Two Huge Victories in One Night

It's been a pretty fun evening for Nashville Predators fans; during the 2nd period of tonight's game against the Ottawa Senators, word came that the NHL Board of Governors had given their unanimous approval to the sale of the franchise to the group of investors led by David Freeman.

Then to boot, the Preds held off the slumping-yet-still-terrifyingly-good Senators, who kept coming to tie the game each time Nashville took the lead. The gloomiest moment came in the final minute of regulation, when Daniel Alfredsson walked out of the corner and roofed a shot over Dan Ellis' shoulder, but mere seconds later J.P. Dumont stole the puck in the Ottawa end and fed Martin Erat in the slot for the game winner, with the final 6-5 in favor of Nashville. The offensive charge was led by the top line and the defense, as three Predators blueliners scored and Dumont racked up a goal and three assists.

In terms of the ownership situation, the only step left there is to formally close the transaction, would could come very shortly. The new owners have already laid out their short-term plans in the Tennessean, which consist mostly of setting a budget for GM David Poile to give him parameters within which to make deals, and launching a reinvigorated marketing effort.

For now, I thought I'd pass along the following statement that was released by David Freeman:

NASHVILLE -- "Personally, and on behalf of our ownership group, we thank NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL’s Board of Governors for their vote and confidence in us as an ownership group and their ongoing support of Nashville as an NHL market.

This is another big step in the process of completing the purchase of the franchise and solidifying its future in Nashville.

We have several more steps to take related to the purchase and operation of the franchise, including seeking review and approval of the proposed lease changes from the Sports Authority and Metro Council. We look forward to working with both groups and moving forward to make the Predators successful on and off the ice."