Predators Fall to the Flyers in a SO

The Nashville Predators fell to the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in a shootout at Bridgestone Arena. The game was tied at 2 at the end of overtime.

The Flyers Vinnie Lecavalier scored the only shootout goal in the first round.

The Flyers opened the scoring at 16:49 of the first period as Claude Giroux cruised down the slot and roofed a shot over the shoulder of Predators goaltender Marek Mazanec.

The Predators answered back at 17:49 of the first period as Mike Fisher used two Flyers as a screen and fired a shot from the face off circle that beat Steve Mason.

After a scoreless second period, the Predators took a 2-1 lead at 5:05 of the third period as Colin Wilson beat Mason five hole with a backhand off the rush.

That score stood until 13:06 of the third when Sean Couturier was left alone by the Predators defense at the top of the crease and he lifted a shot over Mazanec to tie the game.

In the overtime, the Predators out shot the Flyers 3-1, and Colin Wilson banged a puck off the post, but the could not neat Mason.

Some observations:

• The young and mix and match defense corps did a commendable job. There were some breakdowns but generally the blueliners played well. Seth Jones steadied his game and he played a monstrous 30:43, second only to roman Josi's incredible 32:26.

• The Predators will be without the services of Shea Weber for the next few games. Weber took a puck to the face and suffered an eye injury. According to head Coach Barry Trotz, Weber is "very lucky" and the injury could have been much worse. The Predators were also without Kevin Klein, out with a lower body injury.

• The Predators called up Joe Piskula from Milwaukee, and he logged 10:27 tonight.

• Patric Hornqvist returned to the lineup after missing two games. Hornqvist picked up an assist in 22:24 of ice time.

• The compete level of the Predators was much better than in their previous game. Their speed advantage against the Flyers was obvious and they used it to their advantage to create scoring chances. The Predators out shot the Flyers 36-24, and Mason made some good saves to prevent the Predators from scoring.

• That said, the Predators power play was abysmal. Entry into the zone was a struggle and their was little movement and flow once in the zone. The power play appears to have taken a big step backwards the past several games, and this has to improve for this team to have success. Tonight, the power play was 0-5.

The Predators did some good things in this game, just not enough to notch the win. The team can get back to their winning ways if they continue to bring this kind of effort and finish their chances.

My three stars:

1. Vinnie Lecavalier

2. Colin Wilsom

3. Sean Couturier

Predators Fall Flat Against the Oilers

On a day where turkey is the main dish, the Nashville Predators played a turkey of a game, falling to the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 at Bridgestone Arena.

The Oilers have struggled this season, but when you look at their performance against the Predators last year, one knew they could come into this game and give the Predators fits.

They did just that all night long.

The Predators had a difficult time handling the forecheck of the Oilers, which disrupted their breakouts and slowed them coming through the neutral zone. Once in the offensive zone, the Predators had a hard time establishing their effective offense that served them well in the game last night in Columbus.

When the Predators did create some quality scoring chances, Ilya Bryzgalov, getting his first start as an Oiler netminder, was very good, shutting down the Predators scoring chances.

The Oilers tallied two goals during 4 on 4 play with Paul Gaustad and David Perron both in the box for roughing. Jeff Petry walked in from the point and fired a nice pass that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins re-directed past Marek Mazanec at 5:32 of the second period.

Just 51 seconds later, Taylor Hall got lose at the top of the crease and lifted a backhand past Mazanec to make it 2-0.

Jordan Eberle tallied an empty net goal at 19:03 for the final margin of victory for the Oilers.

Some observations:

• A scary moment for the Predators and Shea Weber. A puck was deflected off a stick into the face of Weber. He dropped immediately to the ice before skating off to the locker room. Weber was bloodied and did not return for the third period. It is unknown if he suffered any damage to his eye. Weber is one of the Predators that does not wear a visor.

• The Predators managed to get 33 shots on Bryzgalov and some of them were quality chances, but Bryz was up tot the task. You had to know that he would be jacked up for his first NHL game in a year and that the Predators were going to have to be sharp to beat him. Tonight, they were not sharp enough.

• The Predators faced an aggressive and disruptive forecheck all night and had a difficult time solving the Oilers pressure. That pressure created numerous turnovers and opportunities for the Oilers. Maybe because it was the second game of a back to back, but the Predators opened the game looking sluggish, which did not help in handling the speed and aggressiveness of the Oilers.

• Seth Jones struggled tonight and his game has taken a step back recently. This is probably to be expected for a rookie and for the volume of games and minutes that he has played. His passes and puck handling have not been sharp, and he has been the perpetrator of several turnovers. Before Weber's injury, Jones was dropped down to the third D pairing with Victor Bartley.

• Colin Wilson has struggled of late and cannot get his offensive game going. Tonight, it appeared that he missed a wide open net with a shot. The Predators need Wilson to get back to consistently being a contributor on offense.

• The Predators were shut out for the 6th time this season. Ouch!

The Predators needed this game and this two points. This team cannot give away points to teams that are below them in the standings.

Time to put this one behind them and get back on the horse Saturday against the Flyers.

My three stars:

1. Ilya Bryzgalov

2. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

3. Taylor Hall

My View

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."

Helen Keller

 

This is a day that calls us to acknowledge our blessings with a grateful heart, a time of thankfulness for all that we have.

 

The world will tell us that we don't have enough, though. Our focus can quickly shift from what we have to what we want. Retailers and merchants will gladly accommodate our wants by opening their stores and shops on this day of thanks.

 

That attitude of acquisition can displace a heart of gratitude. As the quote above says, however, the best and most beautiful things in the world are not things.

 

They are the joy of embracing a loved one. Sharing a smile with a friend. Having your breath taken away by the beauty of a sunset. The best and most beautiful things in the world are not purchased with dollars, but felt in the heart.

 

As we pause on this day, may our hearts be attuned to the truly beautiful things in life.

Predators Cruise Past Columbus 4-0

The Nashville Predators traveled to Nationwide Arena to face their former Central Division rival Columbus Blue Jackets. What had been a heated and testy division rivalry has been dampened somewhat by the Jackets move to the Eastern Conference.

Marek Mazanec was in net for the Predators, while the Jackets had their workhorse Sergei Bobrovsky between the pipes.

The Predators were once again without the services of Patric Hornqvist, who was out with an upper body injury. The Jackets were dealing with a myriad of injuries on their roster that caused Head Coach Todd Richards to juggle his lines.

The Predators opened the scoring at 9:58 of the first period. Matt Cullen skated the puck into the offensive zone and passed to Ryan Ellis on the opposite point. Ellis drew the defense to him and zipped a diagonal pass back to Cullen, who beat Bobrovsky with a one timer from just inside the face off circle. Ellis showed great patience and vision on the play and put the pass through the defense on to the tape of Cullen.

That would be the only scoring in the period. The Predators put a lot of pressure on Bobrovsky and the Jackets defense in the period, outshooting them 14-4. Bobrovsky was called upon to make some good saves to keep the Predators from extending their lead.

The Predators started the second period on the power play with 1:30 of man advantage time. A shot from the point by Roman Josi deflected off Gabriel Bourque into the slot. Mike Fisher gathered in the rebound and banged a shot over the shoulder of Bobrovsky to give the Predators a 2-0 lead 54 seconds into the period.

The Predators forecheck forced a Jackets turnover in their defensive zone. Viktor Stalberg was able to create the turnover and got a pass from Gabriel Bourque while driving the front of the net. Stalberg's shot got through to Bobrovsky, who made the initial save, but David Legwand tipped the puck into the open net to make 3-0 at 8:56 of the period.

The latter stages of the second period saw the Jackets attempt to mount an offensive push, but the Predators defense was up to the task.

In the second period, the Predators out shot the Jackets 11-8.

The Predators made it 4-0 at 2:02 of the third period as they won a face off in the offensive zone. Matt Cullen slipped a pass from his knees to Nick Spaling, and he let go a wicked wrist shot that beat Bobrovsky over the shoulder.

The Predators spent the rest of the third period shutting down the Jackets offensive push and Mazanec picked up his second career shut out with the 4-0 win.

Some observations:

• The Predators have been playing some disciplined hockey of late. Tonight, they took one penalty until Craig Smith was called for delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass with 26 seconds left in the contest. This discipline has helped to keep the Predators fresher since they are not spending an inordinate amount of time killing penalties.

• The line of Cullen, Smith, and Spaling has shown some very good chemistry and has become an offensive force. Cullen is playing some very good hockey right now and is the catalyst that gets this line going.

• The Predators defensive effort, especially in the first 40 minutes, was exceptional. They limited the Jackets to 12 shots through 2 periods and did not allow the Jackets many quality scoring chances.

• The Predators have shot the puck well and have been going strong to the net. This is a winning formula and the Predators have to continue to consistently do this to have success.

• Mazanec continues his strong play. He tracked the puck well and gave up few rebounds. The team in front of him seems to be developing a confidence in his abilities in net, and this has helped their play.

This was a solid road win by the Predators. They shut down the Jackets and did not allow the fans at Nationwide to get into the game.

Now the Predators have to continue this kind of play to climb aback into the playoff race.

My three stars:

1. Marek Mazanec

2. Matt Cullen

3. Gabriel Bourque

Predators Fast Start Leads to Win Over the Coyotes

Just like in their first meeting with the Phoenix Coyotes, the Nashville Predators jumped out to a big early lead.

Unlike that contest, which resulted in a shootout loss, the Predators made that lead hold up on the way to a 4-2 victory.

The Predators have now won 4 of their last 5 games. The Coyotes have dropped 3 in a row.

The Predators did their damage in the first period, jumping on the Coyotes for 3 goals. Nick Spaling opened the scoring, driving the slot and banging home a rebound of a Matt Cullen shot over the shoulder of Coyotes netminder Mike Smith at 1:02 of the period.

Mike Fisher took a pass from Colin Wilson and fired a shot from below the face off circle to give the Predators a 2-0 lead at 8:22 of the first period. Wilson controlled the puck in the corner and made a nice pass to Fisher, who did a good job of getting the shot off in traffic.

The Predators extended the lead to 3-0 as Viktor Stalberg used his exceptional speed to drive wide and force the Coyotes defense to turn and chase him. Stalberg put a nice pass through the legs of the defenseman onto the tape of Gabriel Bourque. Bourque made a nice fake to put Smith out of position and buried a backhand into the open net.

It was a good thing the Predators had a strong first period.

The Coyotes answered with a strong second period to make it a game.

Mikkel Boedker beat Predators goaltender Marek Mazanec five hole with a shot through traffic to get the Coyotes on the board at 9:34 of the second period.

That goal energized the Coyotes, and they began to control the puck and put pressure on the Predators. That pressure paid off as Tim Kennedy was able to gather in a rebound at the top of the crease and slide a backhand past Mazanec to make it 3-2 at 13:00 of the second period.

In the third period, the Coyotes spent a majority of the time in the Predators zone. They out shot the Predators 12-5 in the period, and Mazanec had to make some good saves to keep the Coyotes off the board. The Predators seemed content to play defense and just clear the puck, as they rarely established any offensive presence and zone time.

With Smith on the bench for an extra attacker, Shea Weber got the puck in the defensive zone behind the face off circle and banged the puck off the glass. The puck caromed off the glass and landed in the neutral zone and rolled into the open net to seal the win for the Predators at 19:25 of the third period.

I don't know if Shea called "bank" on the shot.

Some observations:

• The Predators were without Patric Hornqvist, who is called day to day with an upper body injury.

• The Coyotes lost the services of Shane Doan, who was injured and did not play in the third period.

• Gabriel Bourque's goal was a thing of beauty. The goal was set up by the speed of Stalberg, who made a sweet pass through the legs of a Coyote defender onto the tape of Bourque. Bourque showed great hands in controlling the puck, faking to the forehand, and pulling the puck to his backhand and lifting it into the net.

• David Legwand has reverted to form. He has been a non- factor the past several games, and was again tonight. Among the forwards, only Rich Clune had less ice time than Legwand. This team needs Legwand to step up his game and begin to contribute offensively.

• The Predators flirted with disaster in the third period. Content to sit back and play defense, the Coyotes dominated in offensive zone time and in shots. The Predators didn't seriously threaten Smith and establish offensive zone presence. More often than not, this is not a winning formula.

• Mazanec made some very good saves tonight and tracked the puck well through traffic. The Coyotes first goal came through traffic, and Mazanec didn't see the puck until the last instance, getting beat five hole. Mazanec has looked calm and has been positionally sound and has seemed to grow in confidence with each start.

The Predators are now 12-10-2 for 26 points, and sit 10th in the West. They are 6 points out of the 8th playoff spot, held by the Coyotes.

The Predators are going to have to continue to string together wins to climb back into playoff contention.

This means they are going to have to develop some consistency in their game and their effort every night.

And play a solid 60 minutes of hockey.

My three stars:

1. Gabriel Bourque

2. Mike Fisher

3. Marek Mazanec

Predators Out Worked and Shut Out By the Rangers 2-0

Nashville Predators Head Coach Barry Trotz gave his team the day off on Friday.

He night want to re-think that strategy as the Predators failed to show up at the Bridgestone Arena, falling 2-0 to the New York Rangers.

The Predators were out worked in all phases of the game. The Rangers choked off the Predators offense. They thwarted their entries with aggressive neutral zone pressure. And they dominated the Predators in the defensive zone, controlling the puck with a solid cycle game, making the Predators chase the puck much of the night.

Normally, the Predators work ethic can carry the team. Tonight, that was absent as the Rangers jumped on the Predators with their pressure and forecheck and never let up.

The Predators had no answers. No one on the team stepped up their game and the team could not handle the forecheck and pressure of the Rangers.

How bad was it?

The Rangers out shot the Predators 34-17, including a dominant 17-7 shot advantage in the second period when the Rangers took control of the game.

Marek Mazanec had to make a number of good saves to keep the score from being worse. He gave up a second period goal to Ryan McDonagh, whose blast from the point beat Mazanec five hole.

The Rangers added a third period goal from Derek Stepan and the game was over for all intents and purposes.

Cam Talbot manned the pipes for the Rangers, and he was rarely challenged by the Predators.

Some observations:

• The Jekyll and Hyde nature of this team continues to baffle. Their three game win streak prior to this game was solid hockey. Tonight, they reverted to their troubling ways. They could not handle the pressure of the Rangers and the offense was non-existent. The Predators need consistent effort and their top lines have to produce every game. The inability to establish consistency this far into the season is troubling.

• Mazanec had a solid game for the most. The first goal he allowed was questionable, though. Getting beat five hole from the point cannot happen.

• When the Predators entered the offensive zone, they showed the troubling tendency to pass first rather than take the shot. In their three game winning streak, the Predators were firing pucks at the net. When this team doesn't shoot and drive the net, they are in trouble. They were in trouble tonight.

• Patric Hornqvist played only 4 shifts and had 4:07 of ice time. He was hurt in the first period and is called day to day with an upper body injury. Hornqvist was hit up high with a shot from Shea Weber and in the first period and did not return.

This game was a poor effort by the Predators, and it was especially disappointing to see the team get badly outworked.

Hopefully, the Predators revert back to their hard working ways on Monday when they face the Coyotes at home.

My three stars:

1. Ryan McDonagh

2. Derek Steppan

3. Cam Talbot

My View

Random ruminations from your resident curmudgeon...

Do you know Julius Buckmon? He is the U.S. Census Bureau employee that has admitted manipulating the unemployment data to make the unemployment numbers look better than they really were prior to the 2012 presidential election. According to Buckmon, the order to fake the data came from higher ups at the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau is under contract from the U.S. Department of Labor to conduct the unemployment surveys, and the contract requirement is that Census Bureau must make contact with 9 out of 10 households targeted for the survey. The heavily populated New York and Philadelphia regions were falling far short of making the contacts and processing the results, so Buckmon said he was told by his superiors to fabricate the data. Buckmon said he made up people out of thin air and gave them jobs to fulfill his quota. Now this may seem trivial- a lone employee falsifying data, but understand that each household contacted under the Census Bureau's scientific sampling survey methodology represents 5,000 households. The numbers were false and were manipulated to show a different employment picture than what was really occurring. This could have had an influence on voters. It certainly could affect fiscal policy. Most importantly, the long term affect is to further undermine the credibility of the data that we receive from the government and the credibility of the government itself. This incident calls into question the veracity of the information from various areas of the government, and makes one wonder if the public isn't being played for a fool.

My definition of an intellectual is someone who can listen to the William Tell overture without thinking of the Lone Ranger.

About that credibility issue... According to a report in the Washington Post, officials for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Department of Health and Human Services, including Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, knew as far back as April that the Obamacare website was not working and would not be working by the time of the mandatory roll out. And the President's oft repeated nostrum that "if you like your plan you can keep your plan" was known to be a specious claim as far back as February 2010, when he was informed by his staff that most people would be knocked off their individual plans because of the Obamacare mandates. Now I know that we can argue our points for or against socialized medicine, and we may not reach a common ground. That's fine. The issue that has become the elephant in the room is the brazen prevarication (lying for all of you that went to Clemson) of our elected and appointed officials. Now I understand the aspect of spin and I know that both parties do it. No, this is much, much deeper and way beyond spin. We have a government that will lie to the American people to achieve the ends of a particular party or of the bureaucracy. This unfortunately diminishes the trust level between the electorate and Washington and means that you and I are going to have to fact check everything that comes out of the mouth of anyone in Washington. Because those in Washington have shown absolutely no compunction about lying to us.

Some things are better left unsaid. Now if I could just determine which ones.

Want to see another example of the deceit that comes from Washington? We are told that one half (6.2%) of the social security tax is paid by the employee and the other half by the employer. The same thing is said about the Medicare tax of 1.45% assessed to the employee and the 1.45% assessed to the employer. Want to know the truth? The full amount of both of the taxes is borne by the employee. Let me show you. Say you are hired at a salary of $50,000. My employer is going to send $3100 to Washington as my share of the Social Security tax and $725 as my share of the Medicare tax, for an annual total of $3,825, or the "employer portion of these taxes. So if I am an employer, it actually cost me $53,825 to hire that employee. So how much does that employee have to produce to make it at least a break even for the employer to keep him? Is it the $50,000 salary or is it the $53,825 (salary plus the taxes). If you said $53,825, then you certainly didn't go to Clemson and you understand what economists call the "incident of taxation", which means that the burden of a tax is not necessarily paid by the party on whom it is levied. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation said that both the employer's and the employee's share of the payroll tax is borne by the employee; and the Congressional Budget Office said that the employer's share of the payroll tax is passed on to employees in the form of lower wages than would otherwise be paid. Do you think that the working public would be so passive about reforming Social Security if they knew that they were really paying all of the tax? Probably not, but more importantly, they probably would have been more active in not allowing Congress to pillage the fund and get it into the condition in which we find it today. It is going to be important for all of us to understand thoroughly the impact of reforms and changes coming out of Washington. We certainly cannot count on them to give us the full story.

The cashier at the store told me, "Strip down, facing me." How was I to know she meant my debit card?

And that, my friends, is my view.