Observations:
To say that I'm nervous about this game is an understatement.
These lines are CUH-RA-ZY. Not ONE line is as it was from Sunday.
Hockey baby Cal O'Reilly going straight to the net! He came down so fast, I didn't even realize who it was until after he had already scored. Way to go, Cal!!
Columbus was definitely not going to let us control the way the game was being played. Immediately after O'Reilly's goal, the Bluejackets came out with a ridiculous amount of pressure. Pekka Rinne made so many unbelievable saves that I couldn't even keep up.
Now I know that Ville Koistinen is getting the shaft by being a healthy scratch night after night, but you would think that Trotz would find a way to get him in the lineup with so many injuries. The fact that he is still not on the ice speaks volumes.
I think Kris Russell's significant offensive pressure in the first can be directly tied back to the fact that he scored a goal for us during our last game against Columbus.
OMG...did anyone else note the eerily remarkable resemblance between Steve Mason and Jerred Smithson while watching the first intermission feature on the Bluejackets netminder? Anyone, anyone? Maybe it was just me...but they could be brothers.
17 to 6 in first period shots on goal, in favor of Columbus?!? COME ON, BOYS. You can do better than that.
Early in the second, Trotz had already resorted to changing up the lines again. The Smithson-Bonk-Tootoo line was brought back together after Tootoo started the game out on the fourth line with Nichol and Pihlstrom.
Thank you, FSN cameraman, for zooming in close during assistant coach Peter Horachek's bench interview so I didn't have to be subjected to the drunken antics of the girls behind him.
SHOCKER...we had another man go down with an injury. Antti Pihlstrom left the second period with an upper body injury and did not return to the game. Seriously...THIS. IS. RIDICULOUS.
OH, JP!!!! That fall into Columbus's bench did not look good at all. I hope you didn't lose another tooth. Thankfully, Dumont rebounded quickly and was back on the ice within minutes. I think my Frenchman has the ability to heal himself.
Why couldn't we convert on the 5-on-3?!?!
UGH..Patric Hornqvist! You can't be doing that crap...
Mike Santorelli was pretty non-existent in the game tonight. I hope he finds his legs before Chicago on Friday.
I knew this game was going to be a battle. A battle of wills, a battle of skills, a battle of goalies. Ultimately though, the better team won tonight. It hurts me to say that Columbus was the more solid team on the ice but it was true. Being plagued with injury after injury after injury is taking its toll on us, and at the WORST possible time of the season. Having the next couple of nights to sleep in their own beds should hopefully help the boys to get the rest needed before the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
Eh, this loss sucked.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Deja vu
Erat out with fractured leg
This is getting ridiculous. With Jason Arnott, David Legwand and now my favorite puck hog, Martin Erat out of the line up, half of our guaranteed scorers are missing.
For Erat, the timeliness of this injury has to ring somewhat ironic. Late in the 2006-2007 season, he collided with Jason Arnott during the third period of a game against the Detroit Red Wings. The fluky collision caused injury to his knee and had him out for four weeks, which just happened to be the remainder of the regular season. Fast forward to yesterday's game, again against the Red Wings, when a Shea Weber slap shot sends Erat off the ice with a fractured fibula. The fracture most definitely puts Erat out for the remainder of the regular season and who knows how long into the post-season.
A word of advice for Erat: Look up every once in a while and for goodness sake, get out of the way when Shea Weber is winding up. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone got injured by one of his cannons but honestly...did it HAVE to be one of our own?
I am really curious to see who we are going to call up from Milwaukee today. Selfishly, I'm hoping for Jed Ortmeyer but I have a feeling it might be Mike Santorelli instead. Since Jed couldn't play for another team in the remainder of the regular season or the post-season if he was claimed off of re-entry waivers, he would be a safe call up if it was somehow determined that Milwaukee wouldn't be as dynamic without Santorelli. Honestly, I would be happy to see either one again but...I would love, love, LOVE to see Ortmeyer in a Predators jersey at least one more time before his time with our franchise is up.
Update: Preds Recall Mike Santorelli. I still wish Jed was here.
This is getting ridiculous. With Jason Arnott, David Legwand and now my favorite puck hog, Martin Erat out of the line up, half of our guaranteed scorers are missing.
For Erat, the timeliness of this injury has to ring somewhat ironic. Late in the 2006-2007 season, he collided with Jason Arnott during the third period of a game against the Detroit Red Wings. The fluky collision caused injury to his knee and had him out for four weeks, which just happened to be the remainder of the regular season. Fast forward to yesterday's game, again against the Red Wings, when a Shea Weber slap shot sends Erat off the ice with a fractured fibula. The fracture most definitely puts Erat out for the remainder of the regular season and who knows how long into the post-season.
A word of advice for Erat: Look up every once in a while and for goodness sake, get out of the way when Shea Weber is winding up. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone got injured by one of his cannons but honestly...did it HAVE to be one of our own?
I am really curious to see who we are going to call up from Milwaukee today. Selfishly, I'm hoping for Jed Ortmeyer but I have a feeling it might be Mike Santorelli instead. Since Jed couldn't play for another team in the remainder of the regular season or the post-season if he was claimed off of re-entry waivers, he would be a safe call up if it was somehow determined that Milwaukee wouldn't be as dynamic without Santorelli. Honestly, I would be happy to see either one again but...I would love, love, LOVE to see Ortmeyer in a Predators jersey at least one more time before his time with our franchise is up.
Update: Preds Recall Mike Santorelli. I still wish Jed was here.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
3/29/09 - Nashville at Detroit: W 4-3 Final
Observations:
Wow...Franzen with a two on one chance and then Erat answers with a breakaway chance of his own to start things off. I'm loving this energy.
Thank you, old man Chris Chelios, for giving us our first power play of the night. And thank you even more, Steve Sullivan AND Radek Bonk for connecting quickly on the power play to put us on the scoreboard first. Seriously, it was good to see us in front of the net.
The Red Wings seemed a little undisciplined to start off the first period. It was very uncharacteristic of them take two penalties within the first five minutes or so. However, Zetterberg's short handed goal most assuredly helped to change things up a little on the Detroit bench. Immediately after his goal, the Red Wings had a much better forecheck game going on.
UN-BELIEVABLE save by Dan Hamhuis during Detroit's first power play in the first. I was sure that the Red Wings were going to go up by one and I am amazed at the work ethic of everyone on the ice for the Preds. Our defense was on their game helping Pekka keep the puck out of the net. MAJOR save. MAJOR.
We had so much good pressure for most of the first period after both teams scored their first goal. I was definitely upset to see Detroit be able to capitalize on a chance so late in the first. After a lot of replays, it definitely looked like Franzen made a kicking motion. I can't believe Toronto actually reversed the call on the ice though. That was a lucky break for us, even though the no-call goals seem to be pretty normal when these two teams play each other.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAP! Watching Erat hobble off the ice with no weight on his left skate scares me.
There were a TON of stoppages in the second period. I felt like we were going to the faceoff dot every thirty seconds or so.
Poor Baby (Patric Hornqvist) took a puck to the face from a shot by Antti Pihlstrom. Our players are just wiping out each other in this game today.
deVries taking a penalty?! Shocking...he must have thought he needed to make up for not taking one last night.
Okay, the Red Wings were taking it to us in the second. Yes, we might have been playing like we were tired but man, oh man...we did not need to exhaust our penalty killers like that. Like always, it was pretty much inevitable that they would score on the 5-on-3.
I can really tell the impact of having Erat out for the balance of the game. Most of our lines aren't doing so well. JP Dumont has been almost non-existent to me in this game.
Joel Ward is my hero...like, always and forever.
OH MY GOD! Seriously?! Jerred Smithson scores on a PERFECT pass from little hockey baby, Cal O'Reilly. This was almost too much goodness to happen in just 20 seconds.
Boo to Franzen! BOO! I wanted that to be Jerred's game winning goal. Boooooooo.
Look at Ryan Suter being Shea Weber for a second and taking a shot from the point! Old Man Chelios might end up being my hero for the night if he keeps taking penalties that result in us scoring goals on the power play.
YESSS! WE WON AT THE JOE! This win felt so good, especially after seeing the way we played in the second. Unfortunately, we can't really use these two points to get a little cushion in our place in the standing as St. Louis managed to put Columbus away 5-2 at Nationwide. Every team that was on our heels to grab a spot in the top 8 is still on our heels now. However, with a day of rest before we face off against the Bluejackets in Columbus, I hope we can use that to regroup and get a few of our injured guys back into the lineup. Puck drops at 6:00pm CST on FS Tennessee.
Wow...Franzen with a two on one chance and then Erat answers with a breakaway chance of his own to start things off. I'm loving this energy.
Thank you, old man Chris Chelios, for giving us our first power play of the night. And thank you even more, Steve Sullivan AND Radek Bonk for connecting quickly on the power play to put us on the scoreboard first. Seriously, it was good to see us in front of the net.
The Red Wings seemed a little undisciplined to start off the first period. It was very uncharacteristic of them take two penalties within the first five minutes or so. However, Zetterberg's short handed goal most assuredly helped to change things up a little on the Detroit bench. Immediately after his goal, the Red Wings had a much better forecheck game going on.
UN-BELIEVABLE save by Dan Hamhuis during Detroit's first power play in the first. I was sure that the Red Wings were going to go up by one and I am amazed at the work ethic of everyone on the ice for the Preds. Our defense was on their game helping Pekka keep the puck out of the net. MAJOR save. MAJOR.
We had so much good pressure for most of the first period after both teams scored their first goal. I was definitely upset to see Detroit be able to capitalize on a chance so late in the first. After a lot of replays, it definitely looked like Franzen made a kicking motion. I can't believe Toronto actually reversed the call on the ice though. That was a lucky break for us, even though the no-call goals seem to be pretty normal when these two teams play each other.
CRAAAAAAAAAAAP! Watching Erat hobble off the ice with no weight on his left skate scares me.
There were a TON of stoppages in the second period. I felt like we were going to the faceoff dot every thirty seconds or so.
Poor Baby (Patric Hornqvist) took a puck to the face from a shot by Antti Pihlstrom. Our players are just wiping out each other in this game today.
deVries taking a penalty?! Shocking...he must have thought he needed to make up for not taking one last night.
Okay, the Red Wings were taking it to us in the second. Yes, we might have been playing like we were tired but man, oh man...we did not need to exhaust our penalty killers like that. Like always, it was pretty much inevitable that they would score on the 5-on-3.
I can really tell the impact of having Erat out for the balance of the game. Most of our lines aren't doing so well. JP Dumont has been almost non-existent to me in this game.
Joel Ward is my hero...like, always and forever.
OH MY GOD! Seriously?! Jerred Smithson scores on a PERFECT pass from little hockey baby, Cal O'Reilly. This was almost too much goodness to happen in just 20 seconds.
Boo to Franzen! BOO! I wanted that to be Jerred's game winning goal. Boooooooo.
Look at Ryan Suter being Shea Weber for a second and taking a shot from the point! Old Man Chelios might end up being my hero for the night if he keeps taking penalties that result in us scoring goals on the power play.
YESSS! WE WON AT THE JOE! This win felt so good, especially after seeing the way we played in the second. Unfortunately, we can't really use these two points to get a little cushion in our place in the standing as St. Louis managed to put Columbus away 5-2 at Nationwide. Every team that was on our heels to grab a spot in the top 8 is still on our heels now. However, with a day of rest before we face off against the Bluejackets in Columbus, I hope we can use that to regroup and get a few of our injured guys back into the lineup. Puck drops at 6:00pm CST on FS Tennessee.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
3/28/09 - Los Angeles at Nashville: W 3-4 Final OT
Observations:
I miss Ryan Jones and his long hair.
Awww, little hockey baby Cal O'Reilly got the start!!!
Los Angeles came out with a lot of offensive power, just like they did last time. 5 minutes in and we had no shots on goal to their 5 shots on goal. Right before a line change, Tootoo did manage one shot after Smithson worked hard to keep the puck in our offensive zone.
For some reason, Jerred Smithson plays really dirty against Los Angeles. He's never this feisty with any other team.
Hockey Baby Cal O'Reilly!!!!!!!!! I love seeing rookies score their first NHL goals!
Pekka made some ridiculous saves in the first.
The Smithson-Bonk-Tootoo line was on fire in the first period as well. They were generating some great pressure.
Okay, Smithson really was PISSED tonight.
We very briefly voluntarily played short handed early in the first. Smithson was stuck in the box, waiting for a whistle and no one besides Sullivan seemed to notice that we were four on five for a second. Glad to see SOMEONE was paying attention.
Oooooo, Pekka was PISSED after the second LA goal. And with good reason. I saw that one coming from a mile away.
I thought we played tired during most of the second.
I should not be sleepy, I should not be sleepy, I should NOT be sleepy.
The "holding" call on Bonk was completely bogus. And then Jerred had a freaking breakaway? And then JOEL EFFIN WARD!!!!!!!!!
SHEA FREAKING WEBER!!!!!!! And for a second, the scoreboard read 4-2 instead of 3-2 so apparently Shea's goals count double?!
Sullivan with a hit?! I had to laugh a little, even though the hit was awesome.
At least the holding call against LA in the third was legit but our ensuing power play was crap afterwards. And as a direct result of our bad power play, the Kings gained enough momentum to tie it up with just a minute left in the third.
Hammer was desperate for a goal all game long. I'm a little sad he didn't get one.
Steve Sullivan's goal was PERFECT. Absolutely perfect.
Here's a stat I LOVE: we have grabbed at least one point in our last seven games. Tonight, I am definitely glad that we were on the two point side of this three point game. The boys hit the road immediately following the game tonight to face off against Detroit at 4:00pm CST. I'm not sure what to think about tomorrow's game though. I'm worried Detroit will be out for blood after the amazing blowout we handed them the last time we went head to head.
I miss Ryan Jones and his long hair.
Awww, little hockey baby Cal O'Reilly got the start!!!
Los Angeles came out with a lot of offensive power, just like they did last time. 5 minutes in and we had no shots on goal to their 5 shots on goal. Right before a line change, Tootoo did manage one shot after Smithson worked hard to keep the puck in our offensive zone.
For some reason, Jerred Smithson plays really dirty against Los Angeles. He's never this feisty with any other team.
Hockey Baby Cal O'Reilly!!!!!!!!! I love seeing rookies score their first NHL goals!
Pekka made some ridiculous saves in the first.
The Smithson-Bonk-Tootoo line was on fire in the first period as well. They were generating some great pressure.
Okay, Smithson really was PISSED tonight.
We very briefly voluntarily played short handed early in the first. Smithson was stuck in the box, waiting for a whistle and no one besides Sullivan seemed to notice that we were four on five for a second. Glad to see SOMEONE was paying attention.
Oooooo, Pekka was PISSED after the second LA goal. And with good reason. I saw that one coming from a mile away.
I thought we played tired during most of the second.
I should not be sleepy, I should not be sleepy, I should NOT be sleepy.
The "holding" call on Bonk was completely bogus. And then Jerred had a freaking breakaway? And then JOEL EFFIN WARD!!!!!!!!!
SHEA FREAKING WEBER!!!!!!! And for a second, the scoreboard read 4-2 instead of 3-2 so apparently Shea's goals count double?!
Sullivan with a hit?! I had to laugh a little, even though the hit was awesome.
At least the holding call against LA in the third was legit but our ensuing power play was crap afterwards. And as a direct result of our bad power play, the Kings gained enough momentum to tie it up with just a minute left in the third.
Hammer was desperate for a goal all game long. I'm a little sad he didn't get one.
Steve Sullivan's goal was PERFECT. Absolutely perfect.
Here's a stat I LOVE: we have grabbed at least one point in our last seven games. Tonight, I am definitely glad that we were on the two point side of this three point game. The boys hit the road immediately following the game tonight to face off against Detroit at 4:00pm CST. I'm not sure what to think about tomorrow's game though. I'm worried Detroit will be out for blood after the amazing blowout we handed them the last time we went head to head.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Sommet Center To Participate in Earth Hour 2009
*Re-posted from March 18th*
A couple of weeks ago, the Front Office announced that the start time for the March 28th game against the Los Angeles Kings had been moved up from 7:00pm to 5:00pm CST. I didn't really think much about it at first because we have often done that in the past for various reasons. My main assumption as to why we moved the time up was due to our away game against Detroit the very next evening at 4:00pm CST. Moving the game up a couple of hours ensures us a little extra cushion time for travelling and less rush going into another city that night. However, after I thought about it further, it occurred to me that Saturday, March 28th held more signifigance than just another game day on the schedule.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has declared 8:30pm (local time wherever you live) on 3.28.09 Earth Hour: 2009. Nashville has been chosen to serve as one of the key cities in this movement to "Vote Earth" and raise awareness about global warming. The Sommet Center is one of (currently) 177 Nashville businesses and campuses committed to turning off all non-essential lights for one hour on March 28th starting at 8:30pm.
This is not the only stride this season that the Predators organization has made towards a greener, cleaner environment. At the beginning of the season, the Predators partnered with Smurfit-Stone by placing recycling receptacles throughout the arena, encouraging fans to recycle all aluminums and plastics during and after every home game. In addition, the 2008-2009 media guide was presented in an electronic format and the Front Office's use of electronic forms increased dramatically as well.
Cloth tote bags will be handed out to all fans in attendance on March 28 courtesy of the Sommet Group. I do believe that is the most well-thought out freebie of the season. The game will also serve as a kickoff for Earth Hour in Nashville.
A couple of weeks ago, the Front Office announced that the start time for the March 28th game against the Los Angeles Kings had been moved up from 7:00pm to 5:00pm CST. I didn't really think much about it at first because we have often done that in the past for various reasons. My main assumption as to why we moved the time up was due to our away game against Detroit the very next evening at 4:00pm CST. Moving the game up a couple of hours ensures us a little extra cushion time for travelling and less rush going into another city that night. However, after I thought about it further, it occurred to me that Saturday, March 28th held more signifigance than just another game day on the schedule.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has declared 8:30pm (local time wherever you live) on 3.28.09 Earth Hour: 2009. Nashville has been chosen to serve as one of the key cities in this movement to "Vote Earth" and raise awareness about global warming. The Sommet Center is one of (currently) 177 Nashville businesses and campuses committed to turning off all non-essential lights for one hour on March 28th starting at 8:30pm.
This is not the only stride this season that the Predators organization has made towards a greener, cleaner environment. At the beginning of the season, the Predators partnered with Smurfit-Stone by placing recycling receptacles throughout the arena, encouraging fans to recycle all aluminums and plastics during and after every home game. In addition, the 2008-2009 media guide was presented in an electronic format and the Front Office's use of electronic forms increased dramatically as well.
Cloth tote bags will be handed out to all fans in attendance on March 28 courtesy of the Sommet Group. I do believe that is the most well-thought out freebie of the season. The game will also serve as a kickoff for Earth Hour in Nashville.
3/26/09 - San Jose at Nashville: W 2-3 Final
Observations:
Cal O'Reilly looked much more confident this time around.
I liked our pressure early in the first. We were actually skating a lot better than San Jose.
Seriously, Cal O'Reilly is having a great game so far.
The first San Jose goal was totally Jerred Smithson's fault...as much as I don't want to admit it because you KNOW how I love my penalty killers.
Ummm, we needed to stop with the basketball moves tonight. How many times did I need to see a player reach up and bat the puck down with their hand? Answer: None
The post, THE POST! We again continued to hit the freaking post more times than I wanted to count.
Dear Refs, there is something called coincidental minors...use them next time.
Two power play goals against...in the first period. Suddenly our penalty kill record at home does not look so good.
BOOOONK!!!!!!!!! Although Shea Weber was all over that first goal. He handled the puck like he was Martin Erat.
Speaking of Erat, he was in the front of the net?! And he gets one past Nabby?! And all without David Legwand? I am LOVING this game all of a sudden.
ZANON FROM SMITHSON AND BONK?!?! UNBELIEVABLE!
Awwww, Cal O'Reilly with the first penalty of his NHL career. Well, it's something on the score sheet at least.
Patric Hornqvist; I forgot how I lilke calling him Baby, even if he's not playing on a line with Mom and Dad anymore.
The first 10 minutes or so of the third period were really sloppy on our part. We looked like we were just playing to keep the lead instead of securing the lead by keeping up the pressure.
Even though he ended up +1 and a primary assist on the night, Jerred Smithson's game was way off. He made some bad decisions that surprised me considering he was re-paired with a line that had been working well together for a while.
Pekka Rinne made some killer saves during the late third period penalty kill. He was definitely the reason we didn't lose the game.
While I know some people were probably jonesing for a Staubitz-Tootoo rematch, I am so glad that didn't happen.
Only three Predators home games are left. I can't believe it. Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings will be at the Sommet to take us on for the final time this season. Tickets still remain so get yours before there aren't any left. And don't forget, the puck drops at 5:00pm CST, instead of the usual 7:00pm start time.
Let's go, Preds!!
Cal O'Reilly looked much more confident this time around.
I liked our pressure early in the first. We were actually skating a lot better than San Jose.
Seriously, Cal O'Reilly is having a great game so far.
The first San Jose goal was totally Jerred Smithson's fault...as much as I don't want to admit it because you KNOW how I love my penalty killers.
Ummm, we needed to stop with the basketball moves tonight. How many times did I need to see a player reach up and bat the puck down with their hand? Answer: None
The post, THE POST! We again continued to hit the freaking post more times than I wanted to count.
Dear Refs, there is something called coincidental minors...use them next time.
Two power play goals against...in the first period. Suddenly our penalty kill record at home does not look so good.
BOOOONK!!!!!!!!! Although Shea Weber was all over that first goal. He handled the puck like he was Martin Erat.
Speaking of Erat, he was in the front of the net?! And he gets one past Nabby?! And all without David Legwand? I am LOVING this game all of a sudden.
ZANON FROM SMITHSON AND BONK?!?! UNBELIEVABLE!
Awwww, Cal O'Reilly with the first penalty of his NHL career. Well, it's something on the score sheet at least.
Patric Hornqvist; I forgot how I lilke calling him Baby, even if he's not playing on a line with Mom and Dad anymore.
The first 10 minutes or so of the third period were really sloppy on our part. We looked like we were just playing to keep the lead instead of securing the lead by keeping up the pressure.
Even though he ended up +1 and a primary assist on the night, Jerred Smithson's game was way off. He made some bad decisions that surprised me considering he was re-paired with a line that had been working well together for a while.
Pekka Rinne made some killer saves during the late third period penalty kill. He was definitely the reason we didn't lose the game.
While I know some people were probably jonesing for a Staubitz-Tootoo rematch, I am so glad that didn't happen.
Only three Predators home games are left. I can't believe it. Saturday, the Los Angeles Kings will be at the Sommet to take us on for the final time this season. Tickets still remain so get yours before there aren't any left. And don't forget, the puck drops at 5:00pm CST, instead of the usual 7:00pm start time.
Let's go, Preds!!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Just adding to the list...
David Legwand took a puck to the face yesterday morning during practice. His face sustained a substantial amount of swelling and the coaches are unsure if it will improve much before tonight's game. Great...another piece of the puzzle is now missing. I'm not expecting Erat to have a great game tonight if his long-time linemate is absent from the ice.
Ryan Jones will miss his second consecutive game after "tweaking" something pre-practice on Monday. Wade Belak will be sidelined for at least the rest of this week. Jason Arnott has made some progress, riding the stationary bikes, but I wouldn't expect him back in the lineup for at least another week or two.
A Cal O'Reilly call up is expected to be announced before tonight's game against San Jose. He did not play with Milwaukee last night.
On a non-injury related update, the Smithson-Bonk-Tootoo line was re-established during practice yesterday. I'm happy with this news as I thought their line had been pretty consistent throughout most of this season. With all the injuries we're battling, it might be our only hope for a little chemistry on the ice right now. Patric Hornqvist had been paired with Bonk and Smithson here recently but he has moved to a line with Scott Nichol and Antti Pihlstrom. Um, good luck with that, Scooter.
Also, if I have to see a rematch with Tootoo and Staubitz tonight and it's anything like it was last week, I will throw up.
Update: Legwand will definitely miss the next three games before being re-evaluated by the team's doctors. Cal O'Reilly was recalled from Milwaukee to join the Predators starting with the game tonight.
Ryan Jones will miss his second consecutive game after "tweaking" something pre-practice on Monday. Wade Belak will be sidelined for at least the rest of this week. Jason Arnott has made some progress, riding the stationary bikes, but I wouldn't expect him back in the lineup for at least another week or two.
A Cal O'Reilly call up is expected to be announced before tonight's game against San Jose. He did not play with Milwaukee last night.
On a non-injury related update, the Smithson-Bonk-Tootoo line was re-established during practice yesterday. I'm happy with this news as I thought their line had been pretty consistent throughout most of this season. With all the injuries we're battling, it might be our only hope for a little chemistry on the ice right now. Patric Hornqvist had been paired with Bonk and Smithson here recently but he has moved to a line with Scott Nichol and Antti Pihlstrom. Um, good luck with that, Scooter.
Also, if I have to see a rematch with Tootoo and Staubitz tonight and it's anything like it was last week, I will throw up.
Update: Legwand will definitely miss the next three games before being re-evaluated by the team's doctors. Cal O'Reilly was recalled from Milwaukee to join the Predators starting with the game tonight.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
3/24/09 - Anaheim at Nashville: L 2-1 Final SO
I completely left out the possibility of three point games in my post from earlier today. I think I did it subconsciously because THAT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN AN OPTION.
In his post-game press conference, Coach Barry Trotz said that this time of year is the most fun part of the season because it's always fun to see who can make it into the playoffs. I don't know what he was smoking but the feelings I left with after tonight's game (even if we did walk away with a point) were not those of daises, roses, puppy dogs and sunshine. This time of year is frustrating and stressful, especially when we're in the hunt for a playoff spot. And while I do have to remind myself that it IS just a game, it's a frustrating one nonetheless.
Things worth noting about the game tonight:
Not the first period.
Vernon Fiddler playing the first/second line center spot and taking a spot on the power play = comical.
Neither team was a physical as I thought they would/should have been.
SHEA WEBER. The league better recognize after this season is over. The boy is a BEAST.
The defense took better shots on net all night than pretty much the entire rest of the team. Dan Hamhuis looked particularly sharp in the overtime period.
Jerred Smithson stood 71% in the faceoff circle after two periods, ending up with 78% at the end of the night. After the less than stellar performances we've put up at the dot here lately, that is a marked improvement.
I would have been totally down to watch a Chris Pronger-Jordin Tootoo fight; hilariously mismatched as it might have been.
There was a definite lack of chemistry on the ice. We could have easily put this game away multiple times if there had been a man in front of the net when one of our guys passed the puck in that general direction. This was a major source of frustration for me toinght.
Pekka might not have faced as many shots as Giguere did but he looked as rock solid as ever. Some of the shots he stopped were unbelievable.
And, as always...I loathe shootouts. Maybe even more so when you throw Erat out there to take a stab at it.
Side note: I had a great time watching the game with a not often seen but dearly loved friend tonight. That, if nothing else, took the edge off of losing just a little. Thanks for the fun times, Robbie!
In his post-game press conference, Coach Barry Trotz said that this time of year is the most fun part of the season because it's always fun to see who can make it into the playoffs. I don't know what he was smoking but the feelings I left with after tonight's game (even if we did walk away with a point) were not those of daises, roses, puppy dogs and sunshine. This time of year is frustrating and stressful, especially when we're in the hunt for a playoff spot. And while I do have to remind myself that it IS just a game, it's a frustrating one nonetheless.
Things worth noting about the game tonight:
Not the first period.
Vernon Fiddler playing the first/second line center spot and taking a spot on the power play = comical.
Neither team was a physical as I thought they would/should have been.
SHEA WEBER. The league better recognize after this season is over. The boy is a BEAST.
The defense took better shots on net all night than pretty much the entire rest of the team. Dan Hamhuis looked particularly sharp in the overtime period.
Jerred Smithson stood 71% in the faceoff circle after two periods, ending up with 78% at the end of the night. After the less than stellar performances we've put up at the dot here lately, that is a marked improvement.
I would have been totally down to watch a Chris Pronger-Jordin Tootoo fight; hilariously mismatched as it might have been.
There was a definite lack of chemistry on the ice. We could have easily put this game away multiple times if there had been a man in front of the net when one of our guys passed the puck in that general direction. This was a major source of frustration for me toinght.
Pekka might not have faced as many shots as Giguere did but he looked as rock solid as ever. Some of the shots he stopped were unbelievable.
And, as always...I loathe shootouts. Maybe even more so when you throw Erat out there to take a stab at it.
Side note: I had a great time watching the game with a not often seen but dearly loved friend tonight. That, if nothing else, took the edge off of losing just a little. Thanks for the fun times, Robbie!
Playoff Pressure Cooker
As it stands right now, the Predators are sitting in eighth place in the Western Conference with 72 games played, a record of 35-30-7 and 77 points, just behind the seventh place Edmonton Oilers with 72 games played and 79 points. The Anaheim Ducks are sitting in a tie for ninth place with the Minnesota Wild; both teams with 76 points and 72 games played. The St. Louis Blues are just one point behind with 75 points and 72 games played. The Dallas Stars are just one point behind them with 74 points and 72 games played.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE TEAMS PLAYS TONIGHT.
Do the math and then weigh out every possible scenario and you'll find it truly is anyone's game still. For us, tonight is a MUST WIN/CAN NOT LOSE.
But you know...no pressure or anything.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE TEAMS PLAYS TONIGHT.
Do the math and then weigh out every possible scenario and you'll find it truly is anyone's game still. For us, tonight is a MUST WIN/CAN NOT LOSE.
But you know...no pressure or anything.
Monday, March 23, 2009
An injury, a surgery and a comeback
BONK! in, Arnott still out
Ryan Jones possibly out against Anaheim, Sulzer undergoing surgery
Watching practice yesterday morning, Radek Bonk definitely looked ready to jump back into the lineup. Our faceoff percentage could use a boost too. It has been completely underwhelming these last few games.
The tentative nature of Ryan Jones' health is of some concern to me as it seemed in the past few games that he was finally finding his niche within the team. Hopefully whatever he "tweaked" will only keep him out of the lineup for a night, if that.
Wow, this downtime between last Thursday and tomorrow night seems exceptionally long for some reason. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow now!
Ryan Jones possibly out against Anaheim, Sulzer undergoing surgery
Watching practice yesterday morning, Radek Bonk definitely looked ready to jump back into the lineup. Our faceoff percentage could use a boost too. It has been completely underwhelming these last few games.
The tentative nature of Ryan Jones' health is of some concern to me as it seemed in the past few games that he was finally finding his niche within the team. Hopefully whatever he "tweaked" will only keep him out of the lineup for a night, if that.
Wow, this downtime between last Thursday and tomorrow night seems exceptionally long for some reason. I'm very much looking forward to tomorrow now!
Friday, March 20, 2009
3/19/08 - Nashville at San Jose: L 2-3 Final SO
I have to tell you that I was probably more nervous about this game than I had been about any other game this season.
Observations:
Every time they show a replay of the last time we were in San Jose this season, I see a shot of Richie Rich Peverley...and I miss him.
While I should be surprised that Pekka started tonight, I'm not. It's pretty obvious Dan Ellis isn't going to have much more ice time this season.
Stupid penalty by Legwand during our first power play and then literally as I'm typing this ANOTHER freaking penalty. Seriously?! Greg Zanon did a great job of blocking shots for as long as he could on that 5-on-3 though.
It would have been really nice if San Jose had scored on our net for us late in the first. Up to that point in the period, it was probably our best shot at a goal anyway.
Wow...Ward's goal was crazy lucky for us. I did not expect that at all. btw, Joel Ward is A-MA-ZING.
STOP TAKING PENALTIES, GUYS! Wait a minute, NEVER MIND. Oh, Fids. I have missed our short handed goals. Vern Fiddler, you just restored my hope in this game.
The Sharks score with three seconds left in the first...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Maybe I should just stop making comments about this game. I'm going to throw up before this game is over if it's like this all night.
We did not spend any time in our offensive zone for the first five minutes of the second period. Our defense was working hard for their money tonight. Also, poor Hammer was getting hammered by the entire San Jose roster. What was up with that?
Okay, I don't usually have a lot of love for Jordin Tootoo but my mouth is still agape at the pounding he took from Staubitz. I have NEVER seen someone get repeatedly punched in the face like that during a game. I'll be shocked if Jordin's nose isn't broken.
To be honest, I couldn't get past the Tootoo fight so I can't comment on the remainder of the second period.
Look at Jerred Smithson out there creating scoring chances while we were in the middle of a line change. Too bad Ryan Jones couldn't finish it off.
I want to go sit next to Dan Ellis at a Sharks game, just to keep him company. He looked so lonely...and awkward.
You know, Kevin Klein has been in the lineup consistently for a while now and I have barely noticed him. His play has dropped off quite a lot here lately.
EPIC FAIL, David Legwand. EPIC FAIL. You should have easily had that breakaway goal.
We brought all kinds of pressure late in the third period. I'm proud of us and suddenly not nearly as nervous as I was at the beginning of things.
But wait...UUUGGGHHH...shootout...I've GOT to stop taking back my nervousness because every time I have tonight, it comes back with a vengance. Why a shootout? WHHHHYYYY?! And after his epic fail on the breakaway, why in the WORLD do you put David Legwand in the clutch position?
Okay, we got a point tonight and I'm ecstatic. We played much better than last night. Considering it was our second game of a back-to-back, our last of a four-game road trip and we were down a man with Jason Arnott still out of the lineup, that is pretty impressive.
The boys return home way early this morning and will have a few days of rest before they face off against all three California teams again next week at the Sommet. Needless to say, I'll be scoreboard watching all weekend.
Observations:
Every time they show a replay of the last time we were in San Jose this season, I see a shot of Richie Rich Peverley...and I miss him.
While I should be surprised that Pekka started tonight, I'm not. It's pretty obvious Dan Ellis isn't going to have much more ice time this season.
Stupid penalty by Legwand during our first power play and then literally as I'm typing this ANOTHER freaking penalty. Seriously?! Greg Zanon did a great job of blocking shots for as long as he could on that 5-on-3 though.
It would have been really nice if San Jose had scored on our net for us late in the first. Up to that point in the period, it was probably our best shot at a goal anyway.
Wow...Ward's goal was crazy lucky for us. I did not expect that at all. btw, Joel Ward is A-MA-ZING.
STOP TAKING PENALTIES, GUYS! Wait a minute, NEVER MIND. Oh, Fids. I have missed our short handed goals. Vern Fiddler, you just restored my hope in this game.
The Sharks score with three seconds left in the first...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Maybe I should just stop making comments about this game. I'm going to throw up before this game is over if it's like this all night.
We did not spend any time in our offensive zone for the first five minutes of the second period. Our defense was working hard for their money tonight. Also, poor Hammer was getting hammered by the entire San Jose roster. What was up with that?
Okay, I don't usually have a lot of love for Jordin Tootoo but my mouth is still agape at the pounding he took from Staubitz. I have NEVER seen someone get repeatedly punched in the face like that during a game. I'll be shocked if Jordin's nose isn't broken.
To be honest, I couldn't get past the Tootoo fight so I can't comment on the remainder of the second period.
Look at Jerred Smithson out there creating scoring chances while we were in the middle of a line change. Too bad Ryan Jones couldn't finish it off.
I want to go sit next to Dan Ellis at a Sharks game, just to keep him company. He looked so lonely...and awkward.
You know, Kevin Klein has been in the lineup consistently for a while now and I have barely noticed him. His play has dropped off quite a lot here lately.
EPIC FAIL, David Legwand. EPIC FAIL. You should have easily had that breakaway goal.
We brought all kinds of pressure late in the third period. I'm proud of us and suddenly not nearly as nervous as I was at the beginning of things.
But wait...UUUGGGHHH...shootout...I've GOT to stop taking back my nervousness because every time I have tonight, it comes back with a vengance. Why a shootout? WHHHHYYYY?! And after his epic fail on the breakaway, why in the WORLD do you put David Legwand in the clutch position?
Okay, we got a point tonight and I'm ecstatic. We played much better than last night. Considering it was our second game of a back-to-back, our last of a four-game road trip and we were down a man with Jason Arnott still out of the lineup, that is pretty impressive.
The boys return home way early this morning and will have a few days of rest before they face off against all three California teams again next week at the Sommet. Needless to say, I'll be scoreboard watching all weekend.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
3/18/09 - Nashville at Anaheim: L 3-4 Final OT
The "I Was Supposed to Be There Too" Edition
Observations:
Of course deVries takes the first penalty of the night. OF. COURSE.
Shea Weber had no support in front of the net on Anaheim's first goal. Watching the replay, there was a huge hole in front of Pekka Rinne. Not good. Not good at all.
Scott Nichol, did you forget how to fight?
Tonight's text poll was "Who is your favorite Disney character?". Seriously...I have no words.
Ummm, the first 8, 9 minutes of the game...what the crap were we doing? So ridiculous. I think we got two, MAYBE three shots on goal. I couldn't stop yelling at the TV. I was appalled.
Joel Ward on the power play is definitely paying off. That was a fluky goal but man, did we need that to change our mindset because I can't get over how badly we were playing just seconds prior to scoring.
Ungodly amounts of Duck's chances. We could not have been more fortunate that pucks hit the post and goals got waived off. And I could not have been more thankful when the clock finally hit 0:00.
Patric Hornqvist looked a little too eager to play early in the second. He was like a little puppy out there.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! NOT ERAT TOO. I am so glad that we scored on the ensuing 5-on-3. That hit on E was dirrrrrty.
Jean Pierre is having a great night. I am VERY glad he is playing so well.
I can not stand Chris Pronger. That man irritates the crap out of me.
Hi, perfect passes to players that aren't on our team...how many times are we going to do that tonight?
I had a lot of issues with our defense late in the second. I don't know where we were but our heads were not in the game like they should have been. I think the last three minutes or so of the second were just about as frustrating as the entire first period.
JOEL FREAKING WARD!
Why was deVries checking out the tape on Pekka's stick at the end of regulation? I thought that was really odd. Unfortunately I couldn't see what happened after that because that was the last shot I saw right before the feed went black.
WHY DID MY FSN FEED GO OUT RIGHT BEFORE OVERTIME?! Not okay, Comcast. Not okay at all. Especially considering I then missed Selanne scoring the game winner for the Ducks.
I pretty much wrote us off after the Ducks went up by one in the third. Our play was horrible and I thought that we as a team had given up as well. Anaheim owned us for almost the entire 60 minutes and deserved the two points they grabbed tonight. We were unbelievably fortunate to grab the one point we did. I don't think we deserved it but I'll take it.
I can not stress enough that we can not afford to play like this tomorrow night against San Jose.
Observations:
Of course deVries takes the first penalty of the night. OF. COURSE.
Shea Weber had no support in front of the net on Anaheim's first goal. Watching the replay, there was a huge hole in front of Pekka Rinne. Not good. Not good at all.
Scott Nichol, did you forget how to fight?
Tonight's text poll was "Who is your favorite Disney character?". Seriously...I have no words.
Ummm, the first 8, 9 minutes of the game...what the crap were we doing? So ridiculous. I think we got two, MAYBE three shots on goal. I couldn't stop yelling at the TV. I was appalled.
Joel Ward on the power play is definitely paying off. That was a fluky goal but man, did we need that to change our mindset because I can't get over how badly we were playing just seconds prior to scoring.
Ungodly amounts of Duck's chances. We could not have been more fortunate that pucks hit the post and goals got waived off. And I could not have been more thankful when the clock finally hit 0:00.
Patric Hornqvist looked a little too eager to play early in the second. He was like a little puppy out there.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! NOT ERAT TOO. I am so glad that we scored on the ensuing 5-on-3. That hit on E was dirrrrrty.
Jean Pierre is having a great night. I am VERY glad he is playing so well.
I can not stand Chris Pronger. That man irritates the crap out of me.
Hi, perfect passes to players that aren't on our team...how many times are we going to do that tonight?
I had a lot of issues with our defense late in the second. I don't know where we were but our heads were not in the game like they should have been. I think the last three minutes or so of the second were just about as frustrating as the entire first period.
JOEL FREAKING WARD!
Why was deVries checking out the tape on Pekka's stick at the end of regulation? I thought that was really odd. Unfortunately I couldn't see what happened after that because that was the last shot I saw right before the feed went black.
WHY DID MY FSN FEED GO OUT RIGHT BEFORE OVERTIME?! Not okay, Comcast. Not okay at all. Especially considering I then missed Selanne scoring the game winner for the Ducks.
I pretty much wrote us off after the Ducks went up by one in the third. Our play was horrible and I thought that we as a team had given up as well. Anaheim owned us for almost the entire 60 minutes and deserved the two points they grabbed tonight. We were unbelievably fortunate to grab the one point we did. I don't think we deserved it but I'll take it.
I can not stress enough that we can not afford to play like this tomorrow night against San Jose.
Sommet Center To Participate in Earth Hour 2009
A couple of weeks ago, the Front Office announced that the start time for the March 28th game against the Los Angeles Kings had been moved up from 7:00pm to 5:00pm CST. I didn't really think much about it at first because we have often done that in the past for various reasons. My main assumption as to why we moved the time up was due to our away game against Detroit the very next evening at 4:00pm CST. Moving the game up a couple of hours ensures us a little extra cushion time for travelling and less rush going into another city that night. However, after I thought about it further, it occurred to me that Saturday, March 28th held more signifigance than just another game day on the schedule.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has declared 8:30pm (local time wherever you live) on 3.28.09 Earth Hour: 2009. Nashville has been chosen to serve as one of the key cities in this movement to "Vote Earth" and raise awareness about global warming. The Sommet Center is one of (currently) 177 Nashville businesses and campuses committed to turning off all non-essential lights for one hour on March 28th starting at 8:30pm.
This is not the only stride this season that the Predators organization has made towards a greener, cleaner environment. At the beginning of the season, the Predators partnered with Smurfit-Stone by placing recycling receptacles throughout the arena, encouraging fans to recycle all aluminums and plastics during and after every home game. In addition, the 2008-2009 media guide was presented in an electronic format and the Front Office's use of electronic forms increased dramatically as well.
Cloth tote bags will be handed out to all fans in attendance on March 28 courtesy of the Sommet Group. I do believe that is the most well-thought out freebie of the season. The game will also serve as a kickoff for Earth Hour in Nashville.
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has declared 8:30pm (local time wherever you live) on 3.28.09 Earth Hour: 2009. Nashville has been chosen to serve as one of the key cities in this movement to "Vote Earth" and raise awareness about global warming. The Sommet Center is one of (currently) 177 Nashville businesses and campuses committed to turning off all non-essential lights for one hour on March 28th starting at 8:30pm.
This is not the only stride this season that the Predators organization has made towards a greener, cleaner environment. At the beginning of the season, the Predators partnered with Smurfit-Stone by placing recycling receptacles throughout the arena, encouraging fans to recycle all aluminums and plastics during and after every home game. In addition, the 2008-2009 media guide was presented in an electronic format and the Front Office's use of electronic forms increased dramatically as well.
Cloth tote bags will be handed out to all fans in attendance on March 28 courtesy of the Sommet Group. I do believe that is the most well-thought out freebie of the season. The game will also serve as a kickoff for Earth Hour in Nashville.
Dropping like flies
Pete Weber just said a few minutes ago on 104.5 The Zone that it is very likely both Arnott and Dumont will sit out tonight's game against Anaheim. This could not have come at a worse time. As I said on Monday night, we CAN NOT afford to lose JP from the lineup as well. The pair of them account for a substantial amount of chemistry (if not ALL) on the ice. Things could get very hairy very quickly.
Wade Belak was sent back home to Nashville yesterday for further evaluation of a lower body injury sustained duringthe Los Angeles game Monday night morning skate on Monday (thanks, Paul). As a result, the Predators recalled Patric Hornqvist from the Milwaukee Admirals. While Patric has been putting up some impressive numbers for our AHL affiliate, he tends to struggle a bit when he hits NHL ice. I still like him a million times better than Antti Pihlstrom though.
With Arnott and Dumont out, the Predators will have to look to the remaining players to emerge as leaders both in the locker room and on the ice. Shea Weber's my pick to fill this role quite nicely for a couple of games, if it takes that long for both Jason and JP to return to the lineup. Weber is on the cusp of greatness and I am constantly impressed with his mindset and approach to the game. Even though I have full confidence in his ability to lead, I am still very worried about what our on-ice product is going to look like. Tonight is going to be one giant chemistry experiment come to life. 9:30pm might come too soon today.
UPDATE: Pete Weber's comment was meant for Radek Bonk, not JP Dumont. Suddenly this entire post seems irrelevant.
Wade Belak was sent back home to Nashville yesterday for further evaluation of a lower body injury sustained during
With Arnott and Dumont out, the Predators will have to look to the remaining players to emerge as leaders both in the locker room and on the ice. Shea Weber's my pick to fill this role quite nicely for a couple of games, if it takes that long for both Jason and JP to return to the lineup. Weber is on the cusp of greatness and I am constantly impressed with his mindset and approach to the game. Even though I have full confidence in his ability to lead, I am still very worried about what our on-ice product is going to look like. Tonight is going to be one giant chemistry experiment come to life. 9:30pm might come too soon today.
UPDATE: Pete Weber's comment was meant for Radek Bonk, not JP Dumont. Suddenly this entire post seems irrelevant.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Predators Go Green
I know this picture is a little blurry. Okay, A LOT blurry. Blame it on an ancient cameraphone from over three years ago and my inability to take a quick picture before the puck dropped again. I'm still using it to wish everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day nonetheless...a Predators-centric one at that. So have a great day, everybody! And if you should choose to celebrate the day with green-hued alcoholic beverages, please drink responsibly and drive carefully. I have to be on the roads with all of you too.
3/16/09 - Nashville at Los Angeles: W 4-3 Final
The "I Was Supposed to Be There" Edition
Observations:
Jason Arnott needs to get better ASAP.
Greg Zanon and Shea Weber as the top line defensive pairing?! WHAT. THE. PUCK. Trotz, you do NOT break up the twins!
Two penalties early on in the game is definitely not the way to start it off, especially one of our best penalty killers taking a penalty. Smithson being called for roughing is a rare one this season as he hasn't been too chippy in games for most of the year. He seemed kind of pissed tonight...especially with whatever LA player was up in his face.
The Kings have had a surprisingly good amount of pressure in the first. I didn't expect them to come out so hard.
Where was Erat's stupid little pirouette move when we needed it?! The net was WIDE OPEN for him to throw the puck in behind Ersberg and all he had to do was freaking TURN AROUND.
Shea Weber, Shea Weber, SHEA FREAKING WEBER. He has such good vision on the ice for those power shots. And now he has set a new franchise record for the most goals scored by a defenseman in a single season, surpassing Andy Delmore's former record of 18 from the 2001-2002 season. And my love for Shea grows steadily stronger.
Joel Ward! Joely, Joely, Joely! Apparently I have to say every goal scorer's name three times tonight. But he scored a power play goal! That's what I'm talking about.
While Pekka might have had an easy night against Phoenix on Saturday, that most definitely was not the case against the Kings tonight. Wow, Los Angeles has some good offense power.
Explain to me how in the WORLD 39% of viewers think that Disney's The Mighty Ducks is the best hockey movie ever made. At the time of the text poll preliminary results about halfway through the second, it was 10:50pm CST. Shouldn't all of the little children who would have voted for the Mighty Ducks been in bed at this point? I mean, really.
Our power play was looking pretty decent in the second period. We were taking a lot of shots and not doing a crap load of passing, like I hate so much. I'm impressed.
Ouch, Ryan Jones! That stick to the face you took from Kyle Calder did not look pleasant.
I'm blaming deVries for LA's second goal of the night...mostly because I haven't blamed him for anything in a while and it seems overdue.
Wow, Steve Sullivan's face after he scored our third goal was priceless! He looked completely surprised. Honestly, I kind of was too. I didn't expect that to go in, thinking someone from LA for sure would have blocked it before it made it to Ersberg.
Whew...okay. The official text poll results had Slap Shot as the best hockey movie ever made with 52% of the votes. THAT makes way more sense. I don't necessarily agree because I really didn't like Slap Shot when I watched it but I know it was definitely more of a "hockey" movie than The Mighty Ducks. I, for one, voted for Miracle.
LA was not playing around at the start of the third. I really am shocked at their pressure in this game.
The Tootoo-Nichol-Pihlstrom line makes me laugh. That has to be the most vertically challenged line in all of hockeydom. They might be short but they can skate at lightning speed when they want to.
Yeah, I'm blaming deVries for the Kings third goal too.
I forgot how much I missed hearing Dan Ellis banter back and forth with Pete and Terry during a game. His little bit about that girl's giant diamond ring was classic.
No, no, NO! We CAN NOT have Dumont get hurt too! Shake it off, JP. Shake it off.
Ryan Jones staying in front of the net, ultimately leading to our fourth goal! OMG, that goal was freaking awesome. Congratulations on your first career game winning goal, Jonesy!
Taking a penalty so late in the third period with Los Angeles applying so much pressure made for a ridiculously intense minute and a half. It would have been nice if Jerred Smithson could have actually made the empty netter...you know, just to seal the deal.
What a game. I did not at all expect this kind of intensity from LA tonight. I wouldn't count them out of the hunt because they definitely still seem hungry enough to push through their horrible schedule and really try to make it in.
The Predators are playing with heart again, which is good considering Arnott is still out of the lineup. We've got to keep it going and build on the momentum we're gaining. We can do this. I can feel it. So don't disappoint me. Please.
Observations:
Jason Arnott needs to get better ASAP.
Greg Zanon and Shea Weber as the top line defensive pairing?! WHAT. THE. PUCK. Trotz, you do NOT break up the twins!
Two penalties early on in the game is definitely not the way to start it off, especially one of our best penalty killers taking a penalty. Smithson being called for roughing is a rare one this season as he hasn't been too chippy in games for most of the year. He seemed kind of pissed tonight...especially with whatever LA player was up in his face.
The Kings have had a surprisingly good amount of pressure in the first. I didn't expect them to come out so hard.
Where was Erat's stupid little pirouette move when we needed it?! The net was WIDE OPEN for him to throw the puck in behind Ersberg and all he had to do was freaking TURN AROUND.
Shea Weber, Shea Weber, SHEA FREAKING WEBER. He has such good vision on the ice for those power shots. And now he has set a new franchise record for the most goals scored by a defenseman in a single season, surpassing Andy Delmore's former record of 18 from the 2001-2002 season. And my love for Shea grows steadily stronger.
Joel Ward! Joely, Joely, Joely! Apparently I have to say every goal scorer's name three times tonight. But he scored a power play goal! That's what I'm talking about.
While Pekka might have had an easy night against Phoenix on Saturday, that most definitely was not the case against the Kings tonight. Wow, Los Angeles has some good offense power.
Explain to me how in the WORLD 39% of viewers think that Disney's The Mighty Ducks is the best hockey movie ever made. At the time of the text poll preliminary results about halfway through the second, it was 10:50pm CST. Shouldn't all of the little children who would have voted for the Mighty Ducks been in bed at this point? I mean, really.
Our power play was looking pretty decent in the second period. We were taking a lot of shots and not doing a crap load of passing, like I hate so much. I'm impressed.
Ouch, Ryan Jones! That stick to the face you took from Kyle Calder did not look pleasant.
I'm blaming deVries for LA's second goal of the night...mostly because I haven't blamed him for anything in a while and it seems overdue.
Wow, Steve Sullivan's face after he scored our third goal was priceless! He looked completely surprised. Honestly, I kind of was too. I didn't expect that to go in, thinking someone from LA for sure would have blocked it before it made it to Ersberg.
Whew...okay. The official text poll results had Slap Shot as the best hockey movie ever made with 52% of the votes. THAT makes way more sense. I don't necessarily agree because I really didn't like Slap Shot when I watched it but I know it was definitely more of a "hockey" movie than The Mighty Ducks. I, for one, voted for Miracle.
LA was not playing around at the start of the third. I really am shocked at their pressure in this game.
The Tootoo-Nichol-Pihlstrom line makes me laugh. That has to be the most vertically challenged line in all of hockeydom. They might be short but they can skate at lightning speed when they want to.
Yeah, I'm blaming deVries for the Kings third goal too.
I forgot how much I missed hearing Dan Ellis banter back and forth with Pete and Terry during a game. His little bit about that girl's giant diamond ring was classic.
No, no, NO! We CAN NOT have Dumont get hurt too! Shake it off, JP. Shake it off.
Ryan Jones staying in front of the net, ultimately leading to our fourth goal! OMG, that goal was freaking awesome. Congratulations on your first career game winning goal, Jonesy!
Taking a penalty so late in the third period with Los Angeles applying so much pressure made for a ridiculously intense minute and a half. It would have been nice if Jerred Smithson could have actually made the empty netter...you know, just to seal the deal.
What a game. I did not at all expect this kind of intensity from LA tonight. I wouldn't count them out of the hunt because they definitely still seem hungry enough to push through their horrible schedule and really try to make it in.
The Predators are playing with heart again, which is good considering Arnott is still out of the lineup. We've got to keep it going and build on the momentum we're gaining. We can do this. I can feel it. So don't disappoint me. Please.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Preds On The Glass Podcast
Listen Live!
Tonight I'll be one of the guests on the weekly Preds On the Glass podcast as we discuss our game tonight against L.A. and the rest of our upcoming games this week. Fellow HLOG'er, Connie Kim of A Queen Among Kings, will also be a guest on the show.
Check out the 'Listen Live' link above at 8:00pm EST/7:00pm CST to listen in.
Tonight I'll be one of the guests on the weekly Preds On the Glass podcast as we discuss our game tonight against L.A. and the rest of our upcoming games this week. Fellow HLOG'er, Connie Kim of A Queen Among Kings, will also be a guest on the show.
Check out the 'Listen Live' link above at 8:00pm EST/7:00pm CST to listen in.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
3/14/09 - Nashville at Phoenix: W 2-0 Final
Observations:
I think I always say this after a long homestand but it really does feel like I haven't seen hockey on TV in forever.
Watching our power play against Phoenix's penalty kill was painful. It's obvious that both teams are pretty evenly bad.
With Arnott out again, these lines were crazy...AGAIN.
I think I said this last time we played Phoenix but I really don't like Wayne Gretsky as a coach. He complains too much.
Poor, poor, poor Scottie Upshall. He looks so weird in a Coyotes jersey. Get him back, David Poile!
For tonight, I heart Joel Ward.
The Smithson-Tootoo-Jones line wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Ryan Jones had an exceptionally strong performance tonight.
We had loads of chances, not enough follow through. I really expected this game to be a little more high scoring than it was.
JP DUUUUUUUUMONT!!! Yay for my Frenchman!
With about 12 minutes to go in the third, I would feel so much better if they scored another goal.
Everyone was just flying all over the ice after a while. I mean, both teams were everywhere. The third period was one of the most up-and-down periods I've seen us play in a LONG time.
Right at the end, there was a nice takeaway from Fiddler, even when he got tripped up by a Phoenix player. I'm glad Legwand managed to get the pass and toss in the empty netter.
I'm very happy that we won tonight. Major props to Pekka Rinne for posting his seventh shutout of the season. Granted Pekka didn't face a ton of shots tonight but still.
Tonight's win and Colorado's win against Edmonton put usback in eighth place again, after coming into tonight sitting in tenth just kidding...we're in ninth since Edmonton has played one less game than us. See how crazy this race is and why I can hardly stand it? Crazy or not, this is exactly the way we needed to start off the road trip. With a game against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, we lose that extra day we normally have off between games. Hopefully though, Jason Arnott will be ready to go again by then. He is definitely missed in the lineup and everyone knows it.
I think I always say this after a long homestand but it really does feel like I haven't seen hockey on TV in forever.
Watching our power play against Phoenix's penalty kill was painful. It's obvious that both teams are pretty evenly bad.
With Arnott out again, these lines were crazy...AGAIN.
I think I said this last time we played Phoenix but I really don't like Wayne Gretsky as a coach. He complains too much.
Poor, poor, poor Scottie Upshall. He looks so weird in a Coyotes jersey. Get him back, David Poile!
For tonight, I heart Joel Ward.
The Smithson-Tootoo-Jones line wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Ryan Jones had an exceptionally strong performance tonight.
We had loads of chances, not enough follow through. I really expected this game to be a little more high scoring than it was.
JP DUUUUUUUUMONT!!! Yay for my Frenchman!
With about 12 minutes to go in the third, I would feel so much better if they scored another goal.
Everyone was just flying all over the ice after a while. I mean, both teams were everywhere. The third period was one of the most up-and-down periods I've seen us play in a LONG time.
Right at the end, there was a nice takeaway from Fiddler, even when he got tripped up by a Phoenix player. I'm glad Legwand managed to get the pass and toss in the empty netter.
I'm very happy that we won tonight. Major props to Pekka Rinne for posting his seventh shutout of the season. Granted Pekka didn't face a ton of shots tonight but still.
Tonight's win and Colorado's win against Edmonton put us
Friday, March 13, 2009
3/12/09 - New York Rangers at Nashville: L 4-2 Final
Observations:
It's a pre-St. Patrick's Day Miracle! Antti Pihlstrom is scratched.
Koistinen played wing on the Smithson-Tootoo line. Yeah, that's not an odd combination at all.
I said this on Sunday when I was watching the NHL Game of the Week and it still holds true: Sean Avery works as a New York Ranger. He makes absolutely no sense on any other team but he most definitely fits perfectly into the New York lineup. Although, if you asked a girl about three rows behind me if she thought the same thing, you would have been met with a resounding NO followed by a few "he sucks" as well.
We had a defensive breakdown on the first NYR goal. Dan Ellis did everything he could. I'm not sure whose fault it was but I know it wasn't his.
Henrik Lundqvist did not look like he was battling the flu. Boo to that.
At one point there was a Smithson-Legwand-Fiddler line? Three natural centers pretending to be RW, LW and center. Hmph, that's the Trotz formula for you.
SHEA FREAKING WEBER.
Oh, JP Dumont. I forget how much I love you.
The third Rangers goal pretty much sucked. Suter and Smithson were doing everything they could to keep it out.
We had some decent pressure early in the third. Too bad we didn't capitalize on it.
And the goal that sealed our fate: WE LET THEM SCORE SHORTHANDED. I have HUGE issues with that.
After a while, I noticed that Ville Koistinen switched from offense to defense. Yeah, that's helpful. Confuse the players even more.
I knew it was inevitable but Jason Arnott was most definitely missed in the lineup tonight. I never felt like any line in particular had enough jump. And while our power play might be pretty crappy for the most part, it was way worse without Arnott on the ice.
Okay, so...we win six in a row and then drop three straight. Some might see these past three losses as an okay thing because they were all against Eastern Conference teams. However, we didn't need to start our four game West Coast road trip this way. Last time we went to California, things turned out surprisingly well. I am hopeful that we can mirror that success because we REALLY need to.
It's a pre-St. Patrick's Day Miracle! Antti Pihlstrom is scratched.
Koistinen played wing on the Smithson-Tootoo line. Yeah, that's not an odd combination at all.
I said this on Sunday when I was watching the NHL Game of the Week and it still holds true: Sean Avery works as a New York Ranger. He makes absolutely no sense on any other team but he most definitely fits perfectly into the New York lineup. Although, if you asked a girl about three rows behind me if she thought the same thing, you would have been met with a resounding NO followed by a few "he sucks" as well.
We had a defensive breakdown on the first NYR goal. Dan Ellis did everything he could. I'm not sure whose fault it was but I know it wasn't his.
Henrik Lundqvist did not look like he was battling the flu. Boo to that.
At one point there was a Smithson-Legwand-Fiddler line? Three natural centers pretending to be RW, LW and center. Hmph, that's the Trotz formula for you.
SHEA FREAKING WEBER.
Oh, JP Dumont. I forget how much I love you.
The third Rangers goal pretty much sucked. Suter and Smithson were doing everything they could to keep it out.
We had some decent pressure early in the third. Too bad we didn't capitalize on it.
And the goal that sealed our fate: WE LET THEM SCORE SHORTHANDED. I have HUGE issues with that.
After a while, I noticed that Ville Koistinen switched from offense to defense. Yeah, that's helpful. Confuse the players even more.
I knew it was inevitable but Jason Arnott was most definitely missed in the lineup tonight. I never felt like any line in particular had enough jump. And while our power play might be pretty crappy for the most part, it was way worse without Arnott on the ice.
Okay, so...we win six in a row and then drop three straight. Some might see these past three losses as an okay thing because they were all against Eastern Conference teams. However, we didn't need to start our four game West Coast road trip this way. Last time we went to California, things turned out surprisingly well. I am hopeful that we can mirror that success because we REALLY need to.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Cue more girly giddyness
Twitter from predsradio: Ellis goes tonight, Pekka not quite 100% yet. Lundqvist (NYR) also battling flu but expected to start instead of Valliquette.
I get to see Dan Ellis versus Henrik Lundqvist tonight. That's like, all my wildest dreams come true.
Also, Arnott's "skate problem" from Tuesday materialized into something serious enough for him to not dress tonight. Jerred Smithson moves back to his natural position of center and I'm assuming Legwand becomes the top line center for the evening. As it typically goes when JP is out, with Jason out tonight, I think the team might have a slight chemistry deficit to overcome in the first few shifts.
Hmmm...this is going to be an interesting game.
I get to see Dan Ellis versus Henrik Lundqvist tonight. That's like, all my wildest dreams come true.
Also, Arnott's "skate problem" from Tuesday materialized into something serious enough for him to not dress tonight. Jerred Smithson moves back to his natural position of center and I'm assuming Legwand becomes the top line center for the evening. As it typically goes when JP is out, with Jason out tonight, I think the team might have a slight chemistry deficit to overcome in the first few shifts.
Hmmm...this is going to be an interesting game.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
2009 Predators Foundation Gala Disco Ball
Gala Recap and Photo Gallery
Okay, I have to hand it to the guys this year. They took the disco theme very seriously. The "Gala Ball" photo gallery had me laughing A LOT. Check out Greg Zanon's attempt at having hair. AND...Antti Pihlstrom looked NOTHING like himself. If they had not labeled the pictures, I never would have guessed that was him. Captain Hair lived up to his name Sunday night.
Okay, I have to hand it to the guys this year. They took the disco theme very seriously. The "Gala Ball" photo gallery had me laughing A LOT. Check out Greg Zanon's attempt at having hair. AND...Antti Pihlstrom looked NOTHING like himself. If they had not labeled the pictures, I never would have guessed that was him. Captain Hair lived up to his name Sunday night.
I kind of miss the mustard
Predators Third Jersey Coming Next Season
This news was announced in conjunction with the season ticket holder renewals and the Front Office's new 2/20 Loyalty Plan. I'm looking forward to the final design because if they've been working on it since last fall, it should pretty good.
I'm also hoping this jersey doesn't end up on another one of ESPN's "Top 10 Ugliest Sports Jerseys" list again.
This news was announced in conjunction with the season ticket holder renewals and the Front Office's new 2/20 Loyalty Plan. I'm looking forward to the final design because if they've been working on it since last fall, it should pretty good.
I'm also hoping this jersey doesn't end up on another one of ESPN's "Top 10 Ugliest Sports Jerseys" list again.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
3/10/09 - Washington at Nashville: L 2-1 Final OT
Observations:
After seeing that Dan Ellis's backup was Drew MacIntyre, here was my pre-game plea: Please dear Lord God in heaven, let Elly be amazing tonight. MacIntyre is not a favorite of mine. He was horrible at training camp.
It's so good to NOT see Scott Nichol's name on the injured list. Welcome back, Scooter!
We had so much pressure before the first minute even ticked off the clock. 4 SOG and one goal later, that's the EXACT way we needed to start off this game. Give Elly some confident players in front of him and he'll be good to go.
Elly's in net, wearing his new pads AND I got to see the Ellis Shuffle. I seriously unabashedly love Dan Ellis.
OMG, this place went nuts after both Belak and Tootoo's fights. However, throw up in my mouth with all of Matt Bradley's blood on the ice.
I love how comfortable Wade Belak looked in the penalty box after his fight with Brashear. It seriously looked like he was ready for some tea and crumpets.
Our defense played like rockstars all through the first.
Right as I had given up hope of the refs calling anything besides a fighting major, we finally get a power play. We didn't do much with it but at least we got one.
Annnnddddd....the second period sucked. That is all.
Jason Arnott should have remembered the advice he gave Joel Ward a couple of games ago about not passing to someone else if you have a clean shot. He could have put us up by one early in the third period if he had remembered that.
JP Dumont played really physical tonight. I'm not really sure where it came from but you know I like it when the Frenchman is all fired up.
Arnott's "skate problem" that kept him from the rest of the game sounds like hockey talk for a wardrobe malfunction OR lower body injury. Take your pick.
Killing off that penalty late in the third really gave us some motivation to grind it out. Elly's many fantastic saves were also key to keeping us in the game.
Unfortunately, there was no love from our guys for Dan Ellis at the very end. What a anticlimatic finish. Elly most definitely deserved the first star of the night. That might have actually been the first time I've ever seen us give the first star to someone on the losing team.
So, obviously I had mad love for Dan Ellis tonight. I was all kinds of giddy when I found out he was starting. I really wish we could have pulled out two points and a W with him in net though. The third "Key to the Game" tonight was "Every point is precious" or something like that. I scoffed at that notion because it made it seem like the team was okay with settling for walking away with just one point tonight. And then we did. I'm not saying that it's not good that we got at least one point out of the game but we really shouldn't strive for JUST that one point. We also shouldn't announce that it's our game plan right off the bat either. I'm not a fan of that particular sentiment at the moment.
The boys play their final Eastern Conference opponent this season when the New York Rangers (yay!) come to town on Thursday night. This is the first time the Rangers have made an appearance in Nashville since November 2005, I believe. I have been looking forward to this game since the schedule was released last July. It's a battle of my favorite Western Conference team versus my favorite Eastern Conference team. I might possibly even wear my Rangers shirt to the game. Have no fear though. I'll still be rooting as loudly as possible for the Predators. We need the points and I don't like the Rangers THAT much.
After seeing that Dan Ellis's backup was Drew MacIntyre, here was my pre-game plea: Please dear Lord God in heaven, let Elly be amazing tonight. MacIntyre is not a favorite of mine. He was horrible at training camp.
It's so good to NOT see Scott Nichol's name on the injured list. Welcome back, Scooter!
We had so much pressure before the first minute even ticked off the clock. 4 SOG and one goal later, that's the EXACT way we needed to start off this game. Give Elly some confident players in front of him and he'll be good to go.
Elly's in net, wearing his new pads AND I got to see the Ellis Shuffle. I seriously unabashedly love Dan Ellis.
OMG, this place went nuts after both Belak and Tootoo's fights. However, throw up in my mouth with all of Matt Bradley's blood on the ice.
I love how comfortable Wade Belak looked in the penalty box after his fight with Brashear. It seriously looked like he was ready for some tea and crumpets.
Our defense played like rockstars all through the first.
Right as I had given up hope of the refs calling anything besides a fighting major, we finally get a power play. We didn't do much with it but at least we got one.
Annnnddddd....the second period sucked. That is all.
Jason Arnott should have remembered the advice he gave Joel Ward a couple of games ago about not passing to someone else if you have a clean shot. He could have put us up by one early in the third period if he had remembered that.
JP Dumont played really physical tonight. I'm not really sure where it came from but you know I like it when the Frenchman is all fired up.
Arnott's "skate problem" that kept him from the rest of the game sounds like hockey talk for a wardrobe malfunction OR lower body injury. Take your pick.
Killing off that penalty late in the third really gave us some motivation to grind it out. Elly's many fantastic saves were also key to keeping us in the game.
Unfortunately, there was no love from our guys for Dan Ellis at the very end. What a anticlimatic finish. Elly most definitely deserved the first star of the night. That might have actually been the first time I've ever seen us give the first star to someone on the losing team.
So, obviously I had mad love for Dan Ellis tonight. I was all kinds of giddy when I found out he was starting. I really wish we could have pulled out two points and a W with him in net though. The third "Key to the Game" tonight was "Every point is precious" or something like that. I scoffed at that notion because it made it seem like the team was okay with settling for walking away with just one point tonight. And then we did. I'm not saying that it's not good that we got at least one point out of the game but we really shouldn't strive for JUST that one point. We also shouldn't announce that it's our game plan right off the bat either. I'm not a fan of that particular sentiment at the moment.
The boys play their final Eastern Conference opponent this season when the New York Rangers (yay!) come to town on Thursday night. This is the first time the Rangers have made an appearance in Nashville since November 2005, I believe. I have been looking forward to this game since the schedule was released last July. It's a battle of my favorite Western Conference team versus my favorite Eastern Conference team. I might possibly even wear my Rangers shirt to the game. Have no fear though. I'll still be rooting as loudly as possible for the Predators. We need the points and I don't like the Rangers THAT much.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
3/7/09 - Nashville at Philadelphia: L 1-4 Final
Observations, ummmm...thoughts, maybe? I'm not really sure how this works when you can't catch it on television. And I'm really upset about this too because I wanted to watch our guys take on the Flyers with my eyes and not just my ears seeing as how we don't hardly ever get to play them. The internet feed was not my friend tonight.
Does anyone else think that Tootoo wanted to have a go at Carcillo because it was his trade that sent Jordin's BFF, Scottie Upshall, to the struggling Phoenix Coyotes and even farther away from him?
We became really undisciplined late in the first. What the heck happened to us? We were very fortunate not to have the Flyers score on us during the last seven minutes or so. Not that I don't have full confidence in our penalty kill because they're amazing in their own right.
Well, so much for our penalty kill hanging in there. With the four penalties called against us, it was just a matter of time before Philly scored.
UGH...we can't seem to catch a break with the penalty calls tonight.
Martin Biron was on fire tonight. He wasn't letting anything get past him.
It sounded like the Jerred Smithson, Ryan Jones, Wade Belak line was really trying to create some pressure as well. That makes me happy because this line seems very mismatched to me.
THANK YOU, MARTIN ERAT!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Trotz, what the crap are you doing with the lines again?! Arnott, Dumont and Tootoo...REALLY?! Yeah, this line helped Philly score their third.
Probably my favorite in-game tweet ever: predsradio Well, at least we're... I mean, we've... we almost... **sigh** I'm calling it, Belak scores. LOVE IT. Also seems like a pretty concise opinion of how we played tonight.
Well, I didn't want to say this at the onset of the game but I had a feeling we were going to drop this one. However, I did not expect Trotz to mess with the lines as much as he did. We have been playing so well and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to start shuffling lines again. Even the defense pairings (except for the twins) were all screwed up. Honestly, I had no aspirations of us winning game after game after game, never to lose again but I don't think we played like we could have tonight. Not that I could see what was happening but I could tell just by the way the game was called by Pete and Terry and by comments from Tom Callahan. These are the games we should be winning though. Picking up points from Eastern conference match ups is crucial to grabbing and maintaining a lead in this ridiculous race for the playoffs. Due to Columbus's surprising win against Detroit and Edmonton's win against Toronto, we're back in ninth again. This rollercoaster ride into the postseason is driving me crazy.
Does anyone else think that Tootoo wanted to have a go at Carcillo because it was his trade that sent Jordin's BFF, Scottie Upshall, to the struggling Phoenix Coyotes and even farther away from him?
We became really undisciplined late in the first. What the heck happened to us? We were very fortunate not to have the Flyers score on us during the last seven minutes or so. Not that I don't have full confidence in our penalty kill because they're amazing in their own right.
Well, so much for our penalty kill hanging in there. With the four penalties called against us, it was just a matter of time before Philly scored.
UGH...we can't seem to catch a break with the penalty calls tonight.
Martin Biron was on fire tonight. He wasn't letting anything get past him.
It sounded like the Jerred Smithson, Ryan Jones, Wade Belak line was really trying to create some pressure as well. That makes me happy because this line seems very mismatched to me.
THANK YOU, MARTIN ERAT!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Trotz, what the crap are you doing with the lines again?! Arnott, Dumont and Tootoo...REALLY?! Yeah, this line helped Philly score their third.
Probably my favorite in-game tweet ever: predsradio Well, at least we're... I mean, we've... we almost... **sigh** I'm calling it, Belak scores. LOVE IT. Also seems like a pretty concise opinion of how we played tonight.
Well, I didn't want to say this at the onset of the game but I had a feeling we were going to drop this one. However, I did not expect Trotz to mess with the lines as much as he did. We have been playing so well and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to start shuffling lines again. Even the defense pairings (except for the twins) were all screwed up. Honestly, I had no aspirations of us winning game after game after game, never to lose again but I don't think we played like we could have tonight. Not that I could see what was happening but I could tell just by the way the game was called by Pete and Terry and by comments from Tom Callahan. These are the games we should be winning though. Picking up points from Eastern conference match ups is crucial to grabbing and maintaining a lead in this ridiculous race for the playoffs. Due to Columbus's surprising win against Detroit and Edmonton's win against Toronto, we're back in ninth again. This rollercoaster ride into the postseason is driving me crazy.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
3/5/09 - Columbus at Nashville: W 2-4 Final
SIX WINS IN A ROW EQUALS SIXTH PLACE IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS. Never in a million years did I think we could actually start pulling this off. I'm beaming right now.
Observations:
So we're sticking with the old animation for pre-game....okay, I can deal with that, I guess.
Refs are stupid. That is all.
I did NOT realize that our first penalty actually turned into a 5-on-3 until like, over halfway through it. Needless to say, our penalty kill continues to impress me.
How many near misses can we get in one period?!?! We only had 3 SOG halfway through the first but it seems like it should have been a million more.
Two "no-goal" calls in succession makes this girl extremely unhappy. Especially when the no-goal call on us was CRAP.
I kind of knew this game was going to be like this. I wish it wasn't though.
Forget what I said on Tuesday night about the 22-42-38 line not having chemistry. They were the only line that looked in sync out there for a while.
Both Columbus goals were scored in pretty much the exact same way. Both were high up over Pekka's right shoulder and off the crossbar. Someone's video coach has been doing his homework.
Thank you for our second goal, Columbus. Seriously, Kris Russell totally scored that one for us. I mean, WADE BELAK got an assist on that goal out of sheer luck that he touched the puck before Ryan Jones and ultimately, Kris Russell.
Sully's breakaway goal was so freaking sweet!!! It's nice to see that we can actually capitalize on a goal like that every once in a while because we seem to have missed far more of those this season than we should have.
Thank you, Front Office, for taking a cue from the St. Louis Blues and showing current stats during the intermissions. Smart move.
MARTIN FREAKING ERAT. I love you.
It's interesting to me to see the shot count in the third so lopsided in Columbus's favor. 30 to 19, at one point. I never would have expected that. That just goes to show that we've had better quality shots.
Okay seriously, thank you Kris Russell. Tonight you get my third star of the game. And not for the fact that you were so amazing for Columbus because I most definitely noticed you helping us out a whole lot more. First, you scored us our second goal and then you go and give us a power play in the third. There are a lot of times when I will notice players from the visiting teams because they are just so good and really help their team keep things moving. Tonight however, Kris Russell, you were an honorary member of the Nashville Predators. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Columbus was having issues with keeping the net on its moorings tonight.
I love Fiddler's drive after he gets one goal. It's like he won't stop unless he can score another.
We had Xena, Warrior Princess in our section tonight. I kind of liked it.
SHEA WEBER....I LOVE YOU, ALWAYS.
Six in a row, ladies and gentlemen. Six in a row. This win felt as good as I was hoping it would. For all the naysayers who constantly put us down and don't give us enough credit, I say "what do you have to say now, huh?".
Saturday night we take on the Philadelphia Flyers, or more affectionately known as Predators East. And if we were to somehow mysteriously bring Scott Hartnell or Kimmo Timonen back with us on the plane, I wouldn't be complaining in the least.
Observations:
So we're sticking with the old animation for pre-game....okay, I can deal with that, I guess.
Refs are stupid. That is all.
I did NOT realize that our first penalty actually turned into a 5-on-3 until like, over halfway through it. Needless to say, our penalty kill continues to impress me.
How many near misses can we get in one period?!?! We only had 3 SOG halfway through the first but it seems like it should have been a million more.
Two "no-goal" calls in succession makes this girl extremely unhappy. Especially when the no-goal call on us was CRAP.
I kind of knew this game was going to be like this. I wish it wasn't though.
Forget what I said on Tuesday night about the 22-42-38 line not having chemistry. They were the only line that looked in sync out there for a while.
Both Columbus goals were scored in pretty much the exact same way. Both were high up over Pekka's right shoulder and off the crossbar. Someone's video coach has been doing his homework.
Thank you for our second goal, Columbus. Seriously, Kris Russell totally scored that one for us. I mean, WADE BELAK got an assist on that goal out of sheer luck that he touched the puck before Ryan Jones and ultimately, Kris Russell.
Sully's breakaway goal was so freaking sweet!!! It's nice to see that we can actually capitalize on a goal like that every once in a while because we seem to have missed far more of those this season than we should have.
Thank you, Front Office, for taking a cue from the St. Louis Blues and showing current stats during the intermissions. Smart move.
MARTIN FREAKING ERAT. I love you.
It's interesting to me to see the shot count in the third so lopsided in Columbus's favor. 30 to 19, at one point. I never would have expected that. That just goes to show that we've had better quality shots.
Okay seriously, thank you Kris Russell. Tonight you get my third star of the game. And not for the fact that you were so amazing for Columbus because I most definitely noticed you helping us out a whole lot more. First, you scored us our second goal and then you go and give us a power play in the third. There are a lot of times when I will notice players from the visiting teams because they are just so good and really help their team keep things moving. Tonight however, Kris Russell, you were an honorary member of the Nashville Predators. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Columbus was having issues with keeping the net on its moorings tonight.
I love Fiddler's drive after he gets one goal. It's like he won't stop unless he can score another.
We had Xena, Warrior Princess in our section tonight. I kind of liked it.
SHEA WEBER....I LOVE YOU, ALWAYS.
Six in a row, ladies and gentlemen. Six in a row. This win felt as good as I was hoping it would. For all the naysayers who constantly put us down and don't give us enough credit, I say "what do you have to say now, huh?".
Saturday night we take on the Philadelphia Flyers, or more affectionately known as Predators East. And if we were to somehow mysteriously bring Scott Hartnell or Kimmo Timonen back with us on the plane, I wouldn't be complaining in the least.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
3/3/09 - Edmonton at Nashville: W 5-6 OT Final
Observations:
Dear Front Office, I am loving the new pre-game videos; showing highlights from the previous game is the way to go. However, did someone decide that it would be like "retro cool" to bust out that way old animation intro? I felt like I was five again, revisiting my Saturday morning cartoons.
OMG...sitting at the glass is like a whole new world....that I want to revisit over and over again.
Edmonton came out with a jolt. They looked very hungry on the first few shifts out.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the 25-11-29 line!
I knew this was going to be a fight of the wills for both teams so I'm not suprised that Edmonton seems like they're out for blood.
I can't believe I'm saying this but David Legwand is on fire. I wonder what made the light go off in his head all of a sudden.
Can a ref call interference on himself?! That trip up with Tootoo was so unfortunately timed. And Jordin looked all kinds of pissed off after he got elbowed.
Our defense was solid in the second. We only let EDM get 4 SOG to our 16. What a well rounded second period. Probably one of the better ones we've had all season.
Shea Weber fights two games in a row?! That boy hardly ever disappoints me anymore.
Watching Pekka up close and personal for two periods solidifies my belief in him as our number one goalie. He always seems to be on top of the play. The sequence where he lost his glove AND his stick while Edmonton was crashing the net was unbelievable.
The Oilers were not playing around at the start of the third. They wanted to win and it showed. They were able to get past our D and catch us at our weakest when we were in the middle of a line change.
Sully's goal was most definitely a good momentum change in the third. It's just what we needed. Scratch that....BOTH Sullivan goals were exactly what we needed!
I don't know if the third line is doing it for me. I don't think Fids, Pihlstrom and Tootoo have much chemistry together.
Winning in overtime is not exactly the scenario I had in mind but, it will do. We still ended up with two points, even if it left Edmonton tied with us at 68 points a piece. And now we head into Thursday night to face off against the Columbus Bluejackets. Two seasons ago, or even last season for that matter, I would have said that this upcoming game is a no-brainer easy win. This season, not so much. The Bluejackets are finally coming into their own as a team and they deserve the success that they are having. However, WE NEED THE POINTS. And not to go to overtime. Three point games only make things worse.
Thursday night is going to be EPIC. Mark my words.
Dear Front Office, I am loving the new pre-game videos; showing highlights from the previous game is the way to go. However, did someone decide that it would be like "retro cool" to bust out that way old animation intro? I felt like I was five again, revisiting my Saturday morning cartoons.
OMG...sitting at the glass is like a whole new world....that I want to revisit over and over again.
Edmonton came out with a jolt. They looked very hungry on the first few shifts out.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the 25-11-29 line!
I knew this was going to be a fight of the wills for both teams so I'm not suprised that Edmonton seems like they're out for blood.
I can't believe I'm saying this but David Legwand is on fire. I wonder what made the light go off in his head all of a sudden.
Can a ref call interference on himself?! That trip up with Tootoo was so unfortunately timed. And Jordin looked all kinds of pissed off after he got elbowed.
Our defense was solid in the second. We only let EDM get 4 SOG to our 16. What a well rounded second period. Probably one of the better ones we've had all season.
Shea Weber fights two games in a row?! That boy hardly ever disappoints me anymore.
Watching Pekka up close and personal for two periods solidifies my belief in him as our number one goalie. He always seems to be on top of the play. The sequence where he lost his glove AND his stick while Edmonton was crashing the net was unbelievable.
The Oilers were not playing around at the start of the third. They wanted to win and it showed. They were able to get past our D and catch us at our weakest when we were in the middle of a line change.
Sully's goal was most definitely a good momentum change in the third. It's just what we needed. Scratch that....BOTH Sullivan goals were exactly what we needed!
I don't know if the third line is doing it for me. I don't think Fids, Pihlstrom and Tootoo have much chemistry together.
Winning in overtime is not exactly the scenario I had in mind but, it will do. We still ended up with two points, even if it left Edmonton tied with us at 68 points a piece. And now we head into Thursday night to face off against the Columbus Bluejackets. Two seasons ago, or even last season for that matter, I would have said that this upcoming game is a no-brainer easy win. This season, not so much. The Bluejackets are finally coming into their own as a team and they deserve the success that they are having. However, WE NEED THE POINTS. And not to go to overtime. Three point games only make things worse.
Thursday night is going to be EPIC. Mark my words.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Much deserved recognition
Pekka Rinne is the NHL's Rookie of the Month
This honor marks the first time in franchise history that a Predator has received this specific distinction.
Now, everyone knows I'm a softie for Dan Ellis but Pekka definitely worked hard this past month to gain my respect as our netminder.
And so it seems that the Predators goalie heir-apparent might finally be able to ascend his throne.
Congratulations, Pekka.
This honor marks the first time in franchise history that a Predator has received this specific distinction.
Now, everyone knows I'm a softie for Dan Ellis but Pekka definitely worked hard this past month to gain my respect as our netminder.
And so it seems that the Predators goalie heir-apparent might finally be able to ascend his throne.
Congratulations, Pekka.
"A whole new world..."
Good news: I am no longer sick. Bad news: I am slightly hungover from all the fabulousness that I experienced from sitting on the glass for the first time ever.
I promise you that my recap will be up first thing in the morning. For now, I'm going to continue playing how intense tonight's game was over and over in my head, as I sing along to "A Whole New World" courtesy of Disney's "Aladdin" and try to not think about how spoiled I would be if I got to sit on the glass for every game.
And of course, Trade Deadline day is tomorrow! Oh my gosh...tomorrow is going to be like my favorite day of the year...as long as we don't trade Martin Erat.
I promise you that my recap will be up first thing in the morning. For now, I'm going to continue playing how intense tonight's game was over and over in my head, as I sing along to "A Whole New World" courtesy of Disney's "Aladdin" and try to not think about how spoiled I would be if I got to sit on the glass for every game.
And of course, Trade Deadline day is tomorrow! Oh my gosh...tomorrow is going to be like my favorite day of the year...as long as we don't trade Martin Erat.
Monday, March 2, 2009
The countdown begins
I love everything about Trade Deadline day. I especially love the moods the day evokes; the anxiousness, the excitement, the surprises, the not-so-surprises and everything in between. Listening to TSN’s live feed of the day’s transactions is almost like staying glued to CNN on Election Day…well, not quite but you get the picture.
As always with the Predators organization, it’s hard to tell what kind of part we will play in the raucous symphony that is sure to be March 4th. We’ve been tearing it up as of late so most would assume that the organization would be looking to buy a little something (someone) extra to help us get over the eighth spot hump and climb as high as we can before the end of the regular season. But is that really what we need? Obviously, our biggest struggle this season has been our ability to score; a situation that held some promise of remedy with Steve Sullivan’s return to the lineup. However, as I speculated before Sully even made his triumphant return, it took him a while to catch his stride. Playing professional-level hockey isn’t exactly a hop back on the old bike. While Sullivan is starting to make some impact on our offense again, the other lines (that Coach Trotz will actually keep together) seem to finally be clicking as well. The rest of the team’s top-line scorers are putting up solid performances and finding ways to light the lamp night after night. This begs the question: with the way things are going, do we need to disrupt what appears to be working?
We do have a few “extra” players on our current roster that could be packaged for a deal if the price was right though. Not that I’m saying we should go out and pursue a Forsberg (let’s not go down that road again, okay?) but would it hurt to bring in another solid playmaker/scorer to add that extra “umph” to the team as we head down the stretch? This is where it gets tricky for me because I can’t decide if we keep things the way they are and use Milwaukee as needed for some fillers or get rid of players who are good in their own right but might not be a good fit for our system any longer. I will say that I would be shocked if we went all out for some big name player, trading away some of ours in return. I would not be surprised, however, if we chose to quietly pick up a couple of guys at the deadline, much like we did last year OR if we chose to do nothing at all.
See how I just essentially contradicted myself as I tried to reconcile my thoughts into words? Yet another reason why I love trade deadline day; you just never know what’s going to happen and I love a good surprise.
I know you people have your own opinions about what we should be doing or not doing. Leave them in the comments and let the fun and speculation commence.
As always with the Predators organization, it’s hard to tell what kind of part we will play in the raucous symphony that is sure to be March 4th. We’ve been tearing it up as of late so most would assume that the organization would be looking to buy a little something (someone) extra to help us get over the eighth spot hump and climb as high as we can before the end of the regular season. But is that really what we need? Obviously, our biggest struggle this season has been our ability to score; a situation that held some promise of remedy with Steve Sullivan’s return to the lineup. However, as I speculated before Sully even made his triumphant return, it took him a while to catch his stride. Playing professional-level hockey isn’t exactly a hop back on the old bike. While Sullivan is starting to make some impact on our offense again, the other lines (that Coach Trotz will actually keep together) seem to finally be clicking as well. The rest of the team’s top-line scorers are putting up solid performances and finding ways to light the lamp night after night. This begs the question: with the way things are going, do we need to disrupt what appears to be working?
We do have a few “extra” players on our current roster that could be packaged for a deal if the price was right though. Not that I’m saying we should go out and pursue a Forsberg (let’s not go down that road again, okay?) but would it hurt to bring in another solid playmaker/scorer to add that extra “umph” to the team as we head down the stretch? This is where it gets tricky for me because I can’t decide if we keep things the way they are and use Milwaukee as needed for some fillers or get rid of players who are good in their own right but might not be a good fit for our system any longer. I will say that I would be shocked if we went all out for some big name player, trading away some of ours in return. I would not be surprised, however, if we chose to quietly pick up a couple of guys at the deadline, much like we did last year OR if we chose to do nothing at all.
See how I just essentially contradicted myself as I tried to reconcile my thoughts into words? Yet another reason why I love trade deadline day; you just never know what’s going to happen and I love a good surprise.
I know you people have your own opinions about what we should be doing or not doing. Leave them in the comments and let the fun and speculation commence.
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