A peaceful Easter Sunday morning dawns and Christians around the world celebrate the risen Lord. On behalf of my family, have a wonderful holiday.
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Sunday morning may be peaceful, but Sunday afternoon will be a much different story. A manic, raucous, sold out Bridgestone Arena awaits for a 5pm game six face-off in the Predators / Ducks series. For the first time in franchise history, the Nashville Predators have a chance to win a series. Friday night’s clutch win over Anaheim represented a lot of firsts, but the biggest “first” is on the line today.
So, how do the Predators do it? How do they win today and banish the “never won a playoff series” label forever? Pure and simple… discipline. By playing “Predator hockey,” and staying out of the box, Nashville gives itself their best chance to advance to the Western Conference Semi-Finals and avoiding another trip to Anaheim. The second thing that needs to happen is on defense, the blueline has been inconsistent at best, they need a strong effort today, and finally, keep Ray Emery moving. Emery has been a hero in this series, fighting through an injury that obviously is affecting how he moves, especially laterally. The back door has been open all series… the Predators must take advantage of it.
On the other side, how do the Ducks keep this series alive? Anaheim needs to get the Preds off their game. Their chippy play has paid off for them in keeping their lethal power play on the ice. The Ducks power play is converting at a rate of over 30%. They will need to draw penalties (especially on Shane O’Brien) in order to win this game.
The Predators have been to game six three times before and have lost all three, all of them being elimination games for them. More firsts are on the line. Puck drops at 5:10pm, coverage on Sports South, 102.9 the Buzz and Versus.
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Random Notes
- Nice piece on Jordin Tootoo in today’s Tennessean.
- The team has set a franchise record for scoring in the playoffs.
- How will Anaheim react to Friday’s soul killing loss at home? As Pred Nation knows all to well, that’s a tough one to recover from.
- Mike Fisher has done all the things he has been known for in these playoffs. Scoring, creating traffic, winning faceoffs.
- Boston and Montreal played an epic double overtime battle last night, Boston finally broke through to win a game on home ice.
- The Los Angeles Kings refuse to go quietly… big win for them to bring the series back to Staples Center for a game six.
- The Washington Capitals sent the Rangers packing yesterday. I kinda liked the “We are louder” chant at the Phone Booth yesterday.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning also forced a game six with a thrashing of the Pittsburgh Penguins in yesterday’s early game.
- Whatever happened to “home ice advantage?”
- Today’s playoff schedule – Three potential clinchers today… Philadelphia @ Buffalo – Sabres lead 3-2, 2pm CDT (NBC, TSN), Anaheim @ Nashville – Predators lead 3-2, 5pm CDT (SportsSouth, TSN), Vancouver @ Chicago – Canucks lead 3-2, 6:30pm CDT (Versus, CBC)
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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…
Next week’s guest list is being assembled… in the meantime, You can get check out our podcasts at
the SlapShot Radio podcast page.
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