First it was a zero for California jaunt, now we are talking about a zero for western Canada run. After last night’s distressing 3-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, alarm bells should be ringing all throughout Pred Nation, especially, Sergei Kostitsyn’s incredible error that led to what for all intents was the game winning goal. The fact that SK74’s error was in the game following his benching was really mind-blowing.

You can’t lay it all at the feet of Kostitsyn, this Predators team seems to have lost its’ way. It seems that in this shortened season, every mistake has ended up in the back of their net, every error being more glaring than the next and everything tried seems to end up in ashes. This month of March has not been kind to the Preds with only two wins in eight games and two separate three game losing streaks.

Ahead for this injured, bloodied team… the red hot Columbus Blue Jackets, who would like nothing better than to put their nemesis in behind them in the standing for the first time in a long time. After this disaster of a month, looking at the fact that this team is still within shouting distance of a playoff spot is simply amazing.

Desperate times in Smashville as injuries continue to pile up. This road trip has seen Paul Gaustad go down and last night you can add Scott Hannan as he left the game with the ever-popular “upper-body injury.” Hall Gill, Colin Wilson, Patric Hornqvist… the list goes on and on.

The team travels to Columbus today then they come home for the final stretch of games, 12 of their last 18 are inside the friendly confines of Bridgestone Arena, the time os now before too much ground is lost… the chance is there… the team just needs to take it.

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“Where We Stand”

The Nashville Predators stand in a three way tie for 10th in the Western Conference, 2 points behind 8th place San Jose and Phoenix, 4 points behind 6th place LA and Vancouver.

SportsClubStats Update

Predators Playoff Chances – down to 18.1%.
Most likely number of points needed to make the playoffs - 55

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I spent the weekend in Chicago, a couple of observations

- Since when did St. Patrick’s Day fall on March 16th? The city celebration was centered around Saturday instead of the actual holiday. Silly…simply silly.

- It was interesting to find many bars that did not have the capacity to show Blackhawks games. I asked at several and they simply said they couldn’t. Weird…

- I was sporting Pred colors throughout the weekend and most fans I ran into were good-natured in their ribbing.

- If you think youth hockey is expensive in Nashville, I got a look at what it costs in the Chicago area… Yikes!

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SlapShot Radio, Join Pete Weber and I as we chat with hockey’s best, every Wednesday at 7pm on 102.5 the Game and the SlapShot Radio Network. This week’s guests include Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek and Columbus Dispatch Blue Jackets beat writer Aaron Portzline.

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