The Swiss national team went into the Quarter Round play with Predator Roman Josi on defense, ready to play, and defeat, the Czech Republic Thursday morning. Josi has made his mark tallying goals in the last two games.

The Americans advanced to the semifinals with a win over Russia as the Preds’ Craig Smith lead the team with five assists. Joining Smith is the Preds’ recent acquisition forward Bobby Butler.

Up next will be a battle of the Predators as team USA takes on the Swiss national team in the semifinals this Saturday. Best of luck to the three Preds playing, we all know at least one will make it to the World Championship Final!

Photo: Sarah Fuqua/flickr

Now that everyone has had a week away from the game, or at least from obsessively watching Nashville Predators games, it’s time to check in and see what the boys in blue and gold have been up to.

First and foremost, congratulations to Patric Hornqvist on signing a five year contract with the Predators. Despite being a last round draft pick, he has been the first Predator draft to score more than thirty goals in a season and has been consistent in his scoring ability. The Predators announced that over the next five years Hornqvist will receive over $21 million. Talk about a payload.

To throw out some more signing news, prospect Marek Mazanec, drafted in 2012, has been signed to a two year contract that will likely send him to Milwaukee for next season.

On a less happy note, the NHL has announced that goalie Pekka Rinne has foregone the normal off season practice of heading to Finland to play goalie in the world championships and is instead recovering from hip surgery. He is expected to have recovered within about four months. Pretty much just in time to start training for next season. But don’t let that weigh on you Peks, just feel better!

To end on a note from Milwaukee, the Admirals put up a good fight in the Calder Cup Playoffs, but ran into trouble against the Texas Stars in the first round. The Ads went down three to one in the series to end the season, but put up one heck of a fight in the final game to go out strong. Best of luck next season Ads!

New talent will be chosen to come to Bridgestone. (Photo: Adam Fagen/flickr)

Now that the season is over for the Nashville Predators, it’s time to look towards the future. No, I’m not waxing all philosophical about hockey, I mean this quite literally. The lottery for the 2013 NHL Draft was held this afternoon with some surprising front runners.

For the past four years the Edmonton Oilers have held the first overall pick. Well this year, new division rival of the Predators the Colorado Avalanche took the first spot. The good news is, the Predators managed to get the fourth overall pick and keep up with their new rivals.

The last time the Predators had a top five pick was during their first draft way back in 1998 when David Legwand was picked second overall. Who knows, maybe we’ll being seeing some similar talent out on the ice next year.

And a little shake up on the ice may be needed, as rumor has in Music City that general manager David Poile has no immediate plans to change the coaching or off ice training staff.

Time to get ready for NHL Draft 2013, people! June 30^th in New Jersey. Be there to welcome the new talent!

Captain Weber with the final goal of the season. (Photo: Sarah Fuqua/flickr)

Well there you have it Predators fans. The end of the 2012-2013 season. The Nashville Predators took on the Columbus Blue Jackets for the last night of the regular season with a loss for the Predators, ending the season with two straight losses. But let’s not dwell on that.

On the Predators last night on the ice, they boys in blue and gold started off the game with a shock for Nashville fans. Craig Smith sent up a cheer in the stands only to have the cheer cut short when fans realized he had a kicked in goal.

Aren’t kicked in goals the worst?

But the Preds made life all better, at least for the span of the second period. To be honest, the Preds one goal this game came in an incredibly appropriate way. Of course the captain, Shea Weber, would get the goal off the beautiful passing of the newest Predator Joonas Rask.

If nothing else, Nashville had the lead for over twenty minutes this game.

The Predators lead went south in the third period as Dubinsky scored the power play goal for Columbus just after ten minutes of play. Another five minutes and Johnson broke the tie. The Preds fought hard, even going so far as to play with an empty net.

Bad decision. The Blue Jackets’ Atkinson scored the empty netter with just thirty seconds left to play, taking away any chance of a Predators win for their last game.

It’s been a long season of overtime games and frustrations for Nashville, but no one ever gave up. This may be only the second time in nearly ten seasons that the Preds have missed the playoffs, but there has been plenty of young talent to watch in the meantime. In the coming weeks be sure to check in to see who gets the call to play in the IIFS World Championships and just how the Milwaukee Admirals are doing in the Calder Cup playoffs!

Smith finally got back on the score sheet tonight. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

What do you do with a problem like the Detroit Red Wings? Alright, so maybe the “Sound of Music” tune doesn’t quite fit with the phrase, but then again neither did the Nashville Predators fit with hockey tonight.

Rather, this last meeting of the Predators and Red Wings as conference and division rivals started out in the Predators’ favor before taking a harsh swing back to the Red Wings.

So how did it all go down?

Fisher came back from the injured reserve list tonight with a bang, scoring the first goal of the night less than two minutes into the first period. A beautiful pass and a quick in and out of the puck led to Fisher tenth goal of the season. It was another five minutes before Detroit could match, with Filppula tallying the first Red Wing goal.

What really made the first period? That would be Smith’s goal to put Nashville into the lead heading to the locker room. Twelve minutes, thirty seconds in, Smith finally put his name back on the score sheet with a power play goal.

The second period is where the Predators’ dreams went to die. Harsh, but true.

Just one minute into the second, Franzen tied the game with a quick goal for Detroit. Less than three minutes later, Eaves took the lead for the Red Wings, snapping a goal off a pass from former Predator Tootoo. Just to make the second period a complete Detroit domination, star scorer Datsyuk scored on the power play with forty-five seconds left on the clock.

Fortunately, the third period didn’t get completely out hand for the Predators. The only goal came with four minutes left on the clock as Abdelkader scored to make the game 5-2 for the Red Wings.

So what fun happened for the Predators while in Detroit? Well, Mason got the start one more time before the season closes, with Rinne likely to play in the final game on Saturday. Who else made an appearance? That would be one Joonas Rask, younger brother of the Boston Bruins star goalie Tuukka Rask. Even if he only played for about six minutes, it was still Rask’s first NHL game.

Where do the Predators go for their next, and last, game? Close to home as the boys in blue and gold head to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets one more time and close out the season. 7 pm EST. It’s the last game, so don’t miss it!

Legwand scored his 200th career goal tonight. (Photo: Sarah Fuqua/flickr)

Tonight marked the last time the Nashville Predators will play at home this season. But before saying “au revoir” to Bridgestone Arena, the Calgary Flames came to town to help the Preds put on a show. And this was a show unlike any seen in Smashville in a solid month!

The first period really kicked into action about six minutes into the period. The Flames and Predators were playing four on four when the Flames’ Brodie stole the puck around behind Rinne to tip it in for the first goal of the night. But did the Preds let one goal get them down? Not tonight! Legwand came back with five minutes left in the period to score his 200^th career NHL goal and tie up the game.

Calgary gave the Predators an extra minute reprieve, scoring at seven minute into the second period with a wrister off of Cervenka to make the game 2-1. Spaling put Nashville back in the race with an almost unheard of power play goal (power play? What’s that?) with just a minute and a half left to play in the second. Several smooth passes through traffic gave Weber the chance to slap the puck toward net where Spaling tipped it in.

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

The Predators brought their A-game right out of the locker room going into the third. At just 3:15 in, Watson scored his first NHL goal to put the Preds ahead, where they would stay for the rest of the game. Halischuk scored just one minute and twenty-three seconds later, giving the Preds the 4-2 lead.

Of course all good things must come to an end, and so the two goal lead was cut down to one as Cervenka tailed a final goal for the Flames with five minutes left to play.

Amazingly, it wasn’t the Predators who went with an empty net tonight. Calgary tried for the six attacker advantage but were overcome by the awesome power that was Nashville puck passing. If only this kind of play had started, say, two months ago…

Regardless, Nashville won at home for the final home game this season, making the record 11-9-4 at home this season. Not the best record the Preds have had in recent years, but what can you do?

The Predators head to Detroit Thursday night, 7:30 pm EST. Just two more games Preds fans! Let’s go out with a bang!

Halischuk tallied two in tonight’s game. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

For the first time in what seems like FOREVER the Nashville Predators scored more than one goal in a game and even made it all the way to overtime. What is this madness? To find this out, a look back over the last in the Nashville Predators – Chicago Blackhawks series is required.

The Predators managed to go toe to toe with the Blackhawks in goal scoring, even taking the lead for a whole three minutes. I guess you could say that the first period was definitely a success by anyone’s standard for the Predators play lately.

The Blackhawks did strike first in the first. Nearly five minutes into the period Chicago went on the power play and defenseman Keith snapped the shot past Rinne to score. Nashville tied it up two minutes later as Halischuk found his form again to get the slap shot.

What was even more spectacular? Henderson scored his first NHL goal in his first NHL game at 10:42 to give the Predators the lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t last all that long. Saad tied the game at 13:36 to end the period.

The second didn’t have nearly the scoring excitement, unless Kane’s wrist shot is your game. Chicago took back the lead just after the nine minute mark with Kane’s goal, but Nashville was the one to tie the game again two minutes later thanks once again to Halischuk.

If hockey fans can’t guess the pattern of the third period after watching the first two, it’s time to go hit the books again. Handzus scored his first goal of the season half way through the period to give the Blackhawks back the lead. It took the Predators a little over six minutes to match, with Butler taking the goal home and finishing the period in a tie.

With neither team able to take the lead back, the Predators went into what has lately been uncharted territory. Overtime.

Does anyone remember when the Predators were going to overtime and the shootout every other game at the beginning of the season? Yeah, neither do I. And obviously the Preds don’t remember either. The Predators went into overtime on the penalty kill, giving Chicago the chance less than a minute in for the goal thanks to Hossa.

The next time the Predators play will be the last home game of the season and last home game until next season. The Calgary Flames come to town at 8pm EST to finish out the series. Alright Preds, let’s finish on a strong note in Music City!

Spaling with the Preds first goal of the night. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

The Nashville Predators have their hearts in the right place, just not in the game. The Predators, along with each of the other games going one tonight, held a moment of silence for the Boston Marathon explosion today. The Preds have heart, but not against the Vancouver Canucks.

The first period was all the Canucks’. Kesler tallied the first goal of the night just a minute and a half into the period on the power play. Roy made the game two nothing exactly three minutes later. We will say nothing of the three to one penalties that the predators took.

The second period saw the Predators score twice to even up the score before Vancouver took back the lead. Spaling scored at the exact same time as the first goal of the first period, 1:34. It took a bit longer than the Canucks to get the second goal, but Butler finally tied the game with just over eight minutes left in the second.

An unfortunate penalty for Nashville took away that tie however. Garrison scored with three minutes left to play to bring the game back in the Canucks favor 3-2.

Sad to say, the third period was once again all Canucks. Just fifty seconds into the period Burrows scored with a deflected shot straight past Rinne. There were plenty of scoring chances for the Preds in the third, but none could capitalize. And so, when the Canucks scored again with four minutes left in the game, it came with really no surprise. Not much of a surprise either was that Kesler tallied his second goal of the night with this goal.

What did the Predators do right tonight? They kept shooting the puck. In fact, the Preds outshot the Canucks 38-24, with many of these shots coming in the second period. The Preds were also forced to play in front of their goalie for sixty minutes as Rinne was never pulled for the extra attacker during this game.

What the boys in gold and blue could have done without (other than all those goals)? A few less penalties would have been great. A better penalty kill would have been nice too. Maybe this will be fixed when the Preds head back to Chicago Friday night for a 8:30 pm EST game. I know there are no playoff games in the future for this team, but let’s go out with a bang!

New Detroit captain Zetterberg got the first and only needed goal of the night. (Photo: Tom Gromak/flickr)

The Nashville Predators hosted the Detroit Red Wings for the last time as division and conference rivals, though not to the end that Nashville fans would have hoped. Instead, the Red Wings took a shutout in tonight’s win.

The first period seemed promising on both ends, with goalies making spectacular saves and forwards taking the puck hard to the net. For the Predators, new acquisition Filip Forsberg put his mark in the ice by not only getting shots on net but getting the puck where it needed to be, in particular on the tape of those players near the net.

The amazing saves continued into the second period along with scoring chances on both sides. The unfortunate truth for the Predators however, was that the single goal of the period went to the Red Wings captain. Zetterberg get the puck past Rinne at 6:23 to get on the board.

Nashville held out against Detroit for over seventeen minutes on the third period. But those last three minutes proved to be a killer as Franzen scored for the Red Wings at 17:01. Life just got worse about a minute and a half later as Abdelkader took an empty netter for the 3-0 win, giving Howard the shutout.

Two penalties on both sides did nothing to help either team with the power play, but what does everyone really expect from the Predators these days? The boys in blue and gold really need to exit the season with a strong showing and come back in the fall ready to score!

The Predators will have no rest as the Vancouver Canucks come to Bridgestone Monday night at 8pm EST. Come on Preds, just five games left!

Big 30 Mason needs a little more vigilance and a little more help from the D-men. (Photo: Sarah Fuqua/flickr)

One thing to be said about the Nashville Predators is that the players are now determined to get as many shots on goal as possible. It’s just too bad that the Dallas Stars managed to actually put more of their shots in the net. So once again, it is time to report a 5 – 2 loss.

The first period gave hope that tonight might have been as even game. The Stars
put the first goal on the board at six minutes into the game from Cole, with Whitney scoring another for Dallas on the power play at 8:40. What is worse is the fact that these two goals came from a combined three shot total. Ouch.

How did the Predators respond to this? Well not with two goals, that’s for sure. Instead the Preds posted a penalty and a power play goal from Beck to start the team’s evening.

The second period is where life went sour for Nashville. Wandell tipped in a shot for the Stars’ third goal of the evening just two and a half minutes into the period. The Predators held on for another nine minutes before Chiasson put the puck in the net.

Oddly enough the third period was even for goals. Normally the Preds face multiple scoring chances in their zone and watch the scoreboard change with no help for themselves.

Seven minutes into the third Chiasson scored again for the Stars on a shot that should have been easily blocked. But what can a Predator do? Apparently just shoot, shoot, shoot. And finally a shot did go in thanks to Butler and the assists by the two new B’s: Bang and Bartley.

Where did the Preds go wrong in this 5-2 loss to Dallas? Well, injuries played a significant role. Fisher and Yip were still out of the line-up for tonight as well as having season scratches for Wilson, Gaustad, and Bourque. Mason was in goal tonight, which wouldn’t be a problem except he hasn’t played a full game in about two months. It also does not help when the defense lacks a string night.

What went right fans might ask? Shots on goal. The Preds tallied twenty-eight shots to the Stars’ eighteen. If only there had been a few more of those shots going into the net…

The boys in gold and blue may want to work on getting through the defense and goalie and into the net before playing again on Sunday. The Predators will be at home again as the Detroit Red Wings come to Bridgestone Arena, 7:30pm EST. Come on Preds, you can still work for that eighth playoff spot!