Predators Game Day Preview: Nashville @ Detroit
The Nashville Predators make their way into Detroit tonight for an early evening battle against rivals the Red Wings. The Preds are on a bit of a hot streak, having won 3 games in a row and 2 since returning from the Olympic break. New center Dustin Boyd is on track to join the team tonight, so it'll be interesting to see where, if it all thanks to such good play of late, he slots into the lineup.
Special Note: tonight's game won't be shown locally (again) but you should be able to find the FS Detroit feed on your television using the free preview of NHL Center Ice which is running this week.
Continue below for some game analysis and lineups...
Nashville coming in
The Predators are coming off a really solid victory against the Los Angeles Kings, where quite a few things came together. They scored twice even strength, once on the power play, and the penalty kill continued to look good despite one breakdown 4 on 3. Pekka Rinne was also sharp in net for the second consecutive night. Nashville is now a full five points ahead of the Red Wings, which is crucial going into tonight's contest. They're also three points back of sixth place Colorado.
Detroit coming in
The Wings are coming off a humiliation at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, and Mike Babcock will probably have his squad ready to play at the Joe tonight. Detroit is finally getting its full set of players healthy, which is not a good sign for the teams ahead of them in the standings. I would venture to bet they make the playoffs, and scare all heck out of a team like Chicago or San Jose, if not knock them out completely. The Wings' power play continues to be a potent weapon with Nick Lidstrom and company, so it'll be important (duh!) to stay out of the box. As always, swing by Winging it in Motown for some quality Wings talk.
The Guys in Goal
For the Wings, Chris Osgood was terrible against Vancouver on Wednesday:
Projected Lineups
Nashville's from last night's game:
Take a look at Detroit's lineup and attempt to convince yourself they won't make the playoffs. You can't.
Fearless Prediction
This team continues to gel in front of our eyes, and you have to like the way things are coming together. The victory over LA was one of the most balanced efforts we've seen out of the Preds in quite some time. The big guns got on the scoresheet (Arnott, Dumont), while the secondary players contributed as well (Goc, Smithson). If Nashville keeps it up, they'll be moving even faster up the standings. That said, I like the Preds to continue their good ways on the road with a streak-extending win over the Wings. Predators 3, Red Wings 1.
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center ice
i’ll have to check and see if i can find this game as well. missed last nights game completely, but i can’t stand the wings. :)
TN Sports fan in Hoosier Country....
he'll be there tonight
Who knows if Trotz plays him. Big game, don’t know that I’d mess with the chemistry.
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Ellis
What is the thought process behind playing Ellis tonight? Pekks is hot right now…
by Smashvillian on Mar 5, 2010 9:15 AM EST via mobile reply actions
back to back games
Another goalie almost always starts the back end of B2Bs.
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FYI
it will be lebda and lilja.. ericsson out. Big game tonight, have to love central rivalry at its best.
After my last good (lucky) prediction,
I thought since it worked last time, I’m going to keep upping the Preds one point on your Fearless Prediction’s Chris.
Don’t take this post as an affront to your hockey knowledge or educated predictions (See Also: the $1 over-bidder on ‘The Price is Right’).
This is merely unfettered optimism. =P
GO PREDS!
That’s funny, I just put a nod to your prediction from last night into tonight’s Game Thread post… the pressure’s on!
More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.
By the way, luck...
… has nothing to do with it. Those two years of working 3rd shift and listening to Coast to Coast AM are finally paying off.
fail
Reverse prediction, perhaps? ;)
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Who is watching?
Were you also screaming at Klein as he lazily took the puck in front of our goal and was picked by Datsyuk leaving Ellis alone one on one? You know what happened next! He is so terrible. I thought Frolov lifting his stick and scoring was bad last night, but tonight was the last straw. I am sick of him. I hope Franson gets healthy and Klein gets sat indefinitely.
yo,
Head on over to the game thread for this sort of talk. Everyone’s there discussing the game…
On the Forecheck: a blog that's more productive than a Predator power play!
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