Call It What You Want

Call tonight’s game what you want…

“Must win.”

“Statement Game.”

“Gut Check Time.”

“Critical.”

Whatever you want to call it the Predators have no other choice but to win tonight. While it’s not win or go home it is win or start looking at where you’ll be vacationing next week.

While the Preds find themselves down 2-0 in the best of seven contest the series has been close. A couple of bad bounces (or calls) go our way and we could be all tied up or better heading into tonight. The Preds hope all those bounces start going their way as they find their way back to home ice tonight.

Much has been said about our top line being shut down during the first two games. I am as frustrated as the next guy but going up against Daytsuk and Zetterberg (tow of the best all around players in the game) is not easy. These guys can light it up but they also know how to shut down opponents. They have done a great job so far. Tonight Trotz gets the last change…it will be interesting to see what he throws out there.

The Preds played one of their best periods of hockey during the first on Saturday. They came out and played an up tempo style and really took the game to the Wings. I expect the same energy tonight as the Preds will be feeding off the always potent home crowd.

Nothing would make me more happy than to see David Legwand out there tonight. He is a much needed presence in the line up…especially with Nichol out.

I’ll be there tonight…will you? Let the boys hear you!

Preds Drop Game One…

Some quick thoughts before bed (have to get up at 4:45 to work out!):

Preds were out shot 40-20…that cannot happen and we have a chance in this thing.

Dan Ellis is showing the rest of the NHL what we have learned this season…this kid is legit! Solid game for his first playoff start ever. He kept us in it for sure and bailed out the D several times.

There is no better puck possession team than the Wings. They are good. At times tonight they seemed to be putting on a keep away clinic.

Not only are they great with the puck but they fill the slots and holes so well that getting pucks through to the net or teammate seems, at times, impossible.

You hate to see the deciding goal be a questionable one. This is a game of bounces and breaks and the Wings got one here. Maybe we’ll get one next time.

I firmly believe that if we can get 25-30 shots a night on Hasek we will win this series. He is giving up rebounds and is not the force he once was…there are chinks in his armor but we have to be able to get to him.

It’s only a matter of time before Tootoo and McCarty drop the gloves. Early in the game I thought I saw Tootoo mouthing to McCarty something to the effect that we’ll get around to going, don’t worry.

Will be interested to hear the long term outlook on Scott Nichol. He is one of our big time energy guys and a big part of our PK. I’ve been hard on him in the past for some of the bonehead penalties he has taken in the playoffs but he has been so valuable to us this season.

It appears that Legwand was close to coming back tonight…let’s hope we get him back for game two.

It stinks to be down 1-0 but overall I felt we played Detroit pretty well tonight and I think we could be in for a long series!

Not Just Thankful

When the season began few expected that the Nashville Predators would be preparing for their fourth straight playoff appearance. Not many teams can lose Tomas Vokoun, Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, Paul Kariya and Peter Forsberg replace them with Martin Gelinas, Jed Ortmeyer, Radek Bonk and Dan Ellis and expect to complete. Not only did the Preds compete this year but at times they looked like (and did) they could beat anyone.

This is not last years edition that coasted into the playoffs. This team had to fight like crazy the last two weeks to get in. This is not that team that mortgaged it’s future to bring in Forsberg last year. This is a team that brought in near unknowns to bolster it’s playoff hopes. This is not the stacked team that we had last year. This is a team. A team that had to play together. Win and lose together. This is a team that grew up alot this year.

It seems only appropriate that our first round foe would be the Red Wings. This years team is more like our first playoff team that faced the Wings…not overflowing with talent but a blue collar team that can make life hard on opponents. If I were the Wings I would be a little nervous to face us right now.

Let’s take a look at our playoff teams past and present:

1st playoff team – happy to be there! Thrilled for the chance to play with the big boys.

2nd playoff team – starting to feel like we belong and at the #5 seed felt like we could make some noise. We were clearly outmatched by the bigger stronger Sharks.

3rd playoff team – went into the playoffs struggling but with Foppa we thought all would be good. After the 2 OT loss at home to the Sharks it was all downhill.

4th playoff team – we are not supposed to be here. No one is expecting us to win. The least talented team since our first appearance.

Despite the odds being stacked against us I really like our chances here. I don’t just think that the Preds make a series out of this but I think that they actually win this series. We will need great goaltending from Ellis and top notch, disciplined (read don’t take penalties) play in our end and we will get this done.

These Preds are not just thankful to be here…they have some work to do.

A Dream…A Really Nice Dream

(Cue dream music, Gary Thorne is seen in the broadcast booth at the Sommet Center in Nashville. He speaks)
Who would have thought that it would all come down to this here in Nashville tonight. A year ago fans in Nashville didn’t know whether they would even have a hockey team and here they are in the Stanley Cup Finals with a chance to win it all.

(Bill Clement speaks) You’re right Gary. When Nashville had their fire sale last year no one thought they would be here. They failed to resign Hartnell, Kariya, Timmonen, and at first failed to make a real splash in the free agent market signing players like Jed Ortmeyer, Martin Gelinas and Radek Bonk.

Gary: But that changed when Nashville did the unthinkable and brought together two of hockey’s greatest players in a critical signing for this club.

Bill: You can say that again. When Nashville signed Selanne and then was able to, a month into the season, secure the play of Peter Forsberg they went to immediate contender. They have had great goaltending from goalie Chris Mason, who played in his first all star game this year and young Alexander Radulov, ‘Alexander The Great’ I call him, has put up enormous numbers this season. Combine that with the great blue line play of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter and you can easily see why this team is poised to hoist the cup tonight.

Gary: Will they or won’t they? Nashville leased the series three games to two and faceoff is coming up next.
(fade out…crowd cheering as Martina McBride finishes the national anthem)

Listen I know it’s a dream but Eklund’s rumor over the weekend had me salivating at the thought of this ownership wanting to make a splash by getting Selanne and Forsberg for this season. I also know that Gary and Bill don’t call games together anymore but for my money Gary’s voice is hockey to me. I also know that the chances of us signing both of those guys is slim at best…but this is my blog and I can dream if I want to…dream if I want to!

Another Blown Lead For The Sharks!

Okay…so I was talking to my dad the other night about the Wings and Sharks (I think it was before game three) and he said something that I found very interesting. He said that he didn’t mind the Wings playing the Sharks because they don’t finish games well.

Hmmm…I thought. Let’s see. The Sharks just beat the wings in Game 1 2-0 and I thought they finished that one pretty well. They did give up a two goal lead in game two but this is the same team I saw shut down the Preds in the first round. This is the team that would stand up at the blue and really force us to dump it in and battle. This is a team that finished us pretty well.

Now comes games five…another two goal lead squandered by the Sharks and Detroit ties the series at two a piece heading back to Hockeytown. So here is the question…do the Sharks know how to finish?

Who Do I Love?

I love the NHL playoffs…I really do but I guess I’m a little preoccupied with the San Jose – Detroit series for a couple of reasons. The first being that San Jose just knocked us (the Preds) out in five games in round one. You get to know another team pretty well during a playoff series. I got to know, for better or worse, these Sharks really well during round one.

The other reason I am preoccupied is the fact that the team I grew up loving as a child, the Detroit Red Wings, are playing as well. In Nashville you will meet quite a few ‘Pred-Wing’ fans and for a while I was one of those. In the early days I would go to the games and cheer for both teams. I didn’t care who won I just wanted to see a good game.

Over time my love for the Wings began to fade as I saw the way fans of this team would act at the games here in Nashville. Sure some of these obnoxious people were born and raised red and white Wing fans but others were Predator fans every other game until Detroit came calling. At those games they would toss aside there blue and gold for the red and white and in turn really bother me. It saddened me because there are and were several players on the Wings that I enjoyed watching play as a fan. Federov, Yzerman, Lindstrom, McCarthy and yes even Chelios.

So I find myself a bit torn but I think I feel like I did back in the early days of this Predators franchise…just give me some good hockey. So far, in this series, I have not been disappointed. Let’s hope for a game seven triple overtime thriller!

‘Bull Hartnell Kept His Feet Moving’

As the off season begins several key personal moves will determine how the Predators will look next season. One major decision is that of young Scott Hartnell. The former first round draft pick (6th in 2000) has literally grown up in this organization and from a fans point of view seeing him in another uniform would be really weird.

Year Team League GP G A Pts +/- PIM Shots Sh%
2006-07 Nashville NHL 64 22 17 39 +19 96 150 14.67
2005-06 Nashville NHL 81 25 23 48 +8 101 211 11.85
2003-04 Nashville NHL 59 18 15 33 -5 87 154 11.69
2002-03 Nashville NHL 82 12 22 34 -3 101 221 5.43
2001-02 Nashville NHL 75 14 27 41 +5 111 162 8.64
2000-01 Nashville NHL 75 2 14 16 -8 48 92 2.17

While Hartnell will never be a threat to the league scoring title his physical, tenacious style is an intangible that many teams are willing to pay for. He is a pesky player. He gets under the skin of the opposition. He is willing to throw his body around and to sacrifice his body planting himself in front of the opponents goal. He has developed into a good skater and his defensive skills allow him to matched up against many other top lines.

The major downside I see to Hartnell is the amount of penalties that he takes. On several occasions it is this behavior that has put him in the doghouse of Preds coach Barry Trotz and the fans. With the exception of his 48 minutes in 75 games his rookie season Hartnell has been at or near the century mark in PIMs each season. If Hartnell can limit those to the 60-80 minute range it would make a big difference. The Preds saw in the most recent playoff series with the Sharks just how important staying out of the box can be.

When you weigh all the factors I still think Hartnell is a must keep for the Preds this off season. I would love to see it happen prior to July 1st (when he officially becomes a UFA) and is able to talk to any team he chooses. I imagine that he will be looking at somewhere in the 3-3.5 million range for a four year deal…if that is all he is asking then i say we have to do it. If he is looking at 4 or more then we may be able to get better value for the money.

Perhaps we can hope that Hartnell was genuine when he said “It’s the only team I’ve known and the only city I’ve known. I’ve played for the Predators since year one, and the people in the city are awesome. It’s a great bunch of guys. To come back would be the first priority, obviously. Hopefully, things will work out.”

Yes Hartsy…hopefully they will.

(the title of this post is a quote from Terry Crisp that was used in a Predators radio promo piece for a long time)

Nichol Hurt Us

Okay…I just saw the replay of the spearing penalty called against Nichol last night (it was hard for me to see it at the other end of the ice last night) and I have to say Nichol cost us the game. He lost his cool. We had a 2-1 lead at that point, sustained pressure in their end and a delayed penalty being called against the Sharks. Nichol gets knocked down…he is mad and then he goes postal and nails him below the belt. Sharks score on the ensuing power play and the rest as they say is history.

Nicol said he ‘barely touched him’ but I just saw the replay and it looked like allot more than that. That was a classless action.

On the flip side: The photo above shows Nichol getting decked by Rivet on a play that was not called. The Refs did call Rivet for a two minute minor for roughing but maybe this is why Scotty was a little on edge…frustrated all night. It is still no excuse.

Game Five Tonight

Heading down to the game tonight…I will be posting updates as I can from my TREO.

I will not make a score Prediction but I am going to say that Preds take this one.

Play With Passion!

PASSION!

We all know tonight is do or die. Win or go home. Win or golf tomorrow. Win or pack up their lockers (and offices maybe if your Trotz) tomorrow.

With their backs to the wall the Preds have to come out and take control of this game early. The crowd will be there (all 17,113 of them) and be waiting to explode with support for their boys. Just give us a reason early. A big hit. Big goal. Big save. Something!

Despite our attempt to super-size during the off-season we are still physically mismatched against these large Sharks but in the first two games of the series that didn’t seem to matter. We were flying around and throwing the body…we were the more physical of the two teams! Since game two though, I feel like we have been afraid to hit and have lost two in a row.

No potential needs to be left on the ice tonight. Bring everything you have Predators and play with the passion, grit and energy that we as Predator fans have come to expect and love from you. What we want tonight is Predators Hockey!!!

Let’s take it one win at a time…starting tonight.