsi 18-17.
The win left Nashville clearly in control of fourth place in the Western Conference with 58 points, six behind the Detroit Red Wings, the Central Division leader, and seven behind Vancouver.
The Predators will have a day off in Denver for an unspecified team building activity before heading to Edmonton for Sunday's game with the Oilers.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass
Predators Head for the Rockies to Face the Avalanche and Thursday Thoughts
The Nashville Predators (25-15-6) are in Denver, ready to face the Colorado Avalanche (24-16-6) and defend their fourth place ranking in the Western Conference standings.
Entering the game, the Predators are in fourth place with 56 points. The Avs are two points back in seventh with 54 points but could move ahead of the Preds with a regulation win even with identical records based on the number of non shoot-out wins.
Both teams are playing well at this juncture. The Predators have won eight of their last ten games and the Avalanche have won three of their last four contests.
Strangely enough, the Preds and Avs have not met this season. Last year, the season series was over by February 4th with the Preds taking three out of four games.
Pekka Rinne (15-11-4, 2.13, .928) should be in net for the Predators and Adrian Dater confirms that Craig Anderson (13-9-3, 2.98, .906) will be between the pipes for the Avalanche.
After Tuesday's hat trick J. P. Dumont was realistic about the rest of the season, "It's going to be a battle to the end, we all know that. It's been that way the last few years. You look at the standings and you lose three in a row and you can be 11th or 12th. We lost a big two points in Chicago when we were up 3-2. We learned from our mistake last time and got a big two points." (Thanks to Anthony Perez for the Audio)
The Predators are hoping for the return of Marek Svatos and Francis Bouillon. There was no word yesterday from the Preds' camp as to whether they would be ready for tonight's match with the Avs.
Mattherw Lombardi, Steve Sullivan and Cal O'Reilly are out for the Predators while Cal's brother Ryan who is a key member of the Avs is also out with a shoulder injury.
I'm looking forward to following tonight's game with the Avs via @adater's Tweets, especially if Preds are winning. I can't wait to see the patented "worst team ever" tweet from Dater.
After the game, the Predators will be half way through the six game road trip and will not play again until Sunday. It's rare for the Preds to be off on both a Friday and a Saturday, especially on the road.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com.
For news from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Pred Nation...
I am absolutely crushed with the word from Jim Diamond that due to an injury to astronaut Tim Copra, Pekka Rinne's jersey may not fly on the space shuttle's next mission as scheduled.
Josh Cooper has great things to say about J.P. Dumont after his five goal in two game outburst.
Being the jersey hound that he is, Jeremy Gover has the latest on how the All-Star merchandise will work with the teams not being chosen until next Saturday.
Mark Willoughby has the story on GnashVegas.
Tom Callahan looks at teams 8-15 in the Western Conference and discusses what is needed for a playoff push.
Dirk Hoag has proof that J.P. Dumont shoots more than you would expect. He was also up early this morning with his Breakfast Links and more.
Our friend Jeff Marek from the CBC and Shea Weber were on last night's SlapShot Radio. Here is the podcast.
Jas Faulkner has her weekly Greetings from Smashville column at the Hockey Writers.
From @predsradio: fun fact: the only hat to hit the ice last night for J-P Dumont belonged to... Anders Lindback.
If you want a pair of free tickets to a Preds game, then go test drive a Toyota.
The Milwaukee Admirals have back to back home games tonight and Friday against Oklahoma City and San Antonio. Two tickets to the Bears-Pacjers game as well as 5000 Darren Pang bobble-heads will be given away tomorrow night.
Around the NHL...
Marian Gaborik had a rare four goal night in the Rangers 7-0 annihilation of the Leafs last night at MSG.
Daniel Briere replaced Jerome Igninla for the All-Star game due to his being excused due to his grandmother's failing health. That's one snub resolved.
Details are out on the format for the SuperSkills Competition.
TSN takes a look at how the picks could be made in the All-Star draft.
Ryan Porth is thinking out loud again. He also figures the final standings based on the current points per game.
Steve Lapore has news about the NBC Comcast merger as well as about coverage of Hockey Day in America.
This was interesting from @simmonssteve: More media transactions: Damien Cox has resigned from The Star (effective April) to join TSN full time. Cox has a penchant for stirring the pot among his readership so it will be interesting to see how that translates to TSN.
Odds and Ends...
Ricky Gervais may indeed appear on the US version of The Office sometime in an upcoming episode.
Interesting situation at Mississippi State where a cheerleader posed nude for Playboy prior to becoming a cheerleader.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
Entering the game, the Predators are in fourth place with 56 points. The Avs are two points back in seventh with 54 points but could move ahead of the Preds with a regulation win even with identical records based on the number of non shoot-out wins.
Both teams are playing well at this juncture. The Predators have won eight of their last ten games and the Avalanche have won three of their last four contests.
Strangely enough, the Preds and Avs have not met this season. Last year, the season series was over by February 4th with the Preds taking three out of four games.
Pekka Rinne (15-11-4, 2.13, .928) should be in net for the Predators and Adrian Dater confirms that Craig Anderson (13-9-3, 2.98, .906) will be between the pipes for the Avalanche.
After Tuesday's hat trick J. P. Dumont was realistic about the rest of the season, "It's going to be a battle to the end, we all know that. It's been that way the last few years. You look at the standings and you lose three in a row and you can be 11th or 12th. We lost a big two points in Chicago when we were up 3-2. We learned from our mistake last time and got a big two points." (Thanks to Anthony Perez for the Audio)
The Predators are hoping for the return of Marek Svatos and Francis Bouillon. There was no word yesterday from the Preds' camp as to whether they would be ready for tonight's match with the Avs.
Mattherw Lombardi, Steve Sullivan and Cal O'Reilly are out for the Predators while Cal's brother Ryan who is a key member of the Avs is also out with a shoulder injury.
I'm looking forward to following tonight's game with the Avs via @adater's Tweets, especially if Preds are winning. I can't wait to see the patented "worst team ever" tweet from Dater.
After the game, the Predators will be half way through the six game road trip and will not play again until Sunday. It's rare for the Preds to be off on both a Friday and a Saturday, especially on the road.
Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean, Hockey Night in Nashville, and Predators.com.
For news from Denver check out Adrian Dater, Aaron Musick, Mile High Hockey, The Avalanche Guild, Jibblescribbits, and AvsHockeyPodcast.
In Pred Nation...
I am absolutely crushed with the word from Jim Diamond that due to an injury to astronaut Tim Copra, Pekka Rinne's jersey may not fly on the space shuttle's next mission as scheduled.
Josh Cooper has great things to say about J.P. Dumont after his five goal in two game outburst.
Being the jersey hound that he is, Jeremy Gover has the latest on how the All-Star merchandise will work with the teams not being chosen until next Saturday.
Mark Willoughby has the story on GnashVegas.
Tom Callahan looks at teams 8-15 in the Western Conference and discusses what is needed for a playoff push.
Dirk Hoag has proof that J.P. Dumont shoots more than you would expect. He was also up early this morning with his Breakfast Links and more.
Our friend Jeff Marek from the CBC and Shea Weber were on last night's SlapShot Radio. Here is the podcast.
Jas Faulkner has her weekly Greetings from Smashville column at the Hockey Writers.
From @predsradio: fun fact: the only hat to hit the ice last night for J-P Dumont belonged to... Anders Lindback.
If you want a pair of free tickets to a Preds game, then go test drive a Toyota.
The Milwaukee Admirals have back to back home games tonight and Friday against Oklahoma City and San Antonio. Two tickets to the Bears-Pacjers game as well as 5000 Darren Pang bobble-heads will be given away tomorrow night.
Around the NHL...
Marian Gaborik had a rare four goal night in the Rangers 7-0 annihilation of the Leafs last night at MSG.
Daniel Briere replaced Jerome Igninla for the All-Star game due to his being excused due to his grandmother's failing health. That's one snub resolved.
Details are out on the format for the SuperSkills Competition.
TSN takes a look at how the picks could be made in the All-Star draft.
Ryan Porth is thinking out loud again. He also figures the final standings based on the current points per game.
Steve Lapore has news about the NBC Comcast merger as well as about coverage of Hockey Day in America.
This was interesting from @simmonssteve: More media transactions: Damien Cox has resigned from The Star (effective April) to join TSN full time. Cox has a penchant for stirring the pot among his readership so it will be interesting to see how that translates to TSN.
Odds and Ends...
Ricky Gervais may indeed appear on the US version of The Office sometime in an upcoming episode.
Interesting situation at Mississippi State where a cheerleader posed nude for Playboy prior to becoming a cheerleader.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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