Predators Learn From Thursday's Mistakes and Move Forward and Monday Round-Up

After Thursday's 5-4 win over Anaheim, Coach Barry Trotz was as animated as he has ever been in showing his disappointment in spite of a victory. The Predators almost blew a 5-1 third period lead and the coach was not happy.

Forty-eight hours later, things appeared to have been put in a more even perspective by the players and the coach.

After Saturdays, huge 4-2 win over Dallas I asked several player and Trotz what effect the lessons learned in the prior game had on the team's performance.

Pekka Rinne had a positive response, "It almost felt like for a bit that we had won the game against Anaheim but it left a bitter taste in your mouth and you don't want to finish a game like that. We talked about it and coach talked about it and I think we were much better prepared tonight."

Ryan Suter said, "He (Trotz) didn't say much, it was more we knew we didn't play well and everyone says he ripped you guys. For us we knew we let them get too close and we knew we made mistakes. I think it was more us realizing."

David Legwand downplayed the incident, "It was good. I don't know if he (Trotz) was too upset. He might have been a little disappointed but I think if that happens again, something that doesn't happen too often in a guys career, a chance to get a hat trick. We tried to feed him, it was still a two goal lead. When it was a one goal lead, we hunkered down and they didn't get the zone for the last 35 seconds so it was something we tried to do for Sergei and it's over and done with.

Barry Trotz explained his view on the response, "We're getting close to going where we want to go, the post season. You want to make sure you are detailed. You want to make sure that you learn that lesson. You want to make sure that it doesn't happen again, and you want to make sure every second, every inch, every play could be the difference in winning and losing and play with that detail and focus and also play with that composure that you need to play in that situation and tonight that was a good response to the way we played the other night in the third."

In the end, it appears that the Predators were able to get two points on Thursday, regroup, and apply what the learned from the experience and produce a critical win against Dallas on Saturday.

The Predators' next game will be tomorrow night against the President's Trophy leading Vancouver Canucks at the Bridgestone Arena at 7 p.m. Hopefully, the lessons learned last week will continue to show dividends.

Preds-Stars Round Up...

Here is our game story from Saturday night with postgame video.

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

Jim Diamond touches on the Stars' fluke goal.

David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.

From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advanced stats), Jeremy Gover, Paul McCann, Predatorial, Fang Factions, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.

The other side of the story can be found at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN Dallas, the Star-Telegram, The Dallas Stars Blog, and Defending Big D.

Audio clips from the Predators include Mike Fisher, Patric Hornqvist, Ryan Suter, and Pekka Rinne. Clips from the Dallas dressing room include Coach Marc Crawford, Brad Richards, and Brendan Morrow.

In Preds Nation...

Amanda DiPaolo spills the beans on Mike Fisher's health and the productive path that lays ahead.

David Boclair makes the case that the last two came were the biggest of the season.

Kevin Allen thinks that this may be the year for the Predators in the playoffs and thinks Pekka Rinne is the best goalie in the Western Conference.

Mark Willoughby has a thoughtful piece on Passion or Poison and looks at some of the bitterness in rivalries and what is driving it.

Robby at HNIN looks at concussions and how prevalent they have been this season.

The Milwaukee Admirals lost 3-2 in overtime on Saturday in Atte Engren's North American debut. Last night, the Ads cut their magic number to two with a 2-1 win over San Antonio.

With Sunday's win, the Admirals became the first team in AHL history to have 40 wins and 90 points in eight consecutive seasons.

Vanderbilt won the inaugural I-40 faceoff on Saturday 6-2 as each tram took a different approach to the game.

Around the NHL...

It was a horrible weekend for the Los Angeles Kings with Anze Kopitar going down with a broken ankle and the Red Wings got a scare when Jimmy Howard had to leave the ice on Saturday.

Dan Hamhuis had to leave the Canucks game with Columbus yesterday with what is being reported as another concussion. It is too bad that he will miss another game against the Preds on Tuesday.

Ryan Porth met up with Alex Goligoski on Saturday and talked about his experience in Dallas.

Andre Delsol went over the hump yesterday on his 30 cities in 29 days. His post about Tampa and the challenges on the trip is really interesting.

Patrick Hoffman has a tale of two seasons for Craig Anderson who gave up some hard luck goals in Atlanta yesterday in Ottawa's 5-4 shoot out loss.

Over the weekend I found a new Twitter account called @NHLMedia that has several lists broken down by conference featuring the best of NHL MSM and Blog Twitter accounts. This would be a good starting place for a fan new to Twitter looking for folks to follow.

Ken Campbell looks at Jordan Subban and wonders if he will eventually be better than his older brother P.K.

According to a report, it appears that Marc Savard's concussion problems have gotten worse.

Odds and Ends...

The New York Times has the most complete expose on Festival Tennessee with supporting documentation put together in one place to date.

ESPN has a nice feature on the worlds greatest surfer, Kelly Slater.

Here is a list of 15 places to travel with your kids before they are 15.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Make Statement With 4-2 Win over Dallas

The Nashville Predators regained their focus and played a full sixty minute two-way game in route to a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night at the Bridgestone Arena in front of a a very loud 16,892 fans. It was the Predators sixth win in a row.

After slipping up on Thursday against Anaheim in the final period and almost squandering a 5-1 lead, Barry Trotz made it clear to the team that their play was unacceptable and appeared to regain their attention.

"It almost felt like for a bit that we had won the game against Anaheim but it left a bitter taste in your mouth and you don't want to finish a game like that. We talked about it and coach talked about it and I think we were much better prepared tonight," explained Pekka Rinne.

The Predators got two goals from both Mike Fisher and David Legwand while the Stars' offense came from Alex Goligoski and Brendan Morrow.

It was a relief for Fisher to get on the board as he had not scored a goal since February 27 and only has had three goals in his 20 games as a Predator. "It felt good to finally get a couple. It's been a tough slide here lately, but it's good to help out."

Rinne was solid in net stopping 28 of 30 Dallas shots. Kari Lehtonen suffered the loss giving up three goals on 31 shots faced.

Dallas got on the board first at 8:49 when Goligoski took a cross ice feed from Loui Eriksson and put it past Rinne for a power play goal. Sergei Kostitsyn high sticked Thomas Vincour to give the Stars the man advantage opportunity.

The Preds came back to tie the game 1-1 at 14:26 when Marty Erat passed the puck from behind the net and Lehtonen deflected it to Legwand in the slot. Legwand sent it back and forced it between the post and Lehtonen.

For the period the Preds out shot the stars 11-9 and led the Corsi 18-16. Faceoffs were 10-8 in favor of the Preds and Nashville out hit Dallas 12-3.

The Predators came out hard in the second period and at 2:33 Patrick Hornqvist passed to Fisher who buried the puck past Lehtonen from the left face off circle.

At 4:07, after a missed call where Shea Weber was tripped at the blue line, Dallas got a real fluky goal where a deflected puck floated in the air and landed on Rinne's head and fell behind him into the net. Morrow was credited with the goal.

Rinne explained, "I felt it hit the back of my mask and knew right away that it was in. Obviously, it was bad luck, but that's part of the game."

The Preds came back at 9:57 to go ahead 3-2 on Fisher's second goal of the evening. Fisher took a pass from Ryan Suter and skated across the crease and backhanded the puck into the net catching Lehtonen completely by surprise.

At 13:59 tensions flared as Shane O'Brien pushed Brenden Morrow who retaliated and plenty of shoving ensued and both were sent to the box with offsetting roughing calls.

For the second period Nashville out shot Dallas 11-9 and led the Corsi 19-16. The Preds also led on faceoffs 13-4 in the middle stanza.

The Predators played well in the final period. Ryan Suter took a questionable hooking call with two minutes left in the game that put Dallas on the power play and created tension in the closing moments of the game. The outcome of the game was still in doubt until Legwand nailed the empty netter with four seconds remaining.

Dallas out shot the Preds 12-10 in the final period as they were playing desperate hockey trying not to fall further out of the top eight than they already were.

Trotz was pleased with wins in back to back games against the two teams chasing them in the standings, "Arguably, these past two games have been the biggest games of the year. They've given us a little breathing room, but we've sill got to win some more games."

He emphasized that it was a team victory, "I give a lot of credit to everybody. They find ways to contribute. If it's not on the score sheet, they're blocking shots, being strong on the wall, giving you good energy shifts when the momentum's starting to swing."

With the victory, the Predators moved to 92 points and are only a point out of fourth place. They are also only five behind division leading Detroit who they play at home next Saturday night.

The Predators will take Sunday off and then prepare to face the President Cup leading Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday at the Bridgestone Arena.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass

Did the Predators Learn From Thursday's Near Loss and Saturday Round-Up

I have a feeling that Thursday's melt down and near loss to Anaheim that was followed by the tongue-lashing from Barry Trotz may be just what the doctor ordered as the Nashville Predators (40-25-10) prepare to go against the Dallas Stars (38-25-10) tonight at the Bridgestone Arena at 7 p.m.

The Preds have now won five in a row and are playing a desperate Dallas team in a game that the Stars simply have to win. They are on the outside looking in in ninth place with 86 points and travel to Phoenix, San Jose, LA, and Anaheim after tonight's game.

Dallas suffered a devastating overtime loss to Anaheim in their last game on Wednesday and their season hangs in the balance with no room for error.

Had the Predators played as they should have in the third period on Thursday against the Ducks and had an easy 5-1 win, there is no way that they would be as focused as they are now after getting called out by Trotz. If they aren't ready to hit the ice running tonight they never will be.

Trotz made it real clear what he expects, "That's the message. Manage the game, Do it right. Do it for 60 Minutes." I hope that is etched on the brain of all 20 Predators that dress tonight.

The Preds and Stars have met three times this season. On October 23, the Preds won 1-0 in Dallas when the team was still undefeated. On December 28 the Preds stunk up the Bridgestone Arena in a 4-2 loss, and the Predators let the Stars come from behind and lost 3-2 in Dallas on February 26.

Pekka Rinne (29-20-8, 2.10, .929) will be in goal for the Predators and Kari Lehtonen (30-20-10, 2.57, .915) will lead the Stars in net.

My bet is that he Predators will really clamp down on defense and will move away from some of the free-wheeling style on offense of the last few games. A 2-1, 1-0 or overtime game is probably the best guess heading into tonight's action.

The Predators will not play again until they face the President's trophy leading Vancouver Canuck at home on Tuesday so these two points tonight are criticize for the team to maintain their position in the top eight.

Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Marc Torrence, Predatorial, Paul McCann, The Tennessean, Patten Fuqua, and Predators.com.

The other side of the Star-Preds game previews can be found at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN Dallas, the Star-Telegram, The Dallas Stars Blog, and Defending Big D.

Note from @PredsNHL: Support the #Preds Foundation & Monroe Harding by bringing household supplies to tomorrow's game & get a discount tix offer to a future game

In Preds Nation...

Bryan Mullen says that Blake Geoffrion is gaining confidence and that he team's focus is now on finishing teams off.

Dirk Hoag takes the Preds to task for too much playing around at a crucial time.

Jeremy Gover asks "Can the Preds Catch the Wings?

Puck and Punk takes a look at a wide variety of Predators logo products.

Pro Hockey Talk named Ryan Suter's soccer-style goal on Pekka Rinne as the goal of the night on Thursday.

Barry Trotz spoke to Pierre LeBrun on Friday and he was still hot.

Mark Willoughby has his weekly "My View" and explains the difference between bonds and men.

It looks like Bloguin has a new Preds blog called Fang Faction. Welcome to the blogosphere!

The Milwaukee Admirals beat the Chicago Wolves 4-2 last night. They also note that Atte Engren will start tonight against Rockford.

Around the NHL...

James Mirtle has the list of man-games lost per team in the NHL this year. It is a really interesting study on a lot of levels.

Joe Sakic has taken a job with the Avalanche.

Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside face off over the Western Conference playoff race.

Ryan Porth has his latest edition of Trophy Tracker. There's a surprise in the mix for Vezina.

Justin Bourne looks at four teams that are better than their seeding should they make the playoffs. In a separate Tweet, he said the Predators would have been fifth on the list.

James Reimer has been a huge surprise in Toronto. Adrian Dater has a profile.

Is the best coaching yet to come for Ron Wilson in Toronto?

Steve Lapore is looking at bottom dwellers that are causing trouble for playoff teams down the stretch.

Patrick Hoffman gives credit to the college game at RLD.

After Glendale put up a Q and A, Goldwater responds with a dozen questions of their own. I can't imagine what it would have been like if the Predators current owners had not saved the team from Jim Balsillie. Preds fans should thank them every game when they see the local owners in the hall at games.

Interesting rating statistic on Thursday's Habs-Bruins showdown from @NHLschuylerb: Last night’s Bruins win over MTL is the highest rated regular season game in NESN's 27 year history covering the Bruins. Rating was 6.6

Odds and Ends...

After getting mixed messages late Thursday night, we see where Will Ferrell is not the permanent replacement on The Office.

Google Analytics is rolling out a new dashboard and other features.

Here is an interesting mix of online music.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass

Predators' Slide Continues With A 3-2 Loss in Dallas

When you are on a losing streak you will never get the breaks or the calls and that proved true again on Saturday when the Dallas Stars beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 at American Airlines Center.

Dallas came back from a 2-1 deficit with two goals in the final period to win their second game in a row after a five game losing streak. The Stars got goals from Tom Wandell, Alex Goligoski, and Loui Eriksson while the Preds got markers from Ryan Suter and Colin Wilson.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 25 of 27 Predator shots to claim the win while Pekka Rinne was the hard luck loser allowing three goals on 25 Stars' shots.

The opening period was like so many that the Preds have seen recently with plenty of wide open play and questionable defense at times. Wandell opened the scoring on a two on one breakaway at 18:06 after a turnover at the end of a Preds' man advantage to give the Stars a 2-0 lead.

The Predators led the shot count in the first 12-11 and the Corsi 24-21. Dallas had more scoring chances than the Preds but Rinne made several key saves to keep the game close.

The Predators had a better second period with a pair of goals off of rebounds in the dirty area in front of the net. AT 5:00, Suter got his first goal in 27 games of a rebound from a David Legwand shot.

Wilson got a goal off of another Legwand shot rebound at 13:32 when he made a play that left him sprawled out on the ice and put the Preds ahead 2-1 to end the period.

In the middle period, the Predators out shot Dallas 8-5 and led the Corsi 24-14 and did a much better job of controlling the flow of the game.

The Predators got an unfortunate break in the third period at 6:02 when Goligoski flipped a wrister from the blue line that glanced off Jon Blum and then took an odd bounce off the ice and jumped past a startled Rinne to tie the game 2-2.

After a boarding penalty on Shea Weber at 15:12, Dallas made a great play on the rush after a botched Predator short-handed rush. Goligoski fired an easy shot wide of the net that Eriksson redirected into the net at 16:18 for the game-winning goal in a Dallas a 3-2 victory.

Barry Trotz called a time out with a minute left in the game and the Preds played with an extra skater and even drew a penalty with eight seconds left but could not score in spite of a feverish effort. In the final period, Dallas out shot Nashville 9-7 and led the Corsi 19-16.

Blake Geoffrion made his NHL debut and saw limited duty, skating nine shifts in 5:14 minutes of play. He was 0-3 in the face off circle and was officially credited with a take away and had a shot blocked.

Matt Halischuk played less than Geoffrion with seven shifts and 4:20 of action in his first game back with Nashville.

The loss extends the Predators current losing streak to four games as they remain in tenth place in the Western Conference with 70 points.

The Predators returned home immediately after the game and will face the Columbus Blue Jackets at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Bridgestone Arena. The Jackets are two points behind the Preds and could move past Nashville with a regulation win.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Clash of Struggling Teams in Dallas and Saturday Round-Up

The Nashville Predators (31-22-8) are in Dallas today for an early afternoon game with the Stars (32-23-6). Both have 70 points and are in ninth and tenth place in the Western Conference.

Neither team is playing well with Dallas going 2-7-1 in their last ten and the Preds going 4-5-1 which includes the current three game losing streak.

The Preds and Stars have met twice this season. On October 23, the Preds won 1-0 in Dallas when the team was still undefeated. On December 28 the Preds stunk up the Bridgestone Arena in a 4-2 loss.

With all the roster changes that the Preds made in the last couple of days, it will be a new look team on the ice for the Preds which couldn't hurt at this point. Gone are Marek Svatos, Wade Belak, Alexander Sulzer, and Steve Sullivan.

Blake Geoffrion will become the first Tennessean in the NHL and the first fourth generation NHLer to play when his skate touches the ice in Dallas. Matt Halischuk will return to the Preds also after playing eleven games earlier this season.

Kari Lehtonen (24-18-6, 2.62, .918) will be in net for the stars while Pekka Rinne (21-17-6, 2.14, .928) will go again for Nashville.

Just who are the Predators? Are they the team that played a flawless game against Vancouver nine days ago or the no show squad that played in Columbus on Tuesday. Maybe we will get some answers today as to which Predator team we will see for the final 21 games of the season.

The Preds head home after the game for a 2 p.m. game against Columbus tomorrow at Bridgestone Arena.

A pair of losses this weekend and the Preds could go from desperate buyers needing to overpay for marginal talent to possible sellers to other more desperate teams. The next fifty hours should be interesting.

Other previews come from Predlines, Chris Burton, The Tennessean and Predators.com.

The other side of the Star-Preds game previews can be found at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN Dallas, the Star-Telegram, The Dallas Stars Blog, and Defending Big D.

In Pred Nation...

Josh Cooper spoke with Blake Geoffrion and also has notes from the crazy day in Predland yesterday.

Bryan Mullen discusses the Predators feeling the playoff pressure.

NHL.com confirms that Blake Geoffrion is the first fourth generation NHLer.

David Singleton asks "What the Hell?" in his Friday Face-off.

Mark Willoughby has a scary picture from a gas station in his weekly "My View."

The Milwaukee Admirals struggled for offense with out Blake Geoffrion and Matt Halischuk in losing 2-1 to Chicago.

Rachel from What the Puck has a hockey themed scene from The Office.

Around the NHL...

Adrian Dater's expose on Eklund at Sports Illustrated raised a ton of venom on Twitter yesterday afternoon. I thought that it was well done and fairly balanced whether you like Eklund or not.

Ryan Porth has five things to watch over trade deadline weekend as well as his trophy tracker. We hashed over the trophies Thursday waiting out the rain and it is a solid list.

Matt Calvert had a natural hat trick in route to a 5-3 Columbus win over Phoenix.

Nick Cotsonika looks at the reasons for all the early trade frenzy this year.

The Wall Street Journal looks at NHL millionaires stashed in the minors.

Our friend (and editor at Inside Hockey) Tim Rosenthal, celebrates his 25th birthday with 25 items. Happy Birthday Tim.

It never seems to end in Phoenix as the Goldwater group appears to be holding up the bond sale with a threat of a lawsuit. Scott Burnside has more on the looming ramifications of the slow sale.

Mike Modano is expected to return in the Wings game at Buffalo tonight.

The power of Twitter strikes again as James Mirtle tells the story of Joffrey Lupol's quest to retrieve a lost cell phone.

Odds and Ends...

For Motorola Android geeks, here is a new little widget that is free and give battery life in a true percentage figure and not just in blocks of 10%.

Chris Brogan has his latest version of Social Media Etiquette.

Here is a piece on how journalist use metrics to track who is reading what.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Who Angered the Hockey Gods in Nashville and Wednesday Wrap-Up

I was really surprised that there was no mention of the "hockey gods" by anyone in post game interviews after the Predators' 4-2 loss to Dallas last night at the Bridgestone Arena.

It was a game where Nashville clearly outplayed Dallas, yet had nothing to show for the effort. The Preds could have easily had five or six goals and should have not had defensive lapses that allowed three unanswered goals by Dallas in the third period.

The sold out crowd was as supportive and as loud as it has been in some time and surprisingly did not diminish its intensity when the Predators fell behind in the game.

Patric Hornqvist's record setting fourteen shots on goal truly was astounding. Every shot attempt that he had in the game was on net. He had none that were credited as a "miss" or even blocked.

The Predators remain mired at the 40 point mark in the standings as they fell to tenth place in the Western Conference with Phoenix and Columbus only a point behind them.

Their next game is on Friday in Minnesota where they suffered an ugly loss on Black Friday last month. After a home game against Columbus on Sunday, the Predators play ten of their next twelve games in January on the road so things will not come easy in the new month.

Preds-Stars Round-Up...

Here is our game story from last night with post game video.

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

David Boclair has his story at The City Paper.

From the blog world reports come from Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Dirk Hoag (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, Fang Finger Fever, and Hockey Night in Nashville.

The other side of the Star-Preds game previews can be found at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN Dallas, the Star-Telegram, The Dallas Stars Blog, and Defending Big D.

HockeyFights.com has the Belak-Barch fight as well as the O'Brien-Ott tussle from last night's game.

The Predators supplied audio clips from Colin Wilson and Shea Weber. Dallas clips come from Coach Marc Craford, Stephane Robidas, and Part 1 and Part 2 from Andrew Raycroft.

In Pred Nation...

The best story to come out of last nights game was Chris Mueller's NHL debut as told by Jim Diamond who talked to the whole family.

Josh Cooper also caught up with Chris Mueller yesterday and also talked to a couple of players about Jordin Tootoo's absence.

Paul McCann looks at all the Pred's troubles at HockeyBuzz.

Jeremy Gover poses the question as to whether the Predators would benefit from going after Niclas Bergfors if he is available for a draft pick or a prospect.

Robby at Hockey Night in Nashville is ready to give Paul Kariya a call to see if he wants to come play for the Preds again.

The Milwaukee Admirals lost to Rockford 4-1 last night. It was not Mark Dekanich's best game as his record fell to 12-4-0.

Winter Classic...

The Pens' alumni are getting ready to take the ice on Friday as a prelude to the Winter Classic.

Ryan Porth has the weather speculation at the Red Light District.

Matt Reitz has an open letter to Mother Nature on behalf of hockey fans everywhere begging for a window of good weather for Saturday's game in Pittsburgh.

For a good preview of Saturday's Winter Classic, check out RLD Hockey Radio from yesterday where Ryan had USA Today's Kevin Allen and Brian Metzer of From the Point as guests. Click on the following player to listen.

Listen to internet radio with Ryan Porth on Blog Talk Radio

Here's what can happen 24/7 style when two kids fight over one ticket to the Winter Classic.

World Juniors...

Predator prospects Ryan Ellis and Patrick Cehlin continue to lead their respective teams through two games at the World Juniors.

Finland 4, Switzerland 0
Canada 7, Czech Republic 2
Sweden 2, Russia 0
United States 6, Slovakia 1

Today's Schedule

2:30 Germany - Finland
6:30 Canada - Norway

Many Canadians got stuck in a huge traffic jam trying to cross the border you yesterday's Team Canada match with the Czech's.

Around the NHL...

Big news yesterday was the forced resignation of GM Darryl Sutter in Calgary. He was replaced by Jay Feaster who took over immediately as the "interim" GM. It will be interesting to see where the dominoes fall withing the organization going forward.

Sidney Crosby extended his point streak to 25 games with two goals and two assists in the Pens 6-3 win over Atlanta last night. Pittsburgh plays the Islanders tonight in their last game before the Winter Classic.

Ducks Captain Ryan Getzlaf took a puck to the face in a really scary injury.

Now, Jonathan Toews is out with an injury in Patrick Kane's first game back.

The hapless New York Islanders traded their leading point man, James Wisniewski to Montreal for a pair of draft picks. Go figure. They would now be well under the floor of the salary cap except for contractual obligation to players who no longer are on their roster.

The Canucks beat Philadelphia in Vancouver for the first time in 22 years last night. That has to be one of the longest streaks in hockey to be broken this season.

Ken Campbell has five puzzling thoughts about hockey at The Hockey News.

Odds and Ends...

This is one of the best testimonials for organ donation that I've seen. A young lady was killed in an auto accident in Arizona and gave organs to seven different folks in need.

Here's one person's opinion of the ten best social apps of 2010.

Here is the new "Honeycomb" music player for the Android platform.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Stars Rally To Beat Predators 4-2

The Dallas Stars came from behind with three third period goals to defeat the Nashville Predators 4-2 in front of a raucous crowd at a sold out Bridgestone Arena.

Dallas got goals from Steve Ott, Loui Eriksson, Krystofer Barch, and the game winner from Mark Fistric, while all the Predators offense was supplied by Colin Wilson's first two goal effort in his NHL career.

It was a game where the Predators clearly outplayed the Stars in most statistical categories as they tried to snap a four game losing streak but it didn't matter as the only statistic that counted was on the scoreboard. Nashville out shot the Stars 46-25 and threw up an amazing 77 Corsi number at the Stars but still could not break into the win column.

Barry Trotz was obviously frustrated with the result, "To me we were really good the first two periods. According to our count, we had 30 scoring chances to their seven and we're sitting there 1-1. Obviously, you get the goal early and go up 2-1."

"We talk about it all the time, it is all about momentum and that next shift is critical. They made a play through to Eriksson and got it tied up. I thought they were a team hanging on the first two periods and then that second goal gave them a lot of momentum."

"It is obviously very disappointing, but we did so many good things. Other than the response after we got ahead, if we had responded a little better, I think we win the hockey game. To me, that shift turned the game around."

The Predators seemed to remain competitive halfway into the third period until back to back Dallas goals ended the contest for all intents and purposes.

Trotz pointed to the third goal as the difference maker, "The second goal was a little deflating but the third goal was really deflating because we had them on the ropes all game."

Dallas back-up netminder Andrew Raycroft was outstanding in net, stopping 44 of 46 Predator shots, including many where he was on his own. Pekka Rinne, stopped 21 of 25 Stars shots and was clearly frustrated after the game.

The game got off to an exciting start at 2:09 in the first period when Wade Belak was called for interference on Stephane Robidas. Barch took exception and threw a few fisticuffs with Belak, who ended up with his first penalty minutes of the season.

On the resulting Dallas power play, Raycroft was caught out of the goal and the Predators had two shots on Robidas who was scrambling to cover the net. The Stars had an excellent scoring chance at 9:34 when back to back shots on Rinne were stopped by the slimmest of margins.

Both teams played spirited hockey and had several scoring chances for the remainder of the opening period as the Preds out shot the Stars 16-8 and led the Corsi 28-10. The Preds continued with recent issues in the face off circle as they only won four draws out of fifteen.

Dallas was the first to get on the board at 4:39 in the second period when Eriksson skated from left to right in front of the Preds' net and sent a perfect back-handed pass back across to to the left to Ott who had a open net to put the Stars up 1-0. Rinne followed the puck and there was little that he could have done to prevent the goal.

Shane O'Brien and Adam Burish mixed it up in front of the Dallas net at 5:36 and matching unsportsmanlike conduct penalties to lead to four on four play. Before those penalties expired Trevor Daley was called for interference on Kevin Klein but the Preds were unable to capitalize on the 1:45 of man advantage.

Play continued at a brisk, aggressive pace through the middle of the second period. More brawling occurred at 17:42 when Ott was called for slashing and he and Shane O'Brien squared off behind the Preds' net.

The Predators were able to convert on the resulting power play at 19:00 when Wilson picked up a loose puck in front of the Dallas net and lifted it past Raycroft to tie the game 1-1.

Again, the Predators out shot Dallas 18-7 for the period and dominated the Corsi 27-11. The Preds improved in the faceoff circle winning 12 of 22 chances.

Before fans settled back into their seats, 32 seconds into the third period, Wilson struck again with his second goal of the game on a breakaway that started on a blocked shot by Jerred Smithson at the far end of the ice.

The Preds could not hold the lead as they got caught behind the puck on a Dallas breakaway at 1:44 when Jamie Benn the puck to Eriksson who put it past Rinne from the slot to tie the game 2-2.

The Stars retook the lead at 8:18 on an unassisted goal credited to Fistric that may have been tipped by O'Brien prior to reaching the net. At 10:05, Dallas quickly struck again on when Barch picked up a rebound in front of the net and put it past Rinne to make it 4-2 Stars as things deteriorated quickly for the Predators.

Nashville had several more chances down the stretch but could not convert. The Predators out shot the Stars 12-10 in the final period and continued to pound the puck as they continued with the Corsi advantage 22-15.

Colin Wilson was pleased with his two goal effort but realized that that was not what the team was after, "I was just excited to get those two goals. Obviously, then them getting those quick goals was not what we wanted."

Wilson continued, "It's kind of a cliche, but you have to play the full sixty minutes. We didn't do that tonight. I think we deserved to win those first two periods but just had a couple of lapses in the third."

Chris Mueller played his first NHL game, playing seven shifts and logging 3:17 in ice time. "It was a good experience for me, first NHL game, something special, but obviously not the outcome we wanted."

Somewhat overlooked in the effort was Patric Hornqvist's 14 shots in 19:06 minutes of play which broke Jason Arnott's record of 12 shots in a game against Toronto on December 4, 2007.

"This one's done," stated Trotz. "We've got to go on to the next one and get some wins and get out of this slide because all the good work we did the previous weeks goes down the drain a bit. Our effort was tremendous. We had a lot of detail and it was a hard fought hockey game."

The Predators will practice Wednesday at Centennial and leave on Thursday for Minnesota where they will face the Wild in a 5 p.m. game on New Years Eve. The next home game will be Sunday against Columbus in a special 5 p.m. start at the Bridgestone Arena.

Notes: The second consecutive sellout crowd and sixth of the season was livelier than has been seen in several weeks. This was the fastest time to six sellouts since the 1999-2000 season... Both the University of Tennessee and North Carolina football teams were in attendance as they wait to face off in the Music City Bowl on Thursday night.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Crippled Predators Host Dallas and Tuesday Tidbits

The Nashville Predators (17-12-6) will face the Dallas Stars (21-11-4) at Bridgestone Arena tonight at 7 p.m. hoping to end their current four game losing streak against the best team in the Pacific Division.

The Predators head into the game with several key pieces of their opening day line-up unavailable to play or potentially returning from injuries. Matthew Lombardi, who was thought to be their first line center, has not played since the second game of the year.

We learned yesterday that, Marty Erat has been placed on injured reserve and Steve Sullivan will be out from 10-14 days. The Predators are hopeful that David Legwand will be ready to return tonight but even if he does play, he will not be in tested game condition.

The stunner of the day on Monday was the revelation that Jordin Tootoo has entered a joint NHL/NHLPA program to receive treatment for a personal issue. Tootoo is to be commended for making a decision to seek help and may grow into the player everyone has wanted to see him become when he returns.

Predator fans (and even his detractors) everywhere should rally behind Tootoo and support him as he tries to bring his life back to order.

Tonight, the Predators will be dependent on rookies Linus Klasen and Chris Mueller, who was signed yesterday, to step up and play a two way game in the Predator system and fill the holes of key forwards. The Preds have scored three goals in the last four games so offense from anywhere would be welcomed.

The Predators will send Pekka Rinne (8-9-4, 2.29, .921) into the net for the third straight game since his return from injury. Kari Lehtonen (15-8-4, 2.47, .920) is the probable starter for Dallas but the Stars could choose to go with Andrew Raycroft (6-3-0, 2.36, .923) since they play Detroit at home tomorrow night.

Pekka Rinne shut out Dallas in a 1-0 masterpiece on October 23 which was the two teams only prior meeting this year. Cal O'Reilly scored on a rebound off of a Shea Weber shot just 42 seconds into the contest and that held up as the only score in the contest.

After tonight's game, the Predators will travel to Minnesota on Thursday for a New Years Eve contest with the Minnesota Wild and then return home to play Columbus on Sunday.

Other Predator Previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, The Tennessean and Predators.com.

The other side of the Star-Preds game previews can be found at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN Dallas, the Star-Telegram, The Dallas Stars Blog, and Defending Big D.

Programming Note...

I will co-host Ryan Porth's RLD Hockey Radio today at a special time of 1 p.m. Central. Ryan's guest will be USA Today's Kevin Allen who will preview Saturday's Winter Classic in Pittsburgh.

In Pred Nation...

Josh Cooper has a few leftover quotes from Sunday's game with the Blues. He also has stories about Jordin Tootoo and Steve Sullivan missing 10-14 days.

Aaron Sims has a good post on Chris Mueller and Jordin Tootoo and points to a 2003 story about Jordin's brother's untimely death that Tootoo has carried with him ever since.

Bleeding all Blue has a thoughtful piece about Jordin Tootoo's battle that shows the compassion of hockey fans from around the league.

Colin Wilson is looking on the bright side of the Predators' streak at his weekly blog.

Mike Morreale has a feature piece on Ryan Ellis at the World Junior Tournament.

Jeremy Gover wraps up the first day of the World Juniors for the Predator prospects.

Jim Diamond talked to several Predators about the past World Junior experiences.

Robby at Hockey Night in Nashville sums up a busy day in Nashville on Monday.

Winter Classic Update...

Ryan Porth has his top five Ovechkin-Crosby moments.

Puck Daddy takes a look at all the potential issues facing this edition of the Winter Classic.

Dan Rosen's latest blog entry discusses the ice crew getting the night off.

Matt Reitz has handy links to both episodes of 24/7 that have been released so far.

Here is the latest time-lapse of the ice build at Heinz Field.




For a 24/7 live streaming camera view of Heinz Field go below.




World Junior Scoreboard...

Slovakia 2, Germany 1 (OT)
Czech Republic 2, Norway 0

Today's slate of games is highlighted by Czech Republic at Canada at 3 p,m, and Slovakia playing Team USA at 7 p.m.

Around the NHL...

Chris Osgood recorded his 400th win against Colorado last night and becomes one of only teen netminders to reach that plateau.

Mike Chen figures out which division is the best in the NHL.

Adrian Dater has a look around the league at Versus and does mention his favorite storyline that never ends - Peter Forsberg.

Due to Sunday's "snow game" in New Jersey, the Devils are giving everyone who had a ticket a free ticket to one of three future games. Is that like giving a person who had something they didn't like in a restaurant more of the same item to compensate?

Odds and Ends...

Here is a neat video about the fictional town of Elgin Park that is stuck in the 50's to this day.

It appears that Festivus may have become a worldwide holiday this year according to Twitter research.

It sounds like Verizon's iPhone is near but as a new Droid X owner I don't know why anyone would want the iPhone when the Droid does most things much better.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Pekka Rinne Leads Predators to 1-0 Win in Dallas

Pekka Rinne was perfect in goal stopping all 30 Shots from the Dallas Stars in the Predators' 1-0 victory at the American Airline Arena on Saturday night.

Cal O'Reilly scored on a rebound off of a Shea Weber shot just 42 seconds into the contest and that held up as the only score in the contest.

Kari Lehtonen was the hard luck loser in goal for the Stars and was impressive stopping all but one of the Preds' 24 shots.

The Predators looked strong as the game began and outshot Dallas 11-8 in the first period. The second period was all Dallas, with them peppering Rinne with 13 shots while the Preds only got off five shots. In the final period, the Stars led in shots 9-8.

Dallas had numerous scoring chances but the best was in the second period when a shot from Matt Niskanen ended up behind Rinne in the blue ice. Kevin Klein beat Loui Eriksson to the puck and was able to clear it.

The Predators started seven defensemen due to Kevin Klein being a bit under the weather. Teenu Laasko, who was called up before the game only played four shifts and saw 2:24 of ice time. Sergei Kostitsyn was a healthy scratch.

Shea Weber's big shot claimed a couple of more victims during the game. Patric Hornqvist was hit but was able to continue playing. J.P. Dumont was stuck and did not return after the 7:50 mark in the third. His availability for Sunday's game is unknown.

The Predator's unbeaten in regulation streak continues as they are now 4-0-3. Dallas slips to 5-2
as they are off to their best start in several years and were leading the league with 3.67 goals per game before being shut out on Saturday night.

The Predators have a quick turn around and left immediately after the game to travel to Tampa where they will play the Lightning at 5 p.m. central on Sunday afternoon.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Put Streak on the Line in Dallas and Weekend Round-Up

The Nashville Predators (3-0-3) take their unbeaten in regulation streak into Dallas where they will face the surprising Stars (5-1-0) at 7 p.m. at the American Airlines Center, The venue has not been kind to them over the years as their 5-16-1 record will attest. The Preds were 2-2 against the Stars last season.

The Preds have lost three straight home games in overtime while the Star's only loss was in Tampa last Monday. This is the best start for the Stars since they went 8-1 in 2005.

The Stars have shown plenty of offense early in the season with 3.67 goals per game compared to the Preds 2.67. The Preds have allowed 2.33 while the Stars have given up 2.67. Surprisingly, the Stars are only averaging 23 shots per game while giving up 36.3 while the Preds have fired 32.5 while allowing 34.

Another oddity is that he Predators' special teams statistically are better than the Stars. The Stars are 9.1% on the man advantage while the Preds are 17.9%. On the penalty kill, the Stars are at a league worst 64.3% and the Preds are at 76.2.

Kari Lehtonen will start in goal for the Stars while it is expected that Pekka Rinne will make his third straight start after returning from his early season injury. I would imagine that we could see the return of Anders Lindback at some point during this early season, back to back, set.

Dallas is led in scoring by Brad Richards (2 goals, 8 assists), James Neal (4,4), Mike Ribero (0-7), and Brenden Morrow (5,1). The Preds have had balanced scoring with twelve players with three points or more, led by Steve Sullivan with four goals and an assist.

This morning we found out that Teemu Laasko was recalled from Milwaukee since Kevin Klien was somewhat under the weather. Per @NHLPredsInsider Klein did skate this morning and the move was considered a precaution.

Tonight's game will not be available on the NHL Center Ice Preview. Paul McCann has the best explanation of why it is blacked out.

Amanda DiPaolo will be the lone Nashville media person at the game and provide updates at @predlines. Her game preview is here.

Other previews come from Chris Burton, Paul McCann, and Jeremy Gover.

From the Rink has both Nashville games this weekend listed in the top five games to watch.

The other side of the Star-Preds game previews can be found at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN Dallas, the Star-Telegram, The Dallas Stars Blog, and Defending Big D.

In Pred Nation...

Dmitry Chesnokov at Puck Daddy has more details on the "secret" Radulov contract that is actually a 2 year extension on a contract that runs through next season. Josh Cooper talked to David Poile about the new contract.

J R Lind captures the major screw-up by the Tennessean Pred writers who claim the crowd was demanding Crosby instead of Frosty on Thursday night.

The Tennessean has fallen back into their prior ways by grounding Josh Cooper this weekend for the Preds' back to back road games. Fortunately, Blogger's Row has it covered with Amanda DiPaolo in Dallas and Jeremy Gover in Tampa.

Josh Cooper does have a story about the offense of Joel Ward and David Legwand and an explanation of Colin Wilson's lack of ice time.

Dirk Hoag has the Preds' back to backs as one of the ten toughest of the season in the NHL. Dirk is also on the take, testing out a free pair of MLX Skates.

Mark Willoughby has his weekly "View" with more lessons in civics.

This may be the worst article ever written about the Predators. I can't imagine what would drive someone to this level of hatred. Sam at PredsBlog was also offended by the drivel.

Around the NHL...

The highlight of Friday's news was the six game suspension for Rick Rypien. I don't have a problem with that suspension. I have a bigger problem with the fan who needed "legal representation." No one should have any sympathy for this guy if he plans on making it a money grab. The guy should enjoy his 15 minutes of fame and leave it at that.

The Pioneer Press has the story of Gary Bettman calling "the fan" and his disappointment with what he considers a light punishment. He also claims he is getting "harassed". I guess Gary should quit calling him.

There is a three way debate at Red Light District over which team is more surprising so far, the Islanders, Stars, or Leafs.

Wile the Predators' attendance has been booming this year, Columbus and Atlanta have had crowds under 10,000 already but Phoenix my have set the standard with 6,707 on Thursday.

Kingscast is ready to claim the cup in episode 75.

Adrian Dater discusses the Preds' Sunday opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning and their quick turn-around.

Good to hear from @ChrisBottaNHL: Kirill Kabanov is expected to re-join the Moncton Wildcats on Saturday after two weeks in Russia on a personal matter.

Here is an older article by Tapeleg that is worth another visit on the original Zamboni.

James Murphy's new show s now Hockey Primetime (as opposed to the old name Inside Hockey). Here is the preview of today's show that can be heard on XM/Sirius or at Hockey PrimeTime.

Brent Sopel is now doing his own video blog. This time he has Dustin Byfuglien as a guest.

Funny video from the Dallas Stars where a fan complains about Adam Burish on NHL 11 and Burish responds.

Odds and Ends...

If I lived in Cincinnati, I'd be all over this opportunity to be a roller derby official.

Speaking of Derby, here is a good lead up to the Nashville RollerGirls trip to the Nationals in Chicago in two weeks.

Todd Stepp has the difference between Facebook and Twitter.

Finally, this is hard to believe. A giant penis shaped weather system was spotted in Texas.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

POTG: Wednesday Reflections and Morning Links

Another day and another look at Sports Club Stats to try to make sense of the Western Conference Playoff Race. The Pred's chances for the playoffs fell a bit to 95.6% with a best guess of 4-3-1 for the rest of the season which would give them 98 points and a 99.9% chance of the playoffs. SCS has the Preds pegged for seventh at this point.

Last night's game against the Stars was a real groaner. The Predators toyed with the crowd by keeping it tied until the start of the third period but you could not help but having a nagging feeling that something was wrong and it was just a matter of time before the other shoe fell, and it did.

The line combinations that looked like world beaters last week were in shambles last night with the absence of Jason Arnott and Joel Ward.

It is amazing how winning six games in a row can seem like such a distant memory after you witness a thirty second meltdown that led to a 3-1 loss. Every Predator that we spoke with after the game was ready to put the game behind them and move on to the next one.

Ryan Suter was particularly frustrated and stopped short of going on a rant of his feelings playing against Dallas's trap defense. His blunder at the blue line led to the Star's second goal that basically defined the loss.

Hopefully, this game will act as a wake up call just as the Preds 8-5 loss to San Jose did before the six game winning streak. It would certainly help if Jason Arnott can be ready to play on Thursday night.

As Barry Trotz said at the end of his presser last night, "The most important game of the year is Thursday night against the Coyotes."

Predators - Stars Wrap-Up

Here is our story and interviews from last night.

John Glennon has the game story, notes column and postgame ponderings.

Jim Diamond has his story at the Examiner.

David Boclair reports in from the City Paper.

In the blogs there are posts from Forechecker, Brandon Felder, Section 303, View from 111, AJ, and See Puck City.

The other side of the story can be found at The Dallas Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News.

In Pred Nation...

John Glennon has a note stating that the Preds have once again made their attendance goal and Forechecker elaborates on it. Dirk points to Ken Campbell as being a "relocation jackel". We linked the story yesterday and I failed to express my true disgust. I got on it in Dirks comment section saying:

Ken Campbell’s article yesterday (Monday) is a piece of crap intended to preach to the Canadian choir and inflame the Make It Seven crowd. Unfortunately, at the most inappropriate time during the playoff run, some local TV station or hack journalist will point to it as a reason to distract potential fans from enjoying the playoff push. I really think some in the local media set a diary as a reminder to stir the “Preds are leaving town” story on a regular basis.

Nate Rau at the Tennesseean also writes about the Preds making the attendance goal.

A new poll at On The Forecheck as to whether Kevin Klein should be scratched when Grebeshkov returns.

I have been told that Pekka Rinne will be Wade Belak's guest at Blackstone tonight. PekkaRinne.com creator Sheri Magrini will also be in the house so if you see her, give her a big Nashville welcome.

Crash the Crease has an interview with Pekka Rinne from Curtis Tudor.

Lance Wilkerson, who is the Sports Director at WEHT in Evansville, came down for last Saturday's game against Columbus and shared a photo essay with us. Yes, that is Section 303's Codey Holland in a few of them. It's always fun to see an out of towner's view od Smashville.

Preds.com has the story of Ravenwood High School winning this year's Predators Cup.

The Milwaukee Admirals did better than the Preds on Tuesday as the beat the other Stars (Texas) 3-2.

Red Light District Radio...

I appeared as a guest host on Ryan Porth's RLD Radio yesterday with The Hockey Guy's Anthony Curatolo and guests Bill Kellett, a Western Canada scout, and Joe Gladziszewski of InsideCollegeHockey.com. It was a good show with plenty of prospect and college hockey discussions.

Around the NHL...

Big controversy developing after last night's decision by the NHL Board of Governors to try to implement a "head shot" rule immediately that involves only supplemental discipline. The NHLPA is not happy that the sequence that is laid out by the CBA wasn't followed.

Paul Kukla looks at the video of Anton Volchenkov's hit on Dan Carcillo last night. From what I understand this is still legal.

A new steroid investigation involved a visit to the Washington Capitals training facility by police. No specific allegations have been made so it will be interesting to see what develops.

Ryan Porth looks at how the schedule would have looked yesterday with a three point per game system. The Wings would be on the outside looking in at this point.

The Penguins are giving away a cool metal commemorative ticket for the last regular season game at Mellon Arena. Brian Metzer has the story. Make sure and watch the video. It is really cool.

Steve Mason had his boyhood dream fulfilled when he faced Marty Brodeur last night.

If things weren't bad enough in Edmonton, they couldn't find anyone to ride the pine pony with goalie gear on last night.

Here's a video of the bench clearing brawl from the Barrie Colts at Sudbury Wolves game on March 20, 2010.

Odds and Ends...

The "Big Middle" has disappeared in the consumer market. This is an interesting look at price and quality in the marketplace.

A new study shows social networking at work boosts productivity. Who knew?

Here's an academic look at Twitter and the influence of Social Media.

75-100 dead snakes in a house is not something you hear about every day.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Game Recap: Dallas Ends Predators Streak with 3-1 Win

Barry Trotz Post Game Comments


Steve Sullivan, Pekka Rinne, Shea Weber and Ryan Suter speak.


Coach Marc Crawford, Kari Lehtonen, Trevor Daly, and Loui Eriksson speak

The Dallas Stars went into Music City on Tuesday night and came a way with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators that snapped the Pred's six game winning streak in a game that lacked the intensity or drama of recent contests.

Going into the third period the game was tied 1-1 and Dallas jumped on the scoreboard with two quick goals 30 seconds apart, by Loui Eriksson and Matt Niskanen to take a 3-1 lead. From that point forward there was little pressure on either net for the remainder of the game.

In the second period, Trevor Daley scored for Dallas at the 8:10 mark and Shea Weber matched the goal at 16:02 with one of his patented bombs from the point.

In the third period the game appeared over before fans settled into their seats. At 1:30, Eriksson got past Ryan Suter and Shea Weber and slipped a shot past Pekka Rinne on a breakaway that ended up being the game winning goal.

Ryan Suter was willing to take the blame, "I passed it right to their guy. It was a bad play on my part and it cost us."

Thirty seconds later, on the following shift, Brenden Morrow fired a shot into traffic from the blue line that Niskanen tipped into the net to make it 3-1.

Barry Trotz felt that was the turning point, "If it was a 2-1 game, I think maybe we tie it up. With the two goal lead, they were checking too well tonight."

The Predators out shot the Stars 35-14 and had an astounding 70-32 margin in the Corsi numbers.

Kari Lehtonen stopped all but one of the Predator shots for the win. Pekka Rinne only saw 14 shots from the Stars but let three find the net.

Trevor Daley gave Lehtonen credit for the win, "Our goalie was unreal and that was a big part of our win tonight."


Storylines From The Game

All Streaks End at Some Point...

While the Predators dominated on the score sheet they did not have the same level of intensity as they have had in recent games.

"We definitely played with a lack of urgency," said Shea Weber. "We weren't really jumping the pucks and playing the way we are used to. We got a not of shots but none really of great quality."

Steve Sullivan was in agreement, "We didn't play sharp. Maybe it was a lack of urgency on our part. We couldn't sustain pressure. I think that's what kills teams, when you can sustain pressure, you can't kill their will. We couldn't do that. We played soft hockey."

Preds Trapped to Death By the Stars...

Dallas's trap defense kept the Predators from putting as much pressure on the net as they would have wanted. After the Stars went up by two with 18 minutes left in the game, the Stars chose to play defense and only had one shot for the rest of the contest.

Shea Weber discussed the Dallas system, "They are patient. They play a trap system and have the skill and transition to counter on turnovers and make you pay."

"I don't think we had enough guys going to the really hard areas," explained Barry Trotz. We stayed a little bit to the perimeter and you can't do that, not with the way they are playing. You've got to go to the hard areas and win those puck battles."

Western Conference Race Tightens...

With the Predators, Coyotes, and Canucks losing, and Chicago, San Jose, and Calgary winning, the Western conference race became more jumbled.

The Predators stayed in sixth place with 89 points, which is two points ahead of Colorado and four points in front of Detroit. Both the Wings and Avs have played two less games. Calgary picked up a bit of ground and is now six points behind the Preds with a game in hand.

Up Next...

The Predators will continue their homestand on Thursday night against the Phoenix Coyotes who also saw their nine game streak come to an end with a 2-0 loss in Chicago. To a man, each Predator player pointed to the team's short memories of losses and were positive they would be ready for Thursday's game.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

POTG Podcast, Pred-Stars Preview, and Tuesday Tidbits

Last night's POTG Radio is now up in podcast form by going to the player below or listening on iTunes.

The show was an extended edition since there was too much to cover in the initial hour of the show. It featured Travis Hair of Five For Howling who covers the the Phoenix Coyotes and Matt Reitz of View From My Seats who follows the the LA Kings, and writes about hockey in general.

It was a fun show with wide ranging discussion that covered all aspects of the Coyotes and Kings as well as many other topics of interest in the Western Conference. With the Kings and Yotes being rivals, there was good natured ribbing as you would expect.

We hope that you will check out the show. It was a fun one to do and I think you will enjoy the discussion.




Preds-Stars Preview

The Preds play the Dallas Stars for the first time since Halloween tonight at the Bridgestone Center.

In another of the numerous quirks in the schedule, the Predators played the Stars three times in October and have not played them since. The Preds won 3-2 on opening night in Dallas, went back there 11 day s later and got white washed 6-0, and then defeated the Stars 4-2 at home on Halloween night.

The game will be a match of teams headed in different directions. The Stars find themselves on the outside looking up, nine points behind Detroit with with ten games left to play. The Preds are in sixth place with 89 points and are scrambling for position in the crowded middle of the Western Conference race.

Predators Keys To The Game

Don't Read the News...

The internet has been full of stories about Pekka being first star of the week and what a great run the Predators are on. The team needs to block out all the accolades and remember how they got there in the first place. Looking at accomplishments can wait until the summer.

Step Up for Injured Comrades...

Injuries are playing an active part in the process as you would expect toward the end of a long hard race. Joel Ward appears lost for a week and Jason Arnott probably won't be at full strength if he returns. Once again, it is time for everyone to step up and fill the voids left by folks who aren't on the ice.

Play a Full 60 Minutes...

This sounds like a broken record (does anyone remember what that means, maybe a scratched CD), but the Preds cannot afford to take any shifts off. The Stars are a desperate team and would like nothing moe than to knock off the Preds. Historically, Dallas has always given the Preds fits and tonight will be no different.

The other side of the game tonight can bee seen at The Dallas Star Telegram and the Dallas Morning News.

Programming Note...

I will again be co-hosting Ryan Porth's Red Light District Radio on BTR today at Noon Central. Ryan reports that "we'll talk of the streaking Coyotes and Predators, along with our top breakout players from this season. Bill Kellett, a British Columbia junior hockey scout, will be our guest... we'll touch on some prospects and the Canucks, who he follows closely. Anthony Curatolo from The Hockey Guys will also be making an appearance. A late addition to our lineup is Joe Gladziszewski from InsideCollegeHockey.com. We'll discuss the upcoming NCAA tournament. It should be a great, jampacked show!!

In Pred Nation...

In addition to being the NHL First star, Pekka Rinne received the THN Player of the Week honor.

John Glennon discusses the impact of the Pred's younger players and has the Game at a Glance. John also has the update on Jason Arnott and Joel Ward.

Hockey's Future continues with positions 11-25 of their Spring top 50. This group includes Colin Wilson and Jon Blum.

David Boclair has more on Pekka's latest success.

Paul McCann has a post about the road trip to St. Louis that he organized.

Chris Burton looks at how much the Preds will have to pony up to keep Patric Hornqvist for next season. He also has his game day preview for tonight's Preds-Stars game.

Ryan at the RLD projects the Preds to finish sixth and play Vancouver in this week's Stretch Run.

Around the NHL...

Ken Campbell at The Hockey News has another stir the pot article that someone locally will pick up on and run with with more "Preds Leaving Town" headlines right during the middle of potentially one of the best runs in franchise history.

Adam Schwartz at looks at the Western Conference race at Inside Hockey.

AJ pointed us to a story about Brittanie Cecil, who was killed by a puck at a Blue Jackets game in 2002. Her legacy in the NHL are the high nets that have become standard in all arena end zones.

The bottom fell out in the ratings for NBC's Sunday Bruins-Ranger's match. When the game was announced it appeared to be a real groaner and it was against NCAA basketball so it should not be completely unexpected.

The Flyers got another blow with word that Jeff Carter has a broken foot, most likely ending his season.

Voting continues for the weekly winners of the Ultimate Leader Sweepstakes and award that will eventually lead to the Messier Trophy.

The producers of Forgotten Miracle and Pond Hockey have a College Hockey Picks Tournament. Pick your brackets to win prizes.

Kevin Greenstein talks dirty hits and respect at Inside Hockey TV.

One of the longest fights I've ever seen was during Saturday's Blues-Devils game between Cam Janssen and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond. It went on for almost two minutes with plenty of good blows.

Odds and Ends...

From @ApoloOhno: CRAZY @juliannehough I might be taking a detour through Nashville for a meeting..I'll be there for less than 1 day...are you around!@@??? Look for the paparazzi to spot Apolo Ohno.

The last three versions of the Tennessee Blue Book are online. This is the who's who of folks in Tennessee state government.

Maybe someone else is as slow as I am and will find this post on how to make notes on your Blackberry while you are on a call.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass