Nashville Predators

The Game 3 GBU
May 1, 2017, 9:57 AM ET [11 Comments]
Paul McCann
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SlapShot Radio’s intrepid photographer was capturing the action of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Smashville… check out the pics!

Pictures courtesy Denise McCann Photography

Now THAT was the Nashville Predators team Pred Nation is used to seeing in yesterday’s dominating 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues, giving the Preds a 2-1 lead in their second round series. Want an example of that domination? How about keeping the Blues from getting a shot on goal for 13 minutes in the second period? Keeping constant pressure on Jake Allen and the Blues

Want another? OK… the Predators won 62 percent of their faceoffs, including Calle Jarnkrok’s 16 for 19 performance… possession is a key for this team, and that was shown in their outstanding performance in the faceoff circle.

How about a third? The Predators played their game… physical, fast, quick passing and breathtaking breakouts, frustrating every St. Louis player on the ice, except maybe Jake Allen.

Oh… let’s talk about Jake Allen… when the story of this playoff run is written for the St. Louis Blues, it begins and ends with Allen. He was spectacular last night. The only reason that game was even reasonably close in the third period last night was Allen who came up big, time after time, keeping his team in the game over and over again. Until a fateful 84 seconds…

Eighty-four seconds that wrapped up Nashville dominance in game three. A perfectly innocent dump in after a turnover, put the puck in the Preds zone with about 7:11 remaining in the third period. The Predators established a grind, moving the puck from corner to corner… out to the point… into the slot, shot… rebound, back to the corner… cycle, cycle, cycle… grind… shot, back to the point… back down low… Kenny Albert mentions that “this is not a power play… but it looks like one” … player change… cycle… player change… grind, grind, grind… cycle, cycle, cycle… out to the blueline to Roman Josi… Josi uncorks a wicked slapper that Jake Allen is still looking for and in the immortal words of Dandy Don Meredith… “Turn out the lights… the party’s over.”

After a strong start to game three, the St. Louis Blues had no answer for this Nashville Predators team. They went to everything in their arsenal and came up empty. A clearly frustrated Mike Yeo calledhis team out and said he was going to “make a couple of changes personnel-wise” for the next game.

Let’s get to the GBU…

The Good - The killer instinct. Pred Nation has to love how Nashville kept their foot on the gas in the third period and didn’t try to protect a one goal lead. You also have to add Pekka Rinne’s performance in here as well… he was aggressive when needed and calm between the pipes, just another ho-hum .957 save percentage performance.

The Bad - Ummm… I didn’t get enough ice in the soda I bought last night? :-)

The Ugly - The behind the play nastiness is beginning to get really, really ugly. It seems the standard so far is that stick fouls are being called, but anything else is fair game… I do feel for the officials, this has been a tough series to balance “let ‘em play” with “keep control”

So, three games in and the Predators have a 2-1 lead. Tenuous at best. The team that played last night will need to continue to escalate their level of play as St. Louis will come out angry on Tuesday night…

Game four is a 8:30pm start time.

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The gauntlet has been thrown down from my fellow blogger in St. Louis, Jason Millen. We will make a small wager on this series… losing team’s blogger makes a donation to the winning team’s blogger charity of choice…

Mine will be Best Buddies of Tennessee… a charity very familiar to fans of the fang…

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Round Two

Eastern Conference

NYR vs OTT – OTT leads 2-0 - Game three is tomorrow night in New York

WSH vs PIT – PIT leads 2-0 - Game three is tonight in Pittsburgh

Western Conference

STL vs. NSH – NSH leads 2-1 - Game four is tomorrow night in Nashville

ANA vs. EDM – EDM leads 2-1 - Game four is Wednesday in Edmonton

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Playoff Random Notes

- Raise your hand if you had Cody McLeod with the game winner last night… OK, everyone with their hand up… put it down and quit lying!!!!

- The Blues are now 0-3 for the season at Bridgestone Arena.

- Mike Yeo was very blunt in his postgame assessment of his team, calling out their compete level.

- What a wild, wooly, wacky game in Edmonton last night… Ducks go up 3-0, blow the lead, then win by three… crazy.

- The Caps bnacks are up against the wall after dropping two at home to the Pens… should be a good one tonight

- One game in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs tonight – 6:30pm – WSH @ PIT (NBCSN).

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