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By losing to Chicago in a shootout this afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings have assured themselves a first-round playoff matchup with the Nashville Predators. This time, however, the tables are turned somewhat, as the Preds will finish ahead of Detroit in the Western Conference standings for the first time ever, and enjoy home-ice advantage against their greatest rival. The mood has certainly changed around here since the last time the Predators and Red Wings met in the playoffs, 2008, when the Predators' defeat had some Canadian critics musing about how well the franchise could even survive down here.
The schedule for this series won't be announced until tomorrow, and we'll have loads of information and analysis to set up this series, but let's start with a look at how the two teams fared against each other during the regular season...
Overall, the Predators sported a 3-3-0 record against Detroit over the course of the season, but take a walk back through these games via the OTF recaps, which include the video highlights of each contest:
Nashville Predators vs Detroit Red Wings - November 26, 2011
We didn't have a recap for this game over Thanksgiving weekend, which saw the Preds fall at Joe Louis Arena 4-1, as Valtteri Filppula scored twice.
Predators 4, Red Wings 3: Pass It To Shea And Get Outta The Way!
In mid-December, the Preds get out-skated and out-shot, but a Shea Weber bomb led the way to victory.
Red Wings 4, Predators 1: Red Menace
The Red Wings came back to town the day after Christmas, and Filppula notched another two goals at the Preds' expense.
Detroit Red Wings 2, Nashville Predators 1: Datsyuk's dagger keeps Detroit streak alive
This was the nauseating game which saw Pavel Datsyuk undress Ryan Suter with seconds left in a tie game to give Detroit the win.
Predators 3, Red Wings 2: Kostitsyn Brothers Perk up Nashville's PP
The Preds' power play had been in a funk before getting a dose of the Brostitsyns.
Predators 4, Red Wings 1: Trotz Wins #500
Last week at Joe Louis Arena, the Preds reached a franchise milestone, and Roman Josi returned to action.
Here's how the individual players performed during these games (some data from the incomparable Hockey-Reference.com):
Nashville Predators stats vs. Detroit
| Player | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus | PIM | Shots |
| David Legwand | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | +1 | 0 | 6 |
| Jordin Tootoo | 6 | 1 | 4 | 5 | +1 | 0 | 13 |
| Andrei Kostitsyn | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +2 | 0 | 5 |
| Martin Erat | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +1 | 0 | 7 |
| Shea Weber | 5 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -4 | 4 | 10 |
| Nick Spaling | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 2 | 4 |
| Alexander Radulov | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +1 | 0 | 3 |
| Sergei Kostitsyn | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -4 | 0 | 4 |
| Ryan Suter | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -4 | 2 | 10 |
| Gabriel Bourque | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Francis Bouillon | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Craig Smith | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 8 |
| Patric Hornqvist | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 11 |
| Jonathon Blum | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 3 |
| Colin Wilson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Hal Gill | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +3 | 0 | 1 |
| Jack Hillen | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Kevin Klein | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 | 6 |
| Brandon Yip | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Ryan Ellis | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 6 |
| Mike Fisher | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 4 | 9 |
| Jerred Smithson | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 2 | 1 |
| Kyle Wilson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blake Geoffrion | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 3 |
| Matt Halischuk | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 4 |
| Paul Gaustad | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 2 | 0 |
| Roman Josi | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +4 | 0 | 9 |
| Player | Record | Shots Against | Goals Against | Save % | GAA |
| Pekka Rinne | 3-3-0 | 199 | 16 | .920 | 2.67 |
Detroit Red Wings stats vs. Nashville
| Player | Games | Goals | Assists | Points | Plus/Minus | PIM | Shots |
| Henrik Zetterberg | 6 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +3 | 4 | 26 |
| Valtteri Filppula | 6 | 4 | 1 | 5 | +3 | 2 | 13 |
| Pavel Datsyuk | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | +4 | 2 | 11 |
| Todd Bertuzzi | 5 | 0 | 4 | 4 | +2 | 2 | 8 |
| Jiri Hudler | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | +1 | 0 | 10 |
| Dan Cleary | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | +1 | 0 | 12 |
| Justin Abdelkader | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Johan Franzen | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | +3 | 4 | 14 |
| Drew Miller | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 | 8 |
| Nicklas Lidstrom | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Ian White | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +1 | 2 | 14 |
| Darren Helm | 5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -2 | 0 | 13 |
| Gustav Nyquist | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 0 | 1 |
| Cory Emmerton | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 2 | 5 |
| Jakub Kindl | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +3 | 2 | 6 |
| Tomas Holmstrom | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 2 | 3 |
| Brad Stuart | 6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 2 | 3 |
| Jonathan Ericsson | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 2 | 3 |
| Jan Mursak | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyle Quincey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 5 |
| Brendan Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 0 | 0 |
| Niklas Kronwall | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 | 11 |
| Mike Commodore | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Patrick Eaves | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Doug Janik | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 2 | 1 |
| Player | Record | Shots Against | Goals Against | Save % | GAA |
| Jimmy Howard | 2-2-0 | 98 | 9 | .908 | 2.26 |
| Joey MacDonald | 1-1-0 | 41 | 4 | .902 | 2.02 |