Saturday's Hot Start

Winning feels good.  Winning dominantly feels better.  Winning frosties feels best.

In what can best be described as Smashville, Saturday's epic ballad between the Preds and Ducks was worthy of the sell-out crowd it garnered.  Hard hitting, crisp passing, and a complete team effort made the Preds appear to be in mid-season form.  But was this win more about the Ducks deficiencies than the Preds success?  A fully rested Ducks team lost to Detroit Friday night 4-0; should we be concerned that we could only beat this tired team by 3?  There are a few factors to look at.  1)  This early in the season, it might have been advantageous to the Ducks to have gotten the extra regular season practice the night before.  2)  Based on the flurry of legitimate scoring chances in the first period, one could make the argument that the Preds could have clinched the delicious frozen chocolate milk concoctions in the second period.  3)  The Ducks had a number of close chances including posts and the amazing Suter save.  By tabulating these up, I believe that the Preds faced the same difficulty of team that Detroit played against.  One goal is meaningless, but it will be interesting to see how the Preds will match up against the Blackhawks Wednesday night; a Blackhawks team that has only been able to snag one point in its first two games. 

A few performances that stuck out to me:

Mr. O'Brien did not entirely convince me of his legitimacy.  At the beginning of the game, he had a few good clears, but the one fluffed turnover left me scratching my head.  He didn't really seem to be a difference-maker, not that we entirely expected him to.

Rinne looked great over the course of the game, and the injury shouldn't be too problematic.  He did play a shift afterwards until he skated off the ice on his own strength.  I would say he'll be good to go for the Caps on Saturday for sure, if not sooner.

Hornqvist had an extremely solid performance.  His goal was an ugly, beautiful goal, if that makes any sense.  Also, he screened Hiller very effectively during Sullivan's goal.  The Swede is back.

Speaking of Swedes, Anders Lindback made his NHL debut last night in a way I'm sure he didn't want.  After looking a little shaky on a few routine shots, the towering Swede was very effective in locking up the victory.

Urban theme:  With Rihanna in the opening theme and DJ Khaled following the final buzzer, the Preds Game Ops department definitely took a different theme.  I didn't mind it as a change, but I'm don't think I want it as  a permanent fixture.  Let's face it, the fat lady has more singing talent than Mr. Khaled.

See you in Chicago:  The Preds will play next on Wednesday night in Chicago.  Should be a tight game, but I see the Preds winning 3-1 should Rinne play.  If Lindback plays the full game, I could see the Blackhawks scoring one extra goal.  Either way, I believe the Preds will have 4 points going into Thursday night.

DISCOUNT TICKETS:  Please go to Nashvillepredators.com/dean to make all of your ticket purchases for the season; you will save a significant amount over the gate rate, as well as the exobinant Ticketmaster fees.  If you need any help with the website, please leave a comment. 

I would love to meet many of you who did read the last post and stuck around for this one.  Please introduce yourself in the comments section.  Thanks and GO PREDS!