Last night’s win over Anaheim was a perfect example of the old saying “what goes around, comes around.” After not getting the bounces for quite awhile, the Predators got quite a few last night… OK, they got ALL the bounces in their 4-1 win over the Ducks, marking their third straight win. It was much closer than the final score… those two empty netters at the end made it look a lot more lopsided… but Pekka Rinne was outstanding between the pipes stopping 40 shots and lowering his GAA to 2.20 on the season, good for 5th best in the league.

Take your luck, and your two points and move across town the Staples Center for the second of their back-to-back. Tonight’s opponent? The Los Angeles Kings, the team that has outscored the Preds in their last two games 10-2, showing a combination of speed and physicality that has weakened the Preds like Kryptonite affect Superman. That being said, Nashville has shown success on the King’s home ice, posting a 7-2-0 mark since the start of the 2006-07 season.

The Predators have to bring it hard tonight and match the Kings hit for hit as LA will try to use its’ size advantage to free up their snipers. Nashville needs to stay disciplined and not give the Kings too much time on the power play. The Kings are struggling a bit right now, as they are on a four game losing streak. They may be a streaky as the Preds as this losing streak follows a four game win streak.

The Kings list two as out tonight Alexei Ponikarovsky and Willie Mitchell, Scott Parse remains on IR. The Preds list remains the same as last night, Lombardi, Sullivan, Erat, and O’Reilly.

Game time is 9:30pm Central, coverage on 102.9 the Buzz and Fox Sports Tennessee.

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SlapShot Radio’s podcast from last night is online… Our special guest was the President of HBO Sports and Executive Producer of 24/7 Penguins-Capitals Road to the Winter Classic Ross Greenburg. He joined us to talk about the series and give us an inside look at the making of it. We also got an update on Ryan Getlaf’s injury and more from the media scrum prior to last night’s game, listen online at slapshotradio.com

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Random Notes

-Last night’s Preds win was Barry Trotz’s 431st career win… tying him with the legendary Dick Irvin for sixth on the all-time wins with one team list..

- The standings shuffle continues on a nightly basis. The Predators stand 6th in the west right now, one point ahead of tonight’s opponent with an equal number of games played. They stand one point behind san Jose, who the Preds meet up with on Saturday.

- The finale of 24/7 was everything I expected and more. Kudos to the NHL and HBO for putting together a riveting four hours of programming that showed everything we love about this game. HBO2 will be running the entire series back-to-back on Saturday.

- Another Miracle on Ice in a New York town. 31 years after Team USA captured gold in Lake Placid, Team Russia captured gold in Buffalo. Trailing 3-0 going into the third period of last night’s gold medal game, the Russians scored three goals in seven and a half minutes and stunned the Canadians on their way to a 5-3 victory.

- Congratulation to Team USA on capturing bronze yesterday over Team Sweden. This is the first time Team USA has medaled in two consecutive WJC’s.

- Both Predator prospects in yesterday’s games captured top three player honors. Ryan Ellis for Team Canada and Patrik Cehlin for Team Sweden. Pred Nation knew about Ellis… but Cehlin was a revelation in this tournament.

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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, but we are having a bit of fun by getting your input on Gnash introductions, weigh in on Twitter and who knows, we may use your introduction for the best mascot in the NHL at the next Preds game!

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COMING UP ON THE NEXT SLAPSHOT RADIO…

We will preview the NCAA game between UAH and Merrimac coming to the Bridge and more… It’s all on Wednesday’s SlapShot Radio, 6pm Central on SportsRadio 560 WNSR or listen online at www.slapshotradio.com

For the most updated guest information go to the SlapShot Radio website.

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