The final two weeks of the regular season is here.
The Nashville Predators are back on the ice today for a closed practice at Bridgestone Arena, preparing for tomorrow night’s matchup against the conference leading Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver comes to town after capturing their first ever 50 win season last night in their 4-1 victory over Columbus. A costly victory for the Canucks as former Predator Dan Hamhuis went down in the first period with what appeared to be another concussion.
Vancouver appears to be in “let's get the team ready for the playoffs” mode, cruising to what is almost assured to be a President’s Trophy, they hold a seven point lead over Philadelphia for those honors.
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The final fifteen… the record so far through the first nine 8-1-0
Games 13-15 – Minnesota (W), Colorado (W), Los Angeles (L) – 2-1-0
Games 10-12 – Boston (W), Detroit (W), @Buffalo (W) – 3-0-0
Games 7-9 – Edmonton (W), Anaheim (W), Dallas (Sat) – 3-0-0
Games 4-6 – Vancouver (Tue), @Colorado (Thu), Detroit (Sat)
Games 1-3 – Atlanta (4/5), Columbus (4/8), @ St. Louis (4/9)
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Random Notes
- The standings update… the Predators are in 6th, they have 92 points tied with 5th place Los Angeles . They trail 4th place Phoenix by one point. The Preds lead 7th place Anaheim by three points, 8th place Chicago by four points, 9th place Calgary by five and 10th place Dallas by six. The Ducks and Kings have a game in hand, the Stars and Blackhawks have two games in hand on Nashville. Nashville has a game in hand over the Coyotes and Flames.
- Tonight’s impact games – Chicago @ Detroit – National TV and a game with huge playoff implications. A Detroit win will finish any hopes (faint as they are) of Nashville catching the Red Wings in the division race, a Chicago win puts them within two of the Preds and Kings. Colorado @ Anaheim – The Ducks helped themselves tremendously by finishing their road trip with a win in Chicago.
- The Predator’s playoff chances are now 96.2% (according to SportsClubStats.com). Who to root for tonight? Colorado and pray that the DET/CHI game ends in regulation.
- The Predators now have 35 Regulation and Overtime Wins (ROW) putting them in much better tie-breaker shape.
- The chase group in the west and their playoff chances, per SportsClubStats…
4. Phoenix – 93 points – 94.8%
5. Los Angeles – 92 points – 96.1%
6. Nashville – 92 points – 96.2%
7. Anaheim – 89 points – 76.6%
8. Chicago – 88 points – 84.2%
9. Calgary – 87 points – 8.6%
10. Dallas – 86 points – 43.5%
- With Buffalo holding a five point lead for the 8 spot in the east, that conference race seems all but over.
- Tonight’s Chicago – Detroit game comes down to the injury factor… how does Chicago deal with injuries to Patrick Sharp and Dave Bolland vs. how does Detroit deal with Jimmy Howard’s injury along with a dinged up Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen?
- I have to wonder… why no national game yesterday on NBC? Did they not want to compete with the NCAA’s?
- The Boston Bruins punched their ticket to the playoffs yesterday… four slots are captured in the East, only one in the West.
- After an entertaining weekend of college hockey, the Frozen Four is set. North Dakota will play Michigan in one semi-final and Notre Dame will play Minnesota-Duluth in the other. Semi’s are on April 7th at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The championship game will be on April 9th.
- Who’s Hot – In the East it’s the Pittsburgh Penguins, decimated by injuries, the Pens keep rolling, clinching their playoff spot and readying for the playoffs. In the West it’s the Nashville Predators, currently the owners of the longest win streak in the league (6 games), going 8-1-1 over their last ten.
- Who’s Not – In the east, the Carolina Hurricanes have gone 4-5-1 in their last ten and are in danger of falling completely out of the race for 8th. In the West, it’s the Minnesota Wild, going 1-7-2 in their last ten and turning what looked to be a promising season into another playoff miss..
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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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