MusicCityMadness: Preds Smoke Kings 3-1 Crowned California Champions

Those wacky Predators.  Start a stretch of the season where 8 out of 9 games are on the road by losing the first three in dismal fashion to Vancouver, Calgary, and Colorado.  After a closed team meeting and a line shuffle or two, the Preds sweep their California opponents, San Jose, Anaheim, and Los Angeles, which included two overtime wins.  They are now 3-3 on the road which is just about all you can ask for on one of these long west coast trips.

Dan Ellis got the start over Rinne.  He was very sharp making 33 saves last night.  If Ellis gets on a roll like he did at the end of last season this team could make a move up the standings going into the second half of the season.  JP Dumont continues his strong play with a goal and an assist and Captain Jason Arnott had a strong game adding the first goal of the game.  Shea Weber was credited with an empty netter late in the game that was actually scored by Dustin Brown of the Kings who attempted a pass back to the point but split his defensemen and put it in his own net.

The Predators come home to face the Sharks Monday in a rematch of last weeks game before going back on the road for two more games against the mulletless Tampa Bay Lightning and the Carolina Hurricane.

The Predators are now 9-7-1 which includes a 5-1 home record.  The first half of their season is road heavy so if they can keep their record respectable they will have a very favorable home schedule down the stretch as they make their playoff drive.

TheRubberRoom

Come to think of it, maybe the use of “smoke” wasn’t well thought out in the title of this blog. 

Kevin Kline, Rick Peverley, and Nick Tarnasky were scratched for the Preds.  Kline deserves to be playing regularly for the Preds but it is just a number game.  I’d like to see Nashville make a deal for some up front help that would include a defenseman to make room for Kline. 

Martin Erat returned to the lineup after being out since November 6th with the dreaded upper body injury.

I haven’t ranted in a while so here it goes.  The Predators should be in the EASTERN CONFERENCE.  Do you hear me Mr Bettman?  We have a solid fan base here in the Music City, but these long road trips out west make for some late night viewing and it would be much easier to add to our base and keep the interest up if we could actually watch games that don’t end at midnight.  People say well we’ll lose out on our rivalry with the Redwings if we do that.  My reply is, SO WHAT. 

We can build other rivalries with Atlanta and the Florida teams.  I’d much rather see Toronto, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, and the Rangers come in here regularly then all the west coast clubs.  There are alot of East Coast transplants in the Nashville area, me being one, that would find it more attractive to attend more games which would increase our fan base. 

This is a good hockey area and it just needs the time for the generational development of the fan base.  You see it happening before our eyes.  There are roller hockey rinks all over the place. (More than I ever saw in NJ) The Preds are great with the community.  It would be a shame to see them fail. 

MusicCItyMusings

Before I forget feel free to join me on facebook. 

Also, I’m a member of the Predators Ambassador club.  This club is made up of season ticket holders to promote the Preds in the area.  I have access to discount tickets to different games.  You can go to the following link www.nashvillepredators.com/minicozzi  put in the special offer code “predators” and continue.  You will have to set up an account which takes all of 30 seconds and you’ll save on the Ticketmaster charges as well.  You’ll only incur an additional $1.50 per ticket fee to print the ticket on your computer.  This is my little contribution to building up the attendance and keeping the team here in the music city.

See you next Monday at the Sommet Center.  Greetings from Section 102  

 

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Last post (s) by Victor Minicozzi

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