Pekka Rinne Continues to Build Case for an NHL Award and Friday Findings

Pekka Rinne's sixth shutout of the season last night in a 4-0 win over Minnesota, continued to bolster his case for NHL post season hardware.

Tim Thomas has been the odds on favorite since October for the Vezina Trophy (Best Goalie) but Rinne has been on a season long mission to close the gap in the critical save percentage and goals against statistical categories.

After last night's contest, Rinne cut the gap in GAA to .07 with Thomas at 2.01 and Pekka at 2.08. In the GAA category, Thomas now leads .939 to .930. Traditionally, .930 has been the measuring stick for an outstanding season as few netminders attain that number.

I believe that Thomas will win the Vezina, barring a complete collapse. Carey Price and Roberto Luongo will be Rinne's strongest competition for the final three to attend the 2011 NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas.

Personally, I think that if the awards are truly viewed in the proper perspective that Rinne should be in the final three for the Hart Trophy that is "given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team."

The Hart nomination would obviously be contingent on the Predators making the playoffs but if Rinne plays the final 15 games as is expected and he continues at his current pace, few could argue that anyone is more valuable to their team than Rinne is to the Predators.

Last night's game was a rarity in that it wasn't a one goal game with the weight of the world on Rinne's shoulders. Rinne said, "It was a little different than we usually play, all those one goal games when it is so tight."

Barry Trotz explained the Pressure Rinne has been under all season, "From a goalie's standpoint, mentally it can wear on you. You're in those one 1-0 games, 1-1 games, 2-2 games and one mistake can cost you the game. Today he had a little breathing room which was nice for him."

Pekka Rinne has carried the Nashville Predators all season so it was nice for the team to give him a little breathing room, for a change, and allow him to relax a bit and win a game that didn't go down to the closing second.

Predators- Wild Wrap-Up...

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

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

Jim Diamond focuses on Wild killer Nick Spaling.

David Boclair has his story at The City Paper where the Preds got cooking early.

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

Sad news for Wild fans comes from the Minnesota Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, View From the Lighthouse, and Hockey Wilderness.

Audio clips from the Preds include Jerred Smithson, Pekka Rinne, and Nick Spalling. From Minnesota Kyle Brodaik, Nick Shultz, and coach Todd Richards speak.

Here is a video of Pekka Rinne from his seat in the dressing room.




In Pred Nation...

Pekka RInne will be on NHL Live today at 12:45.

Josh Cooper has an update on Francis Bouillon and it doesn't sound like he'll pay again this season.

Jeremy Gover has a detailed look at how young the Predator Defense is with the Teemu Laakso recall.

Patten Fuqua has an ax to grind with Craig Leipold.

Chris Burton looks at Shea Weber's Norris Trophy credentials.

Robby at Hockey Night in Nashville looks at puck movement as the key to the Predators success.

Aaron Sims is hoping to have three of the top ten OHL scorers playing in Milwaukee before the year is over.

The Predators March STH specials have been updated.

Cumulus Media took over Citadel Broadcasting yesterday which put's longtime sports host George Plaster in an odd position of working for his former employer who he sued in the past. J.R. Lind found this account.

Around the NHL...

News leaked out last night that Gary Bettman received a five year contract extension in November in a unanimous vote from the Board of Governors that will pay him $7.2 million a year.

As if the controversy around the Chara-Pacioretty hit couldn't get any stranger, now the police may investigate.

Elliotte Friedman takes a closer look at Air Canada's threat to the NHL over pulling sponsorship if the league doesn't satisfy their request to take a tougher stance on head shots. Here is the text of the letter from Air Canada.

Gary Bettman commented on the Air Canada letter by basically telling them to go elsewhere if they wish and that the NHL could fly other airlines. Yeah! Now we have a good pissing match.

Later in the day, Geoff Molson gets on the calling out Gary Bettman bandwagon in a letter to fans.

Not to be left out, Donald Fehr released a statement on player safety.

With the fire-storm still going over the no suspension for Chara, the league suspended Pavel Kubina for three games for this hit (video).

In light of all the uproar in Montreal, Puck Report recalls the Montreal riots in 1955 when The Rocket was suspended. What would he get in today's NHL?

Adrian Dater takes a look at the Flames' revival since Jay Feaster showed up mid-season.

Carolyn Christians pronounces that Ovechkin is back at the Red Light District.

Steve Lapore has the NBC schedule for the first weekend of playoff games.

Odds and Ends...

Homeless sensation Ted Williams who fell as fast as his rise is seeking a second 15 minutes of fame by playing the Jesus card (video).

Kelly Slater opened his "Aloha Tour 2011" with an impressive win over Taj Burrows in Australia in the seasons first event.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Throttle The Wild in 4-0 Blitz

Pekka Rinne picked up his sixth shutout of the season and Nick Spaling had two goals and that was all Nashville needed to beat Minnesota 4-0 and move past the Wild into ninth place in the tightly bunched Western Conference.

Rinne faced only nine shots in the first two periods and 19 for the game in another solid performance as he continues to make his case for the Hart Trophy as MVP for the Predators.

"It was a huge team effort," explained Rinne. "It was a nice game for myself, not too many saves. It was a little different than what we usually play, all those one goal games when it is so tight."

Spaling has had two goal games twice this year, both against Minnesota. When asked if there was anything special about his success against the Wild, he said, "I don't think so, it was just a lot of good plays tonight, Smitty made a nice play to me and so did Webs so there's not much to say, I'm just happy to get some goals."

The Predators other goals came from Joel Ward, who scored in his second straight game, and and Martin Erat. David Legwand had a pair of assists for a two point outing.

Barry Trotz was pleased with the win, "I was a little worried this morning. We didn't seem to have a lot of juice, but we came out with really good focus."

Trotz's main focus is on gathering points at this juncture of the campaign, "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."

The Predators had an explosive opening period and appeared to catch the Wild flat-footed at the game began. Just 3:13 into the game, with the Predators pressuring Backstrom, Legwand fed a pass from behind the Wild net to Ward who sent it directly into the net for a quick 1-0 Preds lead.

Forty-eight seconds later, with similar pressure on Backstrom, Jerred Smithson fed the puck to Spaling in the slot who rang up another goal to give the Preds a 2-0 lead. At 12:32, Ward put a shot on net and Erat found the puck before him in blue ice and he beat Backstrom to it and flipped it into the net to make it 3-0 Predators.

In the opening period, the Preds out shot the Wild 15-5 and led the Corsi 20-11 in one to Nashville's most offensively charged efforts that the Bridgestone Arena crowd has seen in a while.

For everything the first period was, the second period wasn't. The Predators held the Wild to four shots while taking only nine themselves. It appeared that the team target of three goals every night was enough to satisfy the team for the evening as it seemed that they went into a shutdown mode much earlier than usual.

The final period was a continuation of the defense first strategy for the Preds. At 14:59, Spaling scored his second goal of the game on a feed from behind the net from Shea Weber . Minnesota did out shoot the Predators 10-7 in the third as they were desperately trying to catch up.

The Predators recalled Teemu Laakso before the game as they were unsure if Kevin Klein would be able to play. Klein was able to go an skated 23 shifts and played 19:20 minutes and showed no signs of his foot injury.

Mike Fisher left the game with 16:20 left in the third period but Trotz indicated that he was fine and with a 3-0 lead there was no need to leave him in.

The victory took the Predators to 78 points and moved them into ninth place, one point behind the eighth place Los Angeles Kings and the final playoff position.

The Predators will continue their five game homestand with a visit from the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night at the Bridgestone Arena.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Homestand Starts With Wild and Thursday Thoughts

The Nashville Predators (33-24-10) return to the Bridgestone Arena tonight to begin a five game homestand against the Minnesota Wild (35-25-7) at 7 p.m. Central.

The game will be a battle for ninth place in the Western Conference as the Wild are sitting at 77 points while the Preds are at 76. This will be the final meeting between the two teams this season.

The Predators have won two of three games from Minnesota this season. On January 11, the Preds won 5-1 in Nashville which followed 4-1 win over the Wild in Minnesota on New Year's Eve. They also met in Minnesota on Black Friday which resulted in a really ugly 5-2 Predator loss.

The Predators struggled on the just completed road trip going 1-1-2 to pick up four points in four games. Since the All-Star break, the team has gone 6-7-4.

The Wild are playing the front end of back to back games as they will head to Dallas after tonight's game. They are 10-6-2 since the break as they have played themselves into contention for a playoff seed.

Pekka Rinne (23-19-8, 2.12, .929) will be in net for the Preds as they try to guard against a post road trip let down as we have seen before. Barry Trotz has often said that the first game back is like an extension of the road trip in many ways.

The Wild could go with either Niklas Backstrom (21-16-4, 2.35, .925) or Jose Theodore (12-8-3, 2.58, .921) since each will play a game in their two game set.

Starting tonight, the schedule tilts in the Predators favor with 12 of the last 15 being at home. Nashville leads the league in fewest home goals allowed with 60 in 29 games, 15 fewer than second place Boston. The Predators probably still need 20-22 out of the last 30 available to be assured of a playoff berth.

Other previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Predatorial, Chris Burton, HNIN, The Tennessean, and Predators.com.

Previews from the Wild come from the Minnesota Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, View From the Lighthouse, and Hockey Wilderness.

In Preds Nation...

Congrats to Shea Weber and Blake Geoffrion who won awards at the Nashville Sports Council Awards last light.

Amanda DiPaolo spoke with several Predators about what the upcoming homestand means.

Josh Cooper gives his thoughts on the bubble teams in the Western Conference.

David Boclair breaks down each of the Predators final 15 games.

Mark Willoughby discusses the insanity of NHL discipline.

Thanks to @yovalks for giving us a heads up on a new CBC Bio on Mike Fisher.

Chris Burton looks at the Predators' season-long injury situation.

Phillip at HNIN asks "What's the Problem?" with the Predators.

Admirals Short Shifts looks at the final month for Milwaukee.

Interesting statistic from @CrazyCharlie560: Pete Weber will be doing Predators broadcast #1000 next Tues 3/15 Vs The LA Kings.... how fitting! He is one of the best people EVER!!

Around the NHL...

There was so much talk yesterday about the Chara-Pacioretty hit that it was hard to absorb. Elliotte Friedman had one of the better perspectives in that the game itself is actually dangerous. Puck Daddy has a good synopsis with the history and videos. Always the voice of reason, Adrian Dater throws out his two cents and then does a follow-up.

Here is the official statement from the NHL on the Chara-Pacioretty hit as well as the injury report.

Air Canada has gotten into the fray, threatening the league with possible pulled sponsorships if the head shot situation doesn't improve.

Our friend, Travis Hair has the latest on the Coyotes situation and how it differs from other recent situations where teams were force to relocate.

Shane Doan joined Gary Bettman in bashing the Goldwater Institute yesterday.

Dan Bylsma received a three year contract extension yesterday from the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Mike Milbury says Sidney Crosby is running out of time for a return this season. I'd say that is an accurate statement.

Is it really deja vu all over again for Avalanche fans. They had a surprise season last year tucked in between two miserable finishes.

The OGA folks take a look at several options for realignment should Phoenix end up moving to Winnipeg which was out of the question a month ago.

It should be an odd show on Gary Bettman's NHL hour since he will have a couple of US senators on as guests.

The Carolina Hurricanes have frozen season ticket prices for next year. I am very pleased that the Predators offered a new 2/20 that actually appears to be a slight reduction in per ticket cost for me.

Odds and Ends...

Livestrong has cut a naming rights deal with the new stadium in Kansas City that will pay money back to the foundation.

Here's a great time-waster. You can play Rock-Paper-Scissors against the New York Times computer.

There is a new Foursquare update that adds plenty of new features for businesses and users.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

"They Were Like Wolverines On That Last Goal" and Wednesday Wrap-Up

The is nothing like a six game winning streak in the midst of a slew of injuries to make a coach happy. Barry Trotz was particularly funny in the post game last night as the video will attest.

Then he describes Nick Spaling's second goal as being "like wolverines." It just doesn't get better than that; to get a huge win and a new Trotz-ism.

There were many heroes in the game but none bigger than Spaling who Trotz lavished praise upon after the game. As much as Trotz loved Spaling last season, I was astounded that he did not make the team out of camp.

Spaling has been the glue that pulled the penalty kill together after a slow start and has moved it into the top five in the league. With Spaling's aggressive style, going to the hard areas, he is also starting to contribute offensively.

Having now won six in a row, the Predators stand as the leagues hottest team and are alone in fourth place in the tough Western Conference.

The crowd of 15, 311 was encouraging last night considering the dire weather forecasts of black ice and stay at home conditions.

The Preds travel to Florida on Thursday and then return home on Saturday for the final game at the Bridgestone Arena in the month of January.

The Preds finish the month with a six game road trip before the all-star break and then the schedule turns in their favor. After the break, they will have 21 of the final 32 games in the friendly confines of the Bridgestone Arena where they are 10-4-5 so far this season.

So as the old NHL ad campaign said, "Will this be the year?"

Preds-Wild Round-Up...

Here is our game story from last night that included post game video.

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

Jim Diamond had his game story and give props to Joel Ward who had the game winner.

David Boclair has his story at The City Paper and says that the Preds made it look easy..

From the blog world reports come from Ryan Porth, Amanda DiPaolo, Mark Willoughby, Chris Burton (with his advances stats), Jeremy Gover, and Hands like Cement.

The sad news from the Wild side comes from the Minnesota Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, and Hockey Wilderness.

Audio from the Predators last night includes Nick Spaling, Pekka Rinne, Joel Ward and Jerred Smithson. From the Wild comes Coach Todd Richards, Matt Cullen, and Jose Theodore.

Programming Note...

Yesterday I was a guest host on Ryan Porth's RLD Hockey Radio. Ryan's guests included Russ Cohen from Sportsology and XM Radio, Joe Yerdon from ProHockeyTalk, and Yahoo Sports' Nick Cotsonika. Click on the following player to listen.

Listen to internet radio with Ryan Porth on Blog Talk Radio

In Pred Nation...

David Boclair writes of the Predators' disappointment at having only one player selected to the All-Star game.

Jim Diamond has the story of Preds' prospect Craig Smith from Wisconsin being named the WCHA offensive player of the week. He has 13 goals and 18 assists this year and ranks fourth among NCAA Division one scorers.

Mark Dekanich and Linus Klasen of the Milwaukee Admirals were named to the AHL All-Star team that will be held on January 31 in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

For what it's worth, the Predators' Guardian was revealed yesterday after defeating St. Louis in fan voting. I guess I'm old, but I still don't get it.

Ex-naming rights holder Sommet Group has been ordered to pay millions by the bankruptcy court.

Around the NHL...

The final rosters of the All-Star team and rookies were announced. Weber went as expected. The big surprise was that no rookie goalies we picked for the skills portion of the event. I would say not picking any from the group of Bobrovsky, Neuvirth, Lindback and Crawford is really disappointing.

Puck Daddy has the 10 most fascinating things about the all-star team breakdown.

Craig Custance looks at a few snubs.

Pictures of the jerseys that will be used in the All-Star game were also revealed. I like the blue jersey, but the red one is rather plain.

The Mighty Toronto Maple Leafs are ripping up the California teams. A night after beating the Kings, they took down the Sharks 4-2 to give San Jose a five game losing streak. The biggest loss for the Sharks was having Logan Couture on an alleged dirty hit from Colton Orr. It was Toronto coach Ron Wilson's 600 career win.

Rumors of Kyle Wellwood going to the Blues brought many folks to the fore front wanting the Preds to jump on this waiver claim too as the did with Svatos. It can't happen this time as the Preds are above the Blues in the standings.

Steve Lapore has the unbelievable story of NBC planning six hours of coverage on Hockey Day in America on February 20.

So what is up with the Kings? Brian Kennedy accesses the situation after their loss to the lowly Leafs.

Puck Daddy had mid-season MVPs for all 30 NHL teams. I can't argue with his selection of Ryan Suter for the Predators.

Big news out of Canada is that TSN may start their own radio network to challenge The Fan 590 in Toronto and other stations across the country.

Odds and Ends...

So now that Verizon has the iPhone, why would anyone chose it over the Android? I disagree with this report that says Android sales may dip when the iPhone is available. In a side by side comparison, there is little choice but a Droid.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Tame Wild in 5-1 Win to Extend Streak to Six Games

The Nashville Predators extended their win streak to six games with an impressive 5-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at the Bridgestone Arena.

Nick Spaling led the Predator attack with two goals in his first multiple point game of his NHL career. The Predators other goals came from David Legwand, Joel Ward, and Marcel Goc. Ward and Goc also added assists for two point nights. The lone Minnesota goal was scored by Mikko Koivu.

Spaling was excited after the game, "I got a couple of lucky bounces tonight but I'm going to take them all."

Pekka Rinne had another excellent night in goal, stopping all but one of the Wild's 25 shots. Jose Theodore wasn't as fortunate as he was tagged for four goals on 25 shots and was relieved by Anton Khudobin who gave up a goal on five shots.

Rinne was pleased to have a cushion at the end of the game, "I think every game I've played has been a one goal game. It was obviously nice, especially at home, playing well for these fans. We've been getting points at home but not many wins so it was nice to get this for the fans."

Preds Coach Barry Trotz was a loose in a post game as you will see him. "We're getting lots of guys contributing. Tonight, the Smithson line was huge. It's discouraging when your offensive lines (The Wild's) are getting scored on by your shut down lines."

Trotz was very complementary of Spaling after the game, "He's a real solid young player who understands the game. He's got lots of push and determination in his game and good instincts. The one thing we were hoping was for him to find his scoring touch. He's going to the hard areas. They were like wolverines on that last goal."

Spaling is a favorite among his team mates so it was gratifying to see him score twice in his 62nd NHL game. He did not get his first goal until his 5oth game and now has three goals and an assist in his last four games.

Trotz continued, "Every game you see him do something that is very mature and experienced looking - he's a real solid player. The guys love him. I think if he had scored the third goal in the last minute and got a hat trick, I think we would have left the benches and taken the two minute penalty."

The opening period was a quick one with few stoppages and plenty of back and forth action. The Predators broke into the scoring column first at 7:03 on a really nifty deflection by Legwand on a Marek Svatos shot from the right face off circle.

The Wild came back with a goal at 16:05 when a Preds power play ended and there was confusion on a breakaway in front of the Predator net. Koivu managed to get through a Cody Franson and Francis Bouillon to put the puck past Pekka Rinne to tie the game 1-1.

The Predators jumped on the Wild at 1:02 in the second period when Kevin Klein fired a shot from the blue line that pulled Theodore out of the net and allowed Ward to grab the rebound and put it behind him to put the Preds up 2-1.

At 3:42 in the second, J P Dumont was shaken up on a play behind the Preds net when he slid awkwardly into the boards. He was able to return for a few shifts later in the period.

In a goal that came out of nowhere at 4:18 in the third period, Spaling ripped a shot from behind the left circle that found its way through traffic and bounced off Theodore to give the Preds a 3-1 lead.

The Preds went up 4-1 at 10:39 when Spaling got his second goal of the period as he persisted in pounding a loose puck at the net until it found its way over the red line. Khudobin, entered the game to replace Theodore after the goal.

Spaling described the goal, "It was just laying there and I didn't know if he (official) was going to blow the whistle and it wasn't covered so I just kept jamming at it."

The game got completely out of hand for the Wild at 12:53 when Cam Barker lost the puck on a breakout and Goc stole it and fired the puck into the net to give the Preds a 5-1 lead.

With the win, the Predators solidified their hold on fourth place in the Western Conference with 52 points and are now 23-13-6 for the season.

The Preds will practice on Wednesday and then travel to Florida where they will play the Panthers on Thursday night before returning to the Bridgestone Arena on Saturday for their last home game before the all-star break at the end of January.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Face Wild tonight and Tuesday Tidbits

The Nashville Predators (22-13-6) return to the Bridgestone Arena for a one game home stand against the Minnesota Wild (21-16-5) tonight at 7 p.m.

The Predators are riding a five game winning streak that started with a 4-1 win over the Wild in Minnesota on New Year's Eve. They also met in Minnesota on Black Friday which resulted in a really ugly 5-2 Predator loss.

The Wild had won four in a row after the last game with the Preds until they were stifled by Dallas in a 4-0 loss at home on Sunday night. They are 8-3-1 in their last 12 games. The Wild have played better on the road (11-6-3) while being average at home (10-10-2).

Sergei Kostitsyn has scored in a surprising five straight games and could tie the Preds record of six with a goal tonight.

Pekka Rinne (12-10-4, 2.16, .926), who has played the best hockey of the year since his return from injury, will be in net for the Predators. Jose Theodore (8-6-2, 2.56, .917) has become the regular in the Minnesota net since Niklas Backstrom (13-10-3, 2.58, .919) has been hobbled.

There was speculation that Steve Sullivan and/or Marty Erat would return from injuries but they did not practice with the team yesterday so they will not play tonight. Nick Spaling who missed the last game and a half and Marek Svatos who went down in Sunday's game should be able to play this evening since they practiced on Monday.

After tonight's game, The Preds will travel to Florida for a Thursday game with the Panthers before returning home for January's final home game against the Blackhawks on Saturday.

The Predators will then play six games on a Western Conference swing prior to the All-Star Break. The Preds will have 21 of their final 32 games at the Bridgestone Arena.

Other game previews come from Amanda DiPaolo, Chris Burton, the Tennessean, and Predators.com.

Previews from the Wild come from the Minnesota Star Tribune and Hockey Wilderness.

Programming Note...

I will be the guest host on Ryan Porth's RLD Hockey Radio today at Noon Central. Ryan's guest include Russ Cohen from Sportsology and XM Radio, Joe Yerdon from ProHockeyTalk, and Yahoo Sports' Nick Cotsonika.

In Pred Nation...

James Mirtle has a post about tall goalies with extensive discussion with Mitch Korn.

Dirk Hoag continues his mid-season report card with a look at the defense.

Bryan Mullen discusses the Preds defense and how they have lead the team to their lofty fourth spot in the West.

Josh Cooper looks at the Preds with All-Star potential. In my book, Weber is a done deal and Lindback is likely as one of the rookies for the skills competition. It is too bad that Suter will not get to go.

David Boclair is getting dizzy from watching the Western Conference standings.

Just as players from Milwaukee are filling in for the Predators, players from Cincinnati are filling holes in Milwaukee.

NHLAccordingtoJosh takes a look at the strong record of the Predators at the entry draft.

Paul McCann starts the week with a look at a variety of topics both in and out of Pred Nation.

Jas Faulkner has her weekly Greetings from Nashville at The Hockey Writers.

Patten Fuqua is warming up for his trip to the AHL All-Star game with his weekly Milwaukee Monday which has news of a hot streak for the Ads. He also has a Cincinnati Cyclone round-up.

Bridgestone Arena is now sixth in the US and 17th in the world for concert attendance.

Ex-Pred Mark Eaton is out for the season after hip surgery.

Around the NHL...

Look for the announcement of the remaining 36 All-Stars and 12 rookies today from the NHL. No time was given for the announcement so we will have to wait and see.

Rob Rossi looks at the Penguins after last night's collapse against Boston and has some interesting observations.

A trade between the Rangers and Coyotes took place yesterday where Michal Roszival went west and Wojtek Wolski went to the big apple. Wolski was brought in to replace Alex Frolov who is lost for the season. Adrian Dater has an interesting prediction about the trade.

The NHL three stars of the week were announced and Sergei Kostitsyn did not make it in spite of a three goal three assist in three game week. The winners were NHL 1 - Daniel Sedin, 2- Jonas Hiller, and 3- Jose Theodore.

Helene Elliott thinks that Gary Bettman doesn't get it in regards to the new labor contract.

Chris Botta hands out his mid-season awards at Fan House. They seem about right.

Nick Cotsonika has another longer list of mid-season awards.

Ryan Porth has his latest weekly power rankings.

Russ spoke with Kimmo Timonen, Danny Briere, and Peter Laviolette yesterday about the All-Star game and got some interesting answers.

Coach K at All Habs has an informative piece on the importance of controlling the neutral zone and how it led to the Canadian Junior team's downfall against the Russians.

Sad news from Detroit that Chris Osgood will have sports hernia surgery and be out for 6-8 weeks.

Central Scouting's mid-term rankings are out for players eligible for this June's Entry Draft in Minnesota.

The AHL will also be announcing their All-Star rosters today at 2 p.m. Central at the AHL site and on Facebook.

Odds and Ends...

Season Tickets are on sale for the Nashville RollerGirls. Six doubleheaders and a preseason bout are only $65.

Facebook is unpopular in Japan because it doesn't let users mask their identities.

After an awful experience with US Air going to the Winter Classic, my faith in Southwest Airline has been restored with this story about how they care about their customers. This is why I only try to fly Southwest.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Wild Jump to Early Lead, Beat Predators 5-2

The Minnesota Wild soundly defeated the Nashville Predators 5-2 in a game where the Preds had plenty of chances but could not convert them into goals on the scoreboard.

The 3-0 first period Minnesota lead appeared insurmountable for a Predator team that had scored only three goals in their last three games.

The Wild received two goals from Martin Havlet, and single goals from Nick Schultz and ex-Preds Andrew Brunette and Marek Zidlicky.

The Predators had two power play goals in a game for the first time since October 13, in their third game of the season against the Blues. Steve Sullivan and Martin Erat got the markers for the Preds.

Jose Theodore stopped 32 of 34 Predator shots, claiming his third win of the season. Pekka Rinne started for the Preds and stopped six of nine shots before being pulled at the end of the first period. Anders Lindback stopped twelve of fourteen shots in mop-up duty.

The game started with several chances for both teams early. The Wild had one play where Shea Weber rescued the puck from behind Rinne. Steve Sullivan came close on a shot, hitting the post at 4:38.

Zidlicky was called for tripping Marty Erat at 5:54 and the Preds continued their anemia on the power play with two shots but no score.

Minnesota struck first at 12:22 on an odd play where Zidlicky skated out of the corner and shot the puck into the left side of the Preds' net, corralled his own rebound, and then slid it under Rinne's skate to give the Wild a 1-0 lead.

The Wild made it 2-0 at 15:57 when Shea Weber and Ryan Suter were unable to contain Brunette in front of the crease. Rinne had gone down early on the first shot and Brunett followed with one over Rinne's shoulder.

A minute later, John Madden hit the pipe in an near goal that would have pretty much put the game out of reach for the offensively challenged Preds. At 18:12, they did get the third goal when Havlet skated from the blueline to the net and plowed over Rinne to make it 3-0.

The Wild out shot the Preds 9-6 in the first period and led the Corsi 18-12.

The Predators sent Anders Lindback into the game to start the second and he managed to give up a goal 48 second into the period to put the Wild ahead 4-0. Havlet picked up a turnover and shot as he entered the Preds zone. A big rebound went to the opposite side and Schultz made a good shot on Lindback who had actually squared up well.

Jordin Tootoo put the Wild on their first power play at 3:12 after an unsportsmanlike conduct call. The Wild had no shots but the Preds managed two shorthanded shots.

At 12:06, Shea Weber gave the Wild another man advantage when he was called for holding Madden who was on a breakaway. The Wild managed a shot but mercifully did not get a goal.

For the second period, the Preds out shot the Wild 14-7 and were shooting from everywhere as indicated by the 24-12 Corsi advantage.

The Predators got their first power play goal in six games at 3:55 in the third period when Sullivan picked up a rebound and slipped it past Theodore to get the Preds on the board and made the score 4-1.

Jordin Tootoo managed to draw a cross checking penalty at 9:43 when he lured Eric Nystrom. With 1:18 left in the penalty, Zidlicky was called for tripping to give the Preds a five on three advantage. The Preds managed three shots during the two penalty combination but gave the Wild several opportunities for a short handed goal at the other end.

Minnesota got retribution on Tootoo at 13:53 when Clayton Stoner had a go with Tootoo after a solid check that sent both of them to the box with fighting majors.

Matt Cullen made a perfect pass to Havlet at 14:02 that gave him a free shot at the left side of the net for an easy goal to put the Wild back up by four, 5-1.

As the game wound down at 18:40, Kyle Brodziak was called for tripping Patric Hornqvist. Amazingly, with 8.5 seconds left in the game, Erat wristed a shot from circle that was screened by Marcel Goc and made it into the net for the Preds second power play goal of the game, making the final score 5-2.

In the final period, the desparate Predators out shot the Wild 14-7 and led the Corsi 23-12.

The Predators continue their series of losses where they find different ways to lose each time. In this game, the power play actually worked, while the defense allowed the opponent to jump ahead early making a come back virtually impossible.

Nashville returned home immediately after the game and will face the New York Rangers at 7 p.m. on Saturday with hopes of breaking the current three game losing streak.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predator Prospect Blake Geoffrion Makes Hobey Baker Top 10 and Friday Round-Up

Brentwood, Tennessee native, and Predator prospect, Blake Geoffrion was named as one of the ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, which is given to the top college hockey player each year, in an announcement last night.

The list of ten players will be narrowed to the three finalist on March 31, with the winner being announced on April 9 during the Frozen Four at Ford Field in Michigan.

Geoffrion is in his senior year at the University of Wisconsin where he is a team leader and tri-captain this year. He has had 23 goals and 18 assists this season as Wisconsin continues to pursue a national championship.

In spite of growing up in Tennessee, he comes from a hockey family. His father, Danny, granddad Bernie “Boom Boom”, and great grandpa Howie Morenz all played for Montreal. Bernie and Howie were placed in the Hockey Hall of Fame and played for the Canadians during their glory days. The two have hoisted the Stanley Cup nine times between them.

Barry Trotz talked at length about Geoffrion after Thursday's game, "He's really a solid two-way guy. He can kill penalties, he can win draws late in the game and in important situations. He will commit his body to danger when needed and just has an all round game, probably very similar to (Nick) Spaling, in the minors for us, and he's shown some offensive upside."

Trotz continued, "The great thing for us is that not only has he done it, but he's done it from a non traditional market here in Nashville, playing youth hockey and then going on to be a Hobey Baker finalist. That's a feather in Nashville's youth hockey and all the people who have coached him along the way."

In closing, Trotz said, "We are really happy. He sounds like he is a Predator type of guy. He has a little bit of blood and guts, a two way hockey player that has that real good drive so we are really excited about that and wish him the best."

When Geoffrion suits up for the Predators, he will become the first native Tennessean to play in the NHL.

Predators-Wild Round-Up...

Here is our story and interviews from last night.

John Glennon has the game story, Notes and Postgame Ponderings from Last night.

Jim Diamond has his view of things at the Examiner.

David Boclair reports at the City Paper.

In the Pred Blog world stories come from Brandon Felder, The View From 111, Forechecker, What the Puck, Fan Huddle, and See Puck City.

The other side of the story comes from Mike Russo at the Minnesota Star Tribune, Twin Cities, and Hockey Wilderness.

In Pred Nation...

From @NHLPredsInsider: Pekka Rinne on NHL Live today at 12:45p.m. Central.

Jim Diamond also reports on Blake Geoffrion making the top ten in the Hobey Baker award.

Dirk, the Forechecker, discusses free parking for Saturday's game with Columbus. Is parking really that big an issue? He also has an interesting story about traffic generation to his web sire as an example for others.

Wednesday's Hockey Buzz Radio podcast is now up at their site.

Tom Callahan has the winners from the Pred's newbie contest. This are interesting to read. Congrats to the winners for being good ambassadors for the game.

Around the NHL...

I'm not sure how this fits into the other suspensions and non-suspensions but James Wisniewski received an eight game suspension for his hit on Brent Seabrook on Tuesday.

Elliotte Friedman calls for the league to act ASAP on all the unneeded roughness lately that has lead to a rash of injuries. I personally think that players need to return to the "code" which could be done if the league would drop the instigator penalty.

Last February (2009), I specifically asked Gary Bettman about the instigator rule and fighting and he danced around the issue and never addressed it as you see in this video.




The long awaited showdown between Pittsburgh and Boston in what was deemed the "Matt Cooke retaliation night" was no more eventful than expected with Cooke answereing the call in a fight with Shawn Thornton in his first shift. Puck Daddy has the complete round-up and video of the fight.

The situation in Boston last night was not helped with wanted posters for opposing players. This is what happens when marketing meets bad taste. Funny on the surface, but not what the game of hockey needs right now. Too stereotypical.

Bob McKenzie has a well reasoned article on the Wisniewski-Seabrook hit. Wisniewski saw nothing wrong with the hit and Ducks coach Randy Carlyle called him the "first star."

The Goal Crease has a Q and A with Mike Russo who was in town last night. I love hearing people's stories of how they ended up where they are.

Matt Reitz has expanded his View From My Seats empire to include several excellent writers from around the country. Amanda Fortier calls for peace between the pro and con puck bunny crowd for the sake of female hockey fans everywhere.

For those in the New York City/New Jersey area, there is still time to make plans to attend a great worthwhile event tomorrow that is raising funds for cancer research. Check out the WhatsBrewingStock page for details.

In Arizona, nothing came of the big meeting on the Coyote's sale this week.

Sadly for Flyer fans, Michael Leighton will be out 8-10 weeks.

Odds and Ends...

While most people locally know how to get to the Bridgestone Center, here is a little app called Schmap.it that you can use to direct folks on Twitter top a more obscure place.

What would you do if you had 20 weeks left in Music City? This is an interesting blog. Send some suggestions to a guy who got shunned by the Preds for a job and is heading home in 20 weeks, absconding with a homegrown Southern Belle.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Game Recap: Predators Tame the Wild in 5-0 Win

Coach Barry Trotz Postgame comments

Colin Wilson, Jason Arnott and Pekka Rinne speak postgame


Coach Todd Richards, Josh Harding and Cam Barker postgame comments

The Nashville Predators played one of their more complete games of the season on Thursday night and defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-0 at the Bridgestone Arena to extend their winning streak to four games.

Colin Wilson scored the game winning goal 7:07 into the first period and the Predators never looked back against a Wild team that never seemed to get any offensive consistency going at any point of the game.

Wilson's goal was all hustle as he stole the puck near the blue line and took it in by himself and scored unassisted. Wilson described the goal, "I got in the lane and hit my toe and then I saw the puck and I beat him wide with my forehand."

Pekka Rinne had his second shutout in a week and the twelfth of his career as he stopped all 17 Minnesota shots. Barry Trotz complimented Rinne, "He’s been really solid and when you’re getting goaltending like Pekka can give you, you’re in a good place."

Jason Arnott and Patric Hornqvist each had a goal and an assist for the Preds. J. P. Dumont and Marcel Goc each had a goal and Marty Erat added two assists.

Josh Harding took the loss for Minnesota allowing four goals on twenty-six shots before being replaced by Wade Dubielewicz for the final period.


Storylines From The Game...

Predators Play Complete Game...

Many pointed to Thursday's win as the most complete game of the season. "Since I've been here, to win 5-0, we played very well," said Colin Wilson. "We didn't give up much and we were getting a lot of chances, so since I've been here is the best all round game we have played."

"The guys kept pushing and pushing for 60 minutes. It was one of the most complete games we have played this year," explained Goalie Pekka Rinne.

Barry Trotz found a few areas for improvement but was pleased with the team saying, "It was a real good effort by everybody tonight."

Maturation of Colin Wilson...

Since the Olympic break, Colin Wilson has become a key cog in the Predator machine. He has had seven points, including four goals in his last seven games. Playing on the first line with Jason Arnott and Marty Erat has also caused his ice time to increase significantly.

"I've made some adjustments that I need to make and playing with those guys the game gets a lot easier," Wilson explained.

Jason Arnott talked about Wilson, "He's playing extremely well, playing with confidence and having fun out there. He's using his body and skills to his advantage and it's been a pleasure playing with him and a lot of fun. Willy has come in to his own and is playing with confidence like a veteran."

"He has good awareness and has made really good plays," Barry Trotz said. "He’s hard to contain. One time in the second period, he spun off and drove the net and gave Frankie the puck. He’s going with good confidence and his line has good chemistry."

Preds Looking To Move Up...

For most of the season the Predator's focus had been on getting into the playoffs and now with the recent four game win streak, they are looking to move up in the standings.

At the end of the evening's play, the Predators had 85 points which matched sixth place Los Angeles' total and was one point behind fifth place Colorado. The Kings have two games in hand while the Avs have one.

Barry Trotz explained, "Let's not look behind us, we're looking forward and pushing forward. We'll see what happens at the end of the day. If something comes your way in terms of someone faltering and not getting it done, you move up a little bit."

Trotz then gave his best "Crash Davis" answer (from the movie Bull Durham) saying, "We're just worried about one game at a time and Saturday night is going to be the biggest game of the year, plain and simple."

Up Next...

The Predators will prepare for back to back games this weekend. They play Columbus at home on Saturday before traveling to St. Louis for a late afternoon game on Sunday.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOntheGlass

Thursday Thoughts and a Look at the Predators - Wild Game Tonight

The Nashville Predators, who are wanting to move up in the Western Conference standings play the Minnesota Wild, who are desperately holding on to the slimmest of chances of at a playoff berth, tonight at the Bridgestone Arena.

The Predators have not played well against the Wild for the last couple of seasons. This year the Preds are 1-1-1 with the Wild, winning their first meeting on October 28 in Minnesota, and losing 5-4 in overtime on December 2, again in Minnesota. The Preds lost their prior meeting in Nashville 5-3 on December 5.

Minnesota is playing some of their best hockey of the season, having won three in a row and having gone 5-2-2 in their last nine games. The Preds have also won three in a row.

Josh Harding will start in net for the Wild while Pekka Rinne hopes to continue his recent run of strong play for the Preds.

Preds Keys to the Game

Play with Energy for Sixty Minutes...

The Preds got away with one on Tuesday night against a very strong Flyers team primarily due to stellar goaltending by Rinne. The team needs to shake off their weariness and hit the ice with a lot of jump and never look back this evening.

Power Play Needs to Return...

The Preds can't be faulted for lack of any power play offense on Tuesday since they never had a man advantage. The Wild are stingy with their penalties so when the Preds do get a chance, they need to take advantage of the opportunity.

No Complacency on Home Ice...

The Predators still have one more win on the road than they do at home and have a chance to even those totals tonight with a victory. Too many times this season, the Preds have allowed lesser teams to stay in the game far too long when they should be trying to drive the final nail in the coffin. Playing with an early lead can take the will out of the opposition and make them play catch up the rest of the game.

In Pred Nation...

Bryan Mullen reveals that he Preds have nine players with at least 30 points. Only Washington, with ten, has more. Here is the game at a glance.

Here's an update from Mike Russo on the traveling party for tonight's Wild game with the Preds.

Jim Diamond has the story of the Hobey Baker finalists being announced later today. Preds prospect, Blake Geoffrion will find out if he made the top ten.

Dirk has an analysis of the league's least valuable player that has a young Predator in the worst pack. They also have tonight's game preview.

Steve Sullivan is asking for a little help from his friends in the Kraft Hockeyville competition. @Sullivan26: "Proud of my hometown of Timmins. Top 12 of Kraft Hockeyville 2010. Vote Here."

Toots advises of another no-call from Tuesday night @Jtootoo22: Broke my nose last night with a high stick by Pronger. No biggie though as its been broken many other times.

Jas Faulkner has a final look at Tuesdays action against the Flyers.

From the Rink has a story about Patric Hornqvist blossoming as a late round pick.

From @Short_Shifts: Admirals sign 2007 Nashville draft pick Ryan Thang to ATO. Forward will join team for Texas road trip.

Potential future Pred's owner W. Brett Wilson is interviewed about the season finale of Dragon's Den, a popular show in Canada that he is involved with. We have been trying to hook up with Wilson to talk hockey on POTG Radio and he has agreed to come on "in the fall."

Around the NHL...

Another night, another controversial call on James Wisniewski's hit on Brent Seabrook. If the only thing ever discussed on NHL Home Ice is whether something is a head shot and how many games they will be suspended, fans will be tuning out quickly. This stuff is getting old.

In Russia, the players are getting beat up by the fans. Here a story and video.

There is another report that the Thrashers are for sale.

Sports Illustrated has a repost of an old story from a hockey riot that occurred in Montreal on St. Patrick's Day in 1955. All the issues of the day in the NHL pale in comparison to this story. At least no one has set off a tear gas bomb at a game this season.

Good news from Steve Lapore on NBC's playoff coverage... They are actually doing two games a weekend for the first three weeks. Beware of the May 1 game. If it heads to double OT, the Kentucky Derby looms in the way.

Dater has advice for Alex Ovechkin for a makeover.

One of our regular pit stops is Stay Classy. Kevin Burgandy posts today that he is going to take a break for a while. Thanks for all you good work and we'll look forward to the return.

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the Tweet that started the NHL concept. Dani has come a long way since then.

Odds and Ends...

So what is the most important part of the work day? Lunch of course. Chuck Milam points us to a spot to make that decision of where to eat much easier.

Here is an interesting sortable chart from the Washington Post on the House health care vote.

So will we need a QR code T-shirt in the future to link to our relevant websites and data?

From PeopleOfWalmart comes ThatsMyBoss.

More later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Lose Quietly to Wild 5-3

Barry Trotz Post Game Comments

Jason Arnott and Marty Erat Comment

Coach Todd Richards, Antti Miettinen and Josh Harding

After one of the more inspiring wins of the season on Friday in Chicago, the Nashville Predators returned home and offered token resistance in losing to the Wild 5-3 at the Sommet Center on Saturday night in a game that wasn't near as close as the score might indicate.

Minnesota got goals from five players and Josh Harding was rarely threatened in net as the Wile extended their winning streak to five games while their point streak now stands at seven.

The game got off to an uneven start as both teams appeared cautious not to give up too much early. The Predators initially were not creating much traffic around Wild goalie Josh Harding.

The Predators were the beneficiaries of back to back power plays starting at the 6:04 mark of the first and were able to get their first goal at 9:27 on a slap shot through traffic from behind the left circle by Marty Erat. It was the Predators first power play goal after five games with none dating back to November 25th when their six game man advantage streak ended.

At 18:16, Andrew Ebbett tied the game for Minnesota when he took a knee high flip pass from Marty Havlat and redirected it past Dan Ellis from about three feet in front of the net for the score.

With 11.7 seconds left in the period with heavy traffic in front of the Pred's net the puck slipped away from Dan Ellis after a shot by James Sheppard and trickled over the line to put the Wild ahead 2-1 at the end of the first period.

The second period was plagued by numerous turnovers and uncrisp play primarily by the Predators. Minnesota continued to create chances and lead in shots. Finally, at 11:12 on the power play Marty Havlat fired a shot from the blue line and Ellis did not control the rebound, Former Pred Andrew Burnette shoved it past Ellis to make it a 3-1 game.

Things continued to deteriorate for the Predators. At 17:37, after a poor attempt at a break out by the Preds a turnover led to a fairly easy goal for Antti Miettinen where the Preds offered only token resistance, giving the Wild a 4-1 lead.

A look at the stats through two periods, told the lop-sided story, The Wild were outshooting the Predators by a 28-16 margin and were guarding the puck much more efficiently, leading 10-3 in take-aways and had only had 5 give-aways compared to the Predator's 13. The Wild also were at 57% in the face off circle.

Pekka Rinne entered the game for the Predators to start the third period. At 2:33, Jason Arnott was called for slashing which led to a power play goal by Eric Belanger a minute later. Belanger's goal was unassisted and set up by a poor cross ice clearing pass by David Legwand that gave him an easy shot at the Pred's net to make it 5-1.

One of the few late game bright spots occurred at 9:05 when Jason Arnott skated from behind the Wild net and fired the puck from the red line and it deflected off Goalie Josh Harding for Arnott's 10th goal of the season to bring the Preds within three at 5-2.

With 12 seconds left in the game, Marcel Goc scored his fourth goal of the season that made the score a somewhat respectable 5-3. The margin was not indicative of the difference in the two team's play in the game.

Barry Trotz appeared somewhat frustrated after the game. "There wasn't a lot of detail in our game. We weren't very firm in our own end, which I thought we had been in our last few games."

On pulling Dan Ellis after two periods Trotz explained, "Ellis gave us a tremendous game last night and gave us two good periods today. I call it the 'mercy rule'."

Goalie Dan Ellis was not phased by the loss or being pulled. "I felt I had enough energy to go the whole way," Ellis said. "I felt fine and I still feel fine."

Somewhat surprising was the scratch of Patric Hornqvist in favor of Wade Belak. Coach Trotz simply explained, "Coach's choice."

The mood was completely different in the Wild locker room after their big win. "I feel pretty confident," Coach Todd Richards related. "Coupled with where we're at and we are doing a lot of things right."

After a day off on Sunday, the Predators will return to the practice rink on Monday to prepare for the game with Vancouver on Tuesday night.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Preds Want Revenge Against Wild

After a much better effort on Friday night against the Chicago Blackhawks, The Nashville Predators (16-10-2) hope to revenge their Wednesday night overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild (12-12-3) tonight at the Sommet Center.

This is like a severe case of deja vu taking another look at this match-up in the span of three days. A couple of things have changed on the Preds side with roster moves that sent Mike Santorelli to Milwaukee with Cal O'Reilly and Ryan Jones coming up in return.

O'Reilly got his first assist of the year in last night's game against the Hawks while Ryan Jones did not make the scorecard.

The Wild won their game last night in Minnesota with in 5-4 shoot-out against the Ducks to get to the .500 mark for the first time this season since their second game. They have now won four straight games for the first time since October 11-18, 2008 and also have a six game point streak.

Guillaume Latendresse has had a big impact since being acquired from Montreal. He had the game-winning goal in last night's shootout and has had 2 goals and an assist in four games for the Wild since coming over from Montreal.

Neither coach has officially announced the staring goaltender for tonight's game. I would imagine that Pekka Rinne (11-6-1, 2.61, .907) will go for the Preds but Barry Trotz may be impressed enough with last night's performance to send Dan Ellis (5-4-1, 2.53, 913) out once again.

Nicklas Backstrom (11-9-3, 2.70, .906) probably will go for the Wild but Josh Harding (1-3-0, 3.41, .861) is not out of the question.

Preds Keys to the Game

More Balanced Play...

In last night's win, the Goc-Erat-Tootoo line was the dominant scoring force while in the game on Wednesday against the Wild, the traditional first line carried the load. Last night the Arnott line only managed two shots. The Preds need to get out of the roller-coaster syndrome and return to a more balanced scoring attack with all lines contributing.

Continued Full Ice Defensive Effort...

Last night's game was not a text book example of what a great defense is supposed to look like, but with the help of Dan Ellis, they managed to get the job done. The Legwand-Smithson-Ward line was outstanding in keeping the young guns under wraps. The only goal allowed was a highlight film effort by Jonathan Toews that few could stop.

Wear the Third Jersey Proudly...

After losing their first game in the thirds a week ago Friday, the Preds came back to win on Saturday in the new threads. We will consider that the Friday game was not "official" since the thirds are supposed to be worn on Saturday nights in Smashville. The Preds had a big advantage over the years when wearing the old mustards and that needs to keep going with the new retro thirds too.

Next Up...

The Preds will play four of their next five games at home before disappearing for the rest of the month except for a Boxing day game against Chicago. Vancouver will visit the Sommet Center on Tuesday in the Preds next game.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Salvage A Point Against the Wild

The Nashville Predators traveled to Minnesota and came away with a point in a game that the Wild won 5-4 in overtime.

The Wild got the winning goal on an odd play where Guillaume Latendresse took a shot from the left goal line past a sprawling Pekka Rinne. The puck hit the side of the net and kicked straight out to Andrew Ebbett who wristed the puck into an open net for the final tally.

The Predators got of to a bad start in the first period as they turned the puck over repeatedly in their defensive zone. Barry Trotz was very upset with the puck management that had led to a 3-2 deficit for the Preds at the end of the first period.

The Preds tied it up in the second on a goal by Steve Sullivan on a play that was mishandled by Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom.

The Wild and Preds traded goals in the third that set up the overtime period.

In an unusual display of offense by the Preds, Jason Arnott scored two goals and added an assist in the game. Even more impressive was Steve Sullivan's one goal and three assists, plus 3 performance. Marcel Goc added the other Predator goal. J.P. Dumont also had a pair of assists.

Pekka Rinne allowed five goals on 27 shots but was repeatedly hung out to dry by mis-plays in the defensive zone.

The game also featured a heavyweight battle between Wade Belak and Derek Boogaard at the mid point of the first period that served little purpose at all other than to justify the two players taking up a roster spot for the evening.

The road trip won't get any easier as the Preds left for Chicago immediately after the game where they will face the Blackhawks on Friday night before returning home to Nashville to face the Wild again on Saturday night.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Predators Head Into the Wild

After a successful disappearing act on Monday night, the Nashville Predators (15-10-1) travel in to the Wild to face Minnesota (10-12-3) in a critical Western Conference match tonight at 7 p.m. at the Xcel Energy Center.

After an 11-2 run that included a seven game win streak, the Predators have gone 1-2 in their last three games. The Wild are on a modest streak going 3-0-1 in their last four games and are 7-3-1 at home this season.

The Preds played the Wild in Minnesota on October 28 in an odd game where Dan Ellis gave up three goals in 2:18 in the second period and was pulled in favor of Pekka Rinne who shut down the Wild for the rest of the game and got credit for the 4-3 victory.

This will be the second game in a row for Preds Goalie Pekka Rinne (11-6-0, 2.47, .913) to play a fellow Finnish goalie that is in consideration for the National Olympic team. On Monday it was Mikka Kiprusoff and tonight it will be Niklas Backs­trom (9-9-3, 2.59, .910).

The Wild's point leaders are Mikko Koivu (6 g,8 a) and ex-Pred Andrew Brunette (9 g, 10 a). The Preds continue to be led by J.P. Dumont (5 g, 12 a) but have seven others in double digits in points.

Minnesota is almost as anemic in scoring goals as the Preds have been averaging 2.44 goal per game compared to the Preds at 2.27.

Both teams are in the leagues least penalized category with the Preds ranked first (8.9 min per game) and the Wild fourth (11.0). Nashville and Minnesota are similar on the power play (16.7% and 18.7% respectively) and on the penalty kill (80.0% and 81.9%).

The Wild are without several key players due to injury. Petr Sykora (concussion), Brent Burns (concussion), and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (concussion) are out. D Kim Johnsson (illness) missed practice on Tuesday is questionable. Antti Miettinen (illness) and Martin Havlat (hamstring) have been out but are expected to return.

Preds Keys to the Game...

Forget Monday's Loss

The Preds need to shake off Monday's loss and get their head back in the game with the confidence and swagger that they were playing with during their seven game win streak. It will be important for the Preds get on the scoreboard first to take the home crowd out of the game. Pekka needs to be confident and receive defensive support in front of him.

Control the Pace of the Game...

The Wild have not played since Saturday so they will be well rested and will try to establish their game early. The Preds need to quicken the pace of the game and not fall into the Wild's more deliberate style of play. They need to shoot early and often and keep pressing the puck toward the Wild zone every chance they get. The Preds need to reach the 65 or better range of Corsi shots.

Special Teams Need to Lead the Way...

After a six game power play streak where the Preds scored two per game the last three games of that streak, the PP has gone three games without a goal, going 0-12. That needs to change tonight with the PP unit getting on the board quickly. The shoot first mentality needs to return. The team has fallen back into the passing mode and have looked tentative on the power play.

The penalty kill was also MIA in the last game on Monday going 0-2. Part of that was too much Calgary but that can't be the situation tonight.

More later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

Hump Day Highlights in the Hockey World

The last thing Pred fans wanted to see in last nights Chicago-Columbus match was an overtime three point game but the eleven round shootout was a thrill to watch. Brent Seabrook finally got one in to give Chicago the extra point. Check it out if you missed it.



We will be back later today with our preview of tonight's Predators at Minnesota game. Here is today's round-up to keep you up to date in the mean time.

In Pred Nation...

Bryan Mullen has an article about the compressed schedule that has given the players few days off. The Tennessean also has a game at a glance for tonight's game with Minnesota. Here are Tuesday's notes from practice that includes Trotz saying no player moves a few hours before sending Sulzer to Milwaukee.

Dirk started his November report card with the Goalies. Much improved over October, but still room for improvement. He also has an article on attendance that is a key component of revenue sharing that the Preds desperately need.

Paul McCann takes the Globe and Mail to task for their slanted article on the Freeman email.

Mark at the View from 111 adds more perspective to the Flames debacle on Monday as does See Puck City.

David Boclair talks about the trials of Alexander Sulzer who may have to go to the Olympics to get more playing time.

Predators.com has updated pictures of all the Preds with their mustaches they they are growing for Prostate cancer awareness. This is a rough looking group of guys. You can also make a donation at the site.

Preds.com also has the weekly Milwaukee Admiral update.

Kelly returns with an update at Confessions of a Predators Fanatic.

Here's a random interview by Lake 94.5 FM with Pred prospect Ryan Maki.

Around the NHL...

After tremendous outcry from fans to do away with the "double standard" that has appeared to be afforded to the top players, Alexander Ovechkin was suspended for two games. for his knee on knee hit on Tim Gleason in the Caps game with Carolina on Monday. With the injury that he suffered himself it is questionable if he would play anyway. After a variety of alleged "dirty hits" over the last few years that have never received any supplemental discipline this will finally place him in the "repeat offender" category.

Gary Bettman uses the "E word" (expansion) for the first time and confirms that all thirty teams will saty put.

Here is the latest edition of Inside Hockey TV with our friend Associate Editor Tim Rosenthal as well as columnist Christopher Conroy and host McKenzie Lavoie.

It's time for the NHL Saturday picks one again. Go here to play.

Anyone who saw the game on Monday would not argue with Jerome Iginla as the NHL first star of the month for November.

Two months have passed since Charles Wang's deadline and the election is finally resolved. Nick at LTBLH has the latest on the Lighthouse Project.

Adrian Dater has a new post at No Holding Back that probably won't offend anyone (I'm disappointed). It is about hockey movies. One movie that many hockey fans have not seen is the The Rocket which is about Maurice Richard. As an American, I had no appreciation for the discrimination issues that existed during Richard's era and this movie really brought it to light.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass