First off… a very Happy St. Patrick’s day to all of you…
“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”
That always melts this ole Irish heart… on to tonight’s game…
The Nashville Predators enter a very difficult three game set starting with tonight’s game at Bridgestone Arena. The Boston Bruins are in town and, by all reports I have seen, we will see a matchup of the two best goaltenders in the league. Bruin goaltender Tim Thomas leads the league in save percentage and goals against, Pekka Rinne is hot on his heels, a close second in both categories. Thomas has seven shutouts so far this season, Rinne, six. So no one will be surprised if tonight is a 1-0 battle, won in a shootout, after writing that, I bet the game ends up being a 7-5 wild one! :-)
Personally, I believe that Thomas has the Vezina wrapped up for the season… but I also believe that Pekka Rinne makes one of the strongest cases for Hart Trophy consideration as the player judged to be most valuable to his team. Name me another player in the league that can so be clearly named; as the Predators without Rinne would be planning for the draft instead of in the midst of a playoff run right now.
The Bruins come in fairly healthy, only listing Marc Savard and former Pred Shane Hnidy as out, Andrew Ference is listed as questionable. The Preds IR list has not changed, however, Joel Ward is listed as questionable for tonight with a lower body injury. I would assume that JP Dumont will be hanging a little closer to the rink tonight as a just-in-case.
Puck drop is at 7pm, coverage on 102.9 the Buzz and Fox Sports Tennessee. Please join Greg Pogue and I at Rippy’s on Broadway for the WNSR pre-game show at 6pm.
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Random Notes
- The standings update… with Anaheim’s win last night, the Predators dropped to 10th in the conference with 80 points, one point behind 9th place Calgary and 8th place Anaheim, two points behind 7th place Dallas, four points behind 6th place Chicago and five points behind 4th place LA and 5th place Phoenix. Nashville holds two games in hand over Calgary and one game in hand over Phoenix.
- Tonight’s impact games – Chicago is at Dallas, Colorado is at Calgary, Phoenix visits Edmonton, St. Louis in at Los Angeles and Minnesota takes on San Jose at the Shark Tank.
- Nashville got no help in last night’s action as St. Louis lost to the Ducks.
- The Predator’s playoff chances are now down to 55.8% (according to SportsClubStats.com) after last night’s action. Who to root for tonight? Colorado, Chicago, Edmonton, San Jose, St. Louis and Detroit.
- Good one between the Caps and Wings last night as Detroit ended Washington’s nine game win streak.
- Vancouver wrapped up the division last night, and now have their sights set on the President’s Trophy.
- Nice to see Ray Emery back between the pipes last night, backstopping his first NHL win in over a year. Emery recovered from a hip problem that has threatened his career.
- The St. Louis Blues announced that they are for sale yesterday. I expect the rumors of their move to Winnipeg, Quebec City, Hamilton and Kitchener to begin at any second.
- BTW… looks like 66% of the Maple Leafs are for sale… hmmm… is that a vulture I see circling Toronto? :-) Just kidding folks... sorry, I just couldn't resist.
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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…
Great show at the Flying Saucer last night, expect the podcast to be posted later today..
Check out our past episodes at
the SlapShot Radio website.
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