On The Forecheck

When the Nashville Predators dropped Game 1 in Vancouver on Sunday night, people–understandably–brought out the history. The Preds have yet to win a series after losing Game 1; they’re 0-12 (0-13 if you count the best-of-five qualifying round during the bubble in 2020). Winning Game 1 matters because, well, you have a series lead. Often, the better team wins a hockey … [Read more...] about Is the Preds’ “Game 1 loss” record as bad as it sounds?

We’ve got postgame analysis and a look at the Game 1 question coming up later this morning! In the meantime, these links: Utah owner Ryan Smith divulges name and uniform plansUtah’s NHL team will use a March Madness-style bracket to determine a name and share some uniform similarities with the NBA’s Jazz. Some of these names are better than others. Make good choices, … [Read more...] about Wednesday’s Dump & Chase: Proof

The big narrative heading into this game was, of course, Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko’s injury. He was replaced in net by Casey DeSmith, and Nashville was able to take advantage of that to steal a much-needed road win. Anthony Beauvillier got the scoring started early, tipping a Filip Forsberg shot past DeSmith at 1:14. The Canucks responded well, forcing Juuse Saros to make … [Read more...] about Nashville Predators 4, Vancouver Canucks 1: Preds seize the day

Hopefully the Preds’ playoff chances restore themselves with timing and thoroughness as perfect as Mark Stone’s spleen. Amid boos, Stone leads Knights to win in returnAny questions about how Mark Stone would handle his first game in three months were quickly answered Monday night. I’m glad he’s healthy again, and I don’t dispute he was injured in the first place, but this is … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Dump & Chase: Getting Back

While Game 1 wasn’t exactly what Nashville hoped, there were a few positives despite the third-period cluster. I thought Ryan O’Reilly looked excellent, and there were a lot of scoring threats from guys like Luke Evangelista, Tommy Novak, Gustav Nyquist, and Filip Forsberg. Truthfully, the game was not out of hand until the third period. That’s been Nashville’s doom all season, … [Read more...] about Preview/Live Thread: Preds @ Canucks Game 2