10/12/09 - Edmonton at Nashville: L 6-1

THE GOOD:

Colin Wilson's first NHL game. Even though the overall game sucked, at least I get say that I was there to witness it firsthand. I'm not going to lie, I got a little misty eyed when Colin hit the ice for his first shift. TOTAL self-imposed surrogate mother moment.

THE BAD:

Gah, how were we already 0-2 about 10 minutes in when I thought we actually started out pretty good in the first six minutes or so? Then it got worse. 0-3, 14 minutes in. Oh, wait, 0-4 at the end of the first.......if Pekka had started the 2nd, I would have been shocked. All I wanted to hear at the start of the second was 'Now in goal for your Nashville Predators, number 39, Dan Ellis.' Not that it helped too much, but still. It was definitely not Pekka's night. Or anyone's night for that matter.

The scoring (the ONE lonely goal tonight) continues to come from the top line only.

All of those third period line changes. CLASSIC early season Coach Trotz moves right there. I almost think he just told them, "Do whatever. I don't even care."

THE UGLY:

WHAT WASN'T UGLY?!?!? It was all just one big embarrassment.

Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Klein's games. Hammer was minus four on the night until Jason Arnott scored late in the second, changing him to minus three. Kevin Klein was not so lucky and ended the night at minus four. MINUS. FOUR.

Adding in "THE FUNNY":

Late in the second period, when the guys were really getting pissed, Jerred Smithson took some really cheap shots that I don't think anyone noticed but me. He lightly kicked a player at one point and then a few seconds later hit someone with his stick on the way back to the bench. Way to take out your frustrations on the other team without getting caught....


Okay, seriously...does anyone else remember (or better yet, try hard to forget) the Atlanta game last year where we got our butts handed to us, 2-7? It was right after we sent them Rich Peverley. Yeah, that's how this game felt. I'd like to think that this will be the last time we get embarrassed like that during the regular season but if we continue to play like this (and I haven't seen anything leading me to believe otherwise), we are screwed. Royally screwed.

The silver lining in all of this (if there's any to be had) is that we are struggling to find ourselves and it is still way early in the season. It could be much worse if we were halfway through the season already. These are the kinds of games they have to bounce back from, using a major embarrassment to channel into something positive.

So, after what I hope is a really long and hard practice and video session tomorrow, the Predators head to Dallas to take on the Stars for the second time this season. The game will be televised locally on FS-TN (channel 28 for Comcast customers). The puck drops at 7:30pm CST.

I'd like nothing more than to see a completely different team on the ice come Wednesday night. Please, please show me a different team Wednesday night.