4/9 GDT: Predators 4 at Red Wings 3 (SO)

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

VS

Preview- Predators at Red Wings

Nashville: 39-33-8, 15-20-4 Road Record, 86 pts; 5th in Central Division, 9th Overall in Western Conference

Last Game: Lost to CHI 4-2 Recap

Detroit: 51-19-9, 27-8-4 Home Record, 107 pts; 1st in Central Division, 2nd Overall in Western Conference

Last Game: Defeated BUF 4-1 Recap

Last NSH-DET meeting: 3/29, NSH 4 at DET 3 Recap

Goals

NSH Jason Arnott: 30

DET Marian Hossa: 40

Assists

NSH J.P. Dumont: 46

DET Pavel Datsyuk: 65

Plus/Minus

NSH Greg Zanon: +6

DET Pavel Datsyuk: +38

----

NSH Jordin Tootoo and Ryan Suter: -14

DET Kris Draper: -13

PIM

NSH Jordin Tootoo: 122

DET Andreas Lilja: 66

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa

Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary

Hudler-Filppula-Samuelsson

Meech-Draper-Maltby

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Ericsson-Lebda

NSH Pekka Rinne

28-14-4, 2.30 GAA, .920 GAA, 7 SO

DET Chris Osgood

26-8-7, 3.10 GAA, .887 SV %, 2 SO

NSH David Legwand (face) out, Wade Belak (lower body) out, Martin Erat (leg) out

Antti Pihlstrom (upper body) questionable

DET Andreas Lilja (concussion) out

Edited April 9, 2009 by Hockeytown0001

[Chase 0]

This will be an EPIC game. For the Preds, at least. They need a win here, but we aint gon let em have it.

[Electrophile 3,554]

Wings win, Pavs with the hat trick.

Yes, I'm trying something different here. Maybe if I don't predict him to get it, he'll get it.

[EuroTwin 240]

Woot! Go Wings!

Pavel gets three points to 100! Lids gets another goal just because he can!

Fil gets a goal!

Huddles hits someone and they are surprised!

Wings win 10-1, and all we end up talking about on the GDT is that one damn goal!

Hossa scores two, Hank scores two, Pavel scores two! Wings fans everywhere bemoan their horrifying no-Arby's fate!

[Electrophile 3,554]

I wonder if the Arby's people aren't secretly casting voodoo spells on us to keep the guys from getting a hat trick because they don't want to shell out free food.

*adjusts tin foil hat*

[redwings4life 3]

First we killed Minnesota's playoff hopes, then Buffalo's, Predator's next?

Edited April 9, 2009 by redwings4life

[Cern 0]

First we killed Minnesota's playoff hopes, then Buffalo's, Predator's next?

Whatever gets them on a roll, really. If that motivates them to actually play a complete game of hockey, run with it.

[puckloo39 5,686]

NoNeck and the Predlies, again? OK, no more Nice Wings... crush them! Please?

Wings win. That is all.

[Rivalred 630]

*crosses fingers that Blues take 7th place*

[Guest Shoreline]

If anything the Wings are playing today to help decide what team they'll get in the first round. The next two games are rather meaningless.

Edited April 9, 2009 by Shoreline

[Electrophile 3,554]

Meaningless, but I'd still like them to win them regardless.

[eva unit zero 271]

Wings win 8-1, Hossa, Dats, Z, and Hudler 2 each. All that gets talked about is no free Arby's and how the Wings gave up that damn goal to the Preds.

[CanadaBoy 151]

I predict that Osgood will pass Hasek in all time wins,

and Datsyuk gets his 100th point a la hat trick.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

I'm going to go out on a limb here. For the first time ever, I'm going to say I hope Detroit loses tomorrow.

SJ playing Nashville or Columbus is a much better matchup in my opinion than Anaheim.

I'd love to see the entire central make the playoffs, it'd be amazing and a HUGE publicity item.

I'd love for it to be crystal clear that the entire year, Detroit has played the best teams in the west the most this season and SJ has played the worst. And were within a few points of each other.

I'd love that detroit isn't travelling to Anaheim, regardless of our past rivalry.

Use it as a night to rest players, and test out things that Nashville won't be able to use against us (should we match up). The 2 points won't hurt, especially when we stomp Chicago twice, while we both rest players.

Edited April 9, 2009 by CaliWingsNut

[55fan 5,133]

Oh, the torture: Miss the game for a prior committment, or use the ailing back as an excuse to be home for the game. The battle of my integrity will be more fierce than the battle on the ice.

Wings win. Free Arby's on a hat trick from Maltby. Dats and Lids get their 100th and 1000th respectively. Sammy has a real fight, in which he kicks hindquarters. Ozzie makes highlight-reel saves that cause speculation as to whether or not he's psychic. Hossa or Franzen announce a new contract. Babs smiles. The GDT is full of happy, harmonious pleasantries.

Either that or I will be home for the game and none of that will happen.

[VM1138 1,921]

I know some people fear Anaheim for playing good hockey as of late, but ALL of the teams in the West are going to be tough to beat.

I'm not going to prefer any outright, but I do want to get a shot at doing some duck hunting.

Then, maybe a Central matchup for the Conference Final? I think I'm more excited for that now than a SJS-DET matchup. A Chicago-Detroit conference final would do a lot to recreate epic hockey.

You can tell it's playoff time, I have to stop myself from lookign too far in the future now. The season isn't even done yet!

Hope the Wings stomp on Nashville. A winning streak going into the postseason, especially against the Central, will do a lot for us.

[Duck Guy 86]

This is the time of the season I wish I could go to sleep for about 3 days and wake up and see what the final standings are.

Anyways... wings win 100-2 Lids with 63 pts.

Edited April 9, 2009 by Duck Guy

[reedlarson 1]

I don't want to see the Preds in the playoffs so I really want a win tonight.

For the remaining games of the season I will be perfecting my game time playoff meal. Last year I went with chili dogs and cheddar popcorn until game six of the WCF when I switched to Little Caesars hot-n-ready and cheddar popcorn. This year I plan to go with chicken wings (with BBQ sauce) for away games and cheese steaks for home games. I was thinking of having Buddy's Pizza but the last time I did that was Tigers opening day 2008 and they went on to start 0-7.

You know, because what I choose to eat has a vast and powerful influence on the success of the Tigers and Red Wings. . .

Edited April 9, 2009 by reedlarson

[HOCKEY MATTERS 167]

I don't want to see the Preds in the playoffs so I really want a win tonight.

For the remaining games of the season I will be perfecting my game time playoff meal. Last year I went with chili dogs and cheddar popcorn until game six of the WCF when I switched to Little Caesars hot-n-ready and cheddar popcorn. This year I plan to go with chicken wings (with BBQ sauce) for away games and cheese steaks for home games. I was thinking of having Buddy's Pizza but the last time I did that was Tigers opening day 2008 and they went on to start 0-7.

You know, because what I choose to eat has a vast and powerful influence on the success of the Tigers and Red Wings. . .

Astute observation. That's what we need....more conscientious fans that put the team first and their personal health and diet plan second. I'm serious. This kind of stuff matters. C'mon LGW, get your game face on!

Anyone that doesn't know what their part in the Wings victory mojo is should call Dr. Rahmani, for he will help you see......

Edited April 9, 2009 by HOCKEY MATTERS

[dat's sick 1,002]

I have a feeling Datsyuk will crush the Predators playoff dreams with a hat-trick in the 1st period.

Lids has assists on all three, and adds a goal in the 2nd.

Sammy nets one to give the Wings six 20+ goal scorers.

Zetterberg has 5 helpers to get to a point-per-game status this season.

Barry Trotz has no neck.

Wings win 5-0.

[wingfan1991 221]

so if the wings win in regulation time does that automatically knock off the preds from making it? regardless if they win their next (which is their last) game? tell me it is, cause the last thinkg i want is these guys in the playoffs. no one wants to be playing them!

[I Red Wings I 40]

Nashville is out of a playoff spot by 2 points with 2 games remaining, look out!

[shutoutking 0]

Well. We really only need one or two more miracles in a season full of them. Last time out I thought we were going to get pounded, and, we didn't. We won

There's a lot of scenarios for us to make the dance, and none of them sound too pleasant. Here's what we have:

1.

- Preds defeat both Detroit and Minnesota

- Blues lose to either Columbus or Colorado in regulation OR Blues lose to both Columbus and Colorado in overtime

2.

- Preds defeat both Detroit and Minnesota

- Ducks lose to both Dallas and Phoenix, either can be in overtime, the other in regulation

3. ELIMINATED

- Preds defeat both Detroit and Minnesota

- Blue Jackets lose to Chicago, St. Louis, and Minnesota in regulation

4.

- Preds defeat either Detroit or Minnesota

- Blues lose to both Columbus and Colorado in regulation

5.

- Preds defeat Minnesota and lose to Detroit in overtime

- Blues lose to both Columbus and Colorado, either can be in overtime, the other in regulation OR Ducks lose to both Dallas and Phoenix in regulation

6.

- Preds defeat Detroit and lose to Minnesota in overtime

- Blues lose to both Columbus and Colorado, either can be in overtime, the other in regulation OR

Ducks lose to both Dallas and Phoenix in regulation

- Minnesota loses to Columbus in regulation or in overtime

Uh, yeah. Doesn't look good. The only reason that faint flicker of hope is still there is because the Blues are still the Blues, and well, every single time we've had our backs this far against the wall this year we've won. I doubt we will tonight, but we definitely have the heart. Last time out against the Wings, it was almost a must win. Today is an absolute must win. Arnott being back is really huge for us, he has 3 goals in two games to get him to 30. Cal O'Reilly has been very, very good in place of Legwand, but there is still a hole where Erat played. Pekka Rinne has fallen off his February form but can still make some spectacular saves. Our formula right now is Rinne, defense, and a whole boatload of smoke and mirrors.

I don't know if the Wings rest players, or if they still get up for these last games, but I know for sure that Nashville is going to skate their ass off. Sullivan and Weber wouldn't have it any other way. As long as there's a chance, they'll play hard, and thats all I can ask for with this injury depleted squad.

We'll likely line up tonight:

Sullivan-Arnott-Dumont

Fiddler-O'Reilly-Ward

Tootoo-Bonk-Smithson

Ortmeyer-Nichol-Jones

Weber/Suter

Zanon/Hamhuis

DeVries(Koistenen)/Klein

Rinne

Good luck, but not too much. Can Zetterberg get a hattie in a Wings loss?

[Guest mindfly]

I wonder if all the talk about MVP considerations, 100pts, best forward in league etc will end up in pavel having zero points in the final 3 games

[puckloo39 5,686]

I wonder if all the talk about MVP considerations, 100pts, best forward in league etc will end up in pavel having zero points in the final 3 games

I am coming over there to smack you. unjinx!!!

No, I know you're kidding... I think it's unlikely that Pasha won't get three more points before the end of the regular season. I hope it's tonight, too.