Sloppy, unfocused, undisciplined. All could describe last night’s wild 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, the Predators first home regulation loss since very early January. While the Predators were able to keep LA’s top line off the scoresheet, the combo of Justin Williams and Trevor Lewis was too much for Nashville to handle…

Next up is the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night… but…

Just because the Preds are off today doesn’t mean you can’t put together a great evening of hockey in Nashville. Come on out to Blackstone Brewery and Restaurant as 102.5 the Game is taking over… Willy Daunic, Joe Dubin and the Sports Revolution will be there broadcasting live from 3pm – 6pm then Pete Weber and I take over with a great hour of hockey talk on SlapShot Radio. We’ll get you ready for your hockey weekend with “Puck the Media’s” Steve Lepore and one of our favorite guests, Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek. We are also planning on having Colorado’s Peter McNab, but that does depend on the Avalanche travel schedule today. After SlapShot Radio, The Jordin Tootoo Show takes over and he is bringing out the big guns… Captain Shea Weber and Mike Fisher are his scheduled guests.

Then you could make a brief drive down I-65 to catch the second half of the Tennessee High School Hockey Frozen Four. The winners of tonight’s games will faceoff at 1pm Saturday for the Predator’s Cup… the Tennessee High School State Championship and symbol of high school hockey excellence in the Volunteer State.

The games tonight will be taking place at A-Game Sportsplex in the Cool Springs area. The first game of the evening features a cross town battle between the top ranked Ravenwood Raptors and the Centennial Cougars. Ravenwood finished first in the Gold division regular season standings, posting a record of 18-1-2 and the Raptors boast a high powered offense. How high powered? Well… their season long goal differential was a +90. That is not a typo… Ravenwood is powered by three different two point per game producers, Corbin Pefanis, Nathan Traczewski and Taylor Griffin. Centennial, 11-8-2 in the regular season, is led by Derek Lyle, a goal scoring machine that potted 31 goals in 20 games during the regular season. The season series between the two teams saw Ravenwood win the first two, with a hard fought tie to conclude the series.

The second half of the double header features defending Predator’s Cup champ Brentwood taking on 2009 champ Father Ryan. Brentwood High’s Bruins were 17-4-0 in the regular season, good for the second seed in the tournament, and are led by Nathan Lee and Garrett Elmore in the scoring department. Father Ryan went 12-9-0, finishing third in the gold division, the Irish are led by a trio of seniors in Andrew Mueller, Zack Appleby and Mel Lonsway. The two teams met three times in the regular season with Brentwood taking two victories and the Irish taking one. The key in this one could be between the pipes as Senior netminder Andrew Frankin has paced the Irish with a 2.79 GAA and Brentwood’s Barry Jarnigan has a 2.21 GAA and a 91% save percentage.

Should be a great night of hockey in Middle Tennessee.

----------------------------------

“A Long March” – Tracking the stretch run…
Points Available – 30
Points Gained So Far – 2 out of 4

3/03 – @ Florida – W 3-1
3/06 – Los Angeles – L 5-4
3/08 – Colorado –
3/10 – Detroit –
3/12 – @ Phoenix –
3/15 – @ San Jose –
3/17 – @ Los Angeles –
3/18 - @ Anaheim –
3/20 – Edmonton –
3/22 - @ Pittsburgh –
3/24 – Winnipeg –
3/25 - @ Chicago –
3/27 - @ St. Louis –
3/30 - @ Detroit –
3/31 – Chicago –

-----------------------------------

Random Notes…

- With 16 games remaining in the regular season, the Predators remain 5th in the Western Conference standings with 83 points, trailing conference leading St. Louis by eight points and Detroit by six points. The Predators lead Chicago by 4 points. Nashville has one game in hand over Detroit and St. Louis, the Predators hold two games in hand over Chicago.

Tonight’s Impact Games

None

SportsClubStats Update
Predators Playoff Chances – 99.7%
Highest % Potential Playoff Opponent – St. Louis 27.2%, Detroit 62.0%

----------------------------------

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!

Also... make sure to "like" SlapShot Radio on Facebook... here's the link.

-------------------------------------

On the next SlapShot Radio

We are back tonight, live from Blackstone Brewery with Steve Lepore of Puck the Media, Peter McNab from the Colorado broadcast team will help us break down Thursday’s Avalanche game and much more on 102.5 the Game… Click here to listen or download any of our previous episodes.

-------------------------------------

KINDLE USERS: Please subscribe to Predators Buzz, a one-stop feed for all things Predators-related on HockeyBuzz. Your subscription includes a free 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month thereafter. For more information, click here.

Join the Discussion: » 62 Comments » Post New Comment

» The time has come

» Whining through Game 3

» Playoff Picks

» Waiting for he playoffs

» A special night in Smashville