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What a tough night at the Bridge. Pred Nation brought it, after the game five disaster, Pred Nation sold out the arena, made it loud and kept it loud for the entire game, urging on their team, frantically waving their rally towels and cheering until they had no voice left. It was an awesome sight.
Once more the team went into the playoffs with an injury to a key player. Once more the team came up short in an elimination game. Once more the Preds drop a series in front of a home crowd. Once more Nashville is left with a feeling of “woulda, coulda, shoulda.” The story of this series ends up coming down to two words… What if?
- What if Patric Hornqvist was healthy for this series?
- What if Nashville brought the energy in game two and this team came back from Chicago with a 2-0 series lead?
- What if Nashville kept its discipline in the second period of game 4, instead of trading chances that led to a two goal burst, effectively ending the game.
- What if game five… well… what if game five had ended like it should’ve? Honestly I don’t buy the speculation that the Preds should’ve gone into a “prevent” style of game. You play to win, and for some reason, the hockey gods frowned. Hossa scoring the game winner was just salt in the wound.
- What if the power play … well… what if there was a power play? The Predators anemic power play came back to bite them in this series. It does beg the question, hindsight being 20/20… Why did the coaching staff wait till after game five to adjust?
In the end, the team just didn’t take advantage of the opportunities supplied them. I get the feeling if Chicago lifts the Cup this year, they will point back to this series as the toughest one they had to face, just like Detroit two years ago. I have to admit, I'm getting a little tired of being the "tough out."
When you look back on this season, it’s hard to be disappointed. This is a team that was predicted to be at the bottom of the conference, competing for a lottery spot, that ended up being a 100 point team that gave Chicago more than they wanted. A 100 point team that showed tremendous resiliency over and over again.
I hate the end of a season… Believe me, I can use the break, and it’s very nice to have more time with my family and a little rest and reconnection. But truth be told, I really hate the end… Now the injury updates will start to come. What was Hornqvist’s UBI, was Arnott fully recovered from his concussion, etc. The season post-mortem will occur, some fans will scream for someone to be fired, some will plead patience, some will look for the positive, some will only see the negative. Then comes the draft, prospect camp and July 1… the hopes are rekindled, the schedule is released, plans are made, dates are circled… then the countdown to training camp to begin it all again. It’s all part of the cycle of hockey.
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Been a bad week to play Chicago as the Wolves knocked the Admirals out of the AHL playoffs last night by a score of 2-1 in their best of seven series… winning the series 4-3.
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Hey… someone woke Joe Biddle up and told him there was a hockey team in town! Finally a column on the Predators… what, wasn’t there a controversy about the quality of the air being pumped into the basketballs used by the NCAA to write about???
Wed. Night – The Predators may be done… but SlapShot Radio will take it all the way through the July 1 free agent season. Our playoff reports continue with insiders from across the NHL. SlapShot Radio, Live every Wednesday at 6pm on SportsRadio 560 WNSR and online at www.slapshotradio.com.
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You are invited to follow me on Twitter. Search for PredPAPaul… Not only will I be updating when I get news or updates… I’ll also be updating with starting lineups and scratches during Pred home games, also I’ll be supplying information and explanations from the PA box.
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