the NHL is funny sometimes, everyone on tv gushes over Crosby having 3 goals in his first 3 playoff games as a teenager. As for Radulov, well the Preds are just dirty.
I guess that isnt entirely fair, Ive seen his highlight reel goal praised some. I guess Im just still bitter over the Crosby worship.
Back on track - Hordichuk isnt going to replace Rad's scoring punch. So, Im looking for you, PAUL KARIYA, to show up tonight!
In addition to the Scuderi and Huskins hits, Richard park was 'almost' kneed pretty badly in the Islanders/Sabres series. I wanna say it was Briere who chucked his leg out there. Briere got mostly shin, but this was a very, very dangerous play that received only a 2 min. minor for tripping if I recall correctly. And Briere's little trip had Bryan Marchment written all over it. You can't make the same claim for Hartnell's hit.
The bottom line, like so much in the playoffs, falls on luck. Bernier and Cheechoo were injured. Park, Radulov, etc. were fine. If Cheechoo isn't injured and Bernier isn't off balance, then there might not be a single second of penalty time served. Just sort of the way it works. Sad that the NHL doles out punishment based almost entirely on the end result. But if it didn't, it wouldn't be the NHL as we know it. It'd be a far cleaner league.
On a Steve Wrigley report for Channel 4 News he mentioned that Forsberg is expected to play with Hartnell and Erat as linemates tonight and that Darcy will be in the lineup tonight.
I would assume that makes the lineup look something like this:
Kariya - Legwand - Tootoo/Nichol
Dumont - Arnott - Fiddler
Hartnell - Forsberg - Erat
Hordichuk - Smithson/Nichol - Tootoo/Smithson
But again, its not reasonable to presume that Chechoo or Bernier were laying on the ice to dress up an injury so as to get a Pred suspended, or that there is a League conspiracy so the Preds will lose and move to KC, or a directive from RW, or any such conspiracy. Neither player came back to the ice. They were unable to play. And specifically to that point - there is nobody in the press who questions Cheechoo or Berniers conditions. Why? Name any NHL'er that would lay on the ice and feign a serious injury, then not come back to play in the playoffs if they really could play? NHL players will play hurt. Cheechoo played about 50% in game 2. He played hurt. There was no miraculous recovery.
Think of it this way, do you honestly believe if the roles were reversed that Kairya would pretend he was more hurt than he was, so Clowe would get ejected? Its a bad trade. Karyia is one of the teams best players and he is a tough player too. He would let his own teammates down to not be on the ice. In the case of the Hartnell incident, you think Cheechoo as the teams top scorer, would lay on the trainers table with the game in OT? These guys are too accountable to each other to even consider that behavior.
I don't suspect Cheechoo or Bernier would embellish more serious injury.....just like I think it is asinine that people suspect Trotz has somehow gone Charlie Manson and is sending his players on head hunting missions during the game (much less 2 of his better players). I do think Ron Wilson's incessant whining after the games have overly dramatized what the true injuries are and the extent of the hits during the series....he has gotten about every advantage as far as punishment it would seem...and yet he is still whining. Maybe it is a ploy to fire up his team..
And didn't Cheechoo want to come back in the game after his hit?
Ron Wilson deserves all the abuse he gets....his flagrant whining last year had a huge effect on the way the game was called between Game 1 and Game 2.
He is playing the same game again this year.
It may be effective in Sharks fan's eyes, but it doesn't mean that we have to respect him if he chooses to play that game. Reputations are something that you carry a long time as a coach......If he wants "whining to the media" to be his schtick......that is his choice....he just has to expect the consequences....
the point is......does he really have to go there to win this series?
I would have a lot more respect for him if this team just came in here and beat our arse without all the theatrics.
Would Radulov be suspended right now if he hadn't gone through all medical embellishment [prior to the negative testing] and pathetic whining?.....that is up for debate.
The bottom line is that if he wants to play the whine game, he has to accept the consequences......and sadly, the fanbase must feel compelled to defend his sissified actions.
well today we come upon a crossroads in the series, and possibly in our team's history.. this game three result is going to determine the role that both of these teams have before them from here on out.. do we win and put all the pressure in game four on them? or do we lose and face our own 'must win' situation in game four?... whichever it is, tonight is what must be looked upon as a game of 'critical' importance....
on the positive side, coming home for a game three after being on the road for the first couple of games isn't always easy for the home team.. much like the regular season, teams typically have a lower winning percentage than normal on the first game back after being on the road for a few games.. for example, look at the three series that have gone to game three already in this year's playoffs... each of the three home teams have in fact lost game three coming back home.. Ottawa beats Pittsburgh on the road, Anaheim beats Minnesota on the road, and Vancouver beats Dallas on the road.. a perfect three for three for the road team in this years game threes.. a comforting stat at least..
having said all that, of course San Jose will be highly charged, as will the crowd, and will have a huge homeice advantage because of it... one of those games, where it is even more than ususally important to score the first goal, to somewhat lessen the impact of the crowd and the emotion..
see where colin campbell will be at tonights game, to "watch over" the officiating.. which of course means the game is going to be played under the officals microscope.. which in turn could be either helpful or hurtful for both sides... you hope, that San Jose comes out wild because of the intensity of the series seeking some form of "payback", to try to demonstrate how "tough" they are... if they do, they'll get nailed, even with the game being at home because of the scrutiny you expect players to be under.. this is what we can hope, that their emotion, thier pride, and the fact they have to feel more pressure to win this one because it's at home causes them to be undisciplined... because you get the feeling, every ticky-tack foul is going to get called tonight (at least i do)..
of course, this is a two edged sword, and the calls could just as easily go against us in spades.. especially if they're looking at us out of the corner of their eyes looking to see if we're a "dirty playing team" like wilson is screaming about..
one would logically think, that the first 10 minutes of this game will be hugely important.. expect both teams to come out very hard and fast.. and also expect the officiating tone of the game to be set in those first 10 minutes, so there could well be tons of pp time and chances early.. the team that scores first will have a huge advantage tonight, not only in dictating the type of game played from there on out, but because of the inherent pressure to win this game on both sides... the team that gets behind is going to be under tremendous pressure, and teams under pressure trying to catch the other team are teams that tend to make mistakes..
because you expect this one to be called so tightly, puck possession becomes huge.. even bigger than normal.. guys like thornton and forsberg are going to draw penalties tonight because they have the ability to simply control the puck and generate pressure on the defense.. tonight, faceoffs will probably be more important than ususal, again because puck possession will be more important than ususal.. we got killed on faceoffs in game two, and it didn't hurt us.. tonight we have to be better here or it will hurt us..
i'd feel much more confident with radulov in the lineup of course.. in my mind, him being out basically means we're going to score at least one goal less than we would have with him in there, possibly two.. the kid is simply playing that well.. so that means we have to find someway to score three goals without him..
we're 45-5-2 when we score 3 or more goals this year.. get three goals and we'll probably win this game..(we're 12-3-3 when we score 3 goals this year, 17-0-0 when we score 4, 7-1-1 when we score 5, 7-1-1 when we score 6, 2-0-0 when we score 7 or more)..
yes i'm nervous about this one.. if you're not, you either aren't that die hard of a fan, or you simply don't know enough to worry..
should be a heck of a hockey game.. (of course i just want to win, i don't care if it a work of art or the ugliest win ever)
yes i'm nervous about this one.. if you're not, you either aren't that die hard of a fan, or you simply don't know enough to worry..
should be a heck of a hockey game.. (of course i just want to win, i don't care if it a work of art or the ugliest win ever)
I'd personally prefer to see the latter, the ugliest win in Predators history. Those are the types of games where the team really sticks up for each other and picks up for each other. Those are the types of games where role players step up and do things that they are not expected to do and star players play hard-nosed and use their talents to create.
I predict a lot of penalties tonight, just look at the officials, and that will favor San Jose because we are better at even-strength then they are, their power play is better than ours (even though our PK is doing a fantastic job), and when we are on the PK...many of our star players (the guys that you want on the ice - Forsberg, Arnott, Kariya, etc) are sitting on the bench where they cannot contribute.
the NHL is funny sometimes, everyone on tv gushes over Crosby having 3 goals in his first 3 playoff games as a teenager. As for Radulov, well the Preds are just dirty.
This to me goes back to the "Nashville not recognizing Modano/promoting hockey" argument.
If promoting hockey nationwide was the media/NHLs goal then they would highlight some of Tampa Bay's players for behing in the top 5 in points.
They don't want to because it's not in a traditional market. They were also looking for some way to knock Nashville when everyone jumped on the Preds for not celebrating Modano's milestone. This favoritism happens in every sport and it disgusts me.
I really hope Trotz and the Predators players aren't thinking about Ron Wilson and illegal hits like the fans are. They need to be worrying about stealing a win out of a place where we traditionally play poor. We've also never won a road playoff game.
This team needs to put aside everything and come out and keep playing some solid hockey. Its going to be tough and unless we steal one of these next two games, we're likely done in the series.
I really hope Trotz and the Predators players aren't thinking about Ron Wilson and illegal hits like the fans are. They need to be worrying about stealing a point out of a place where we traditionally play poor.
there arent points in the playoffs just W's and L's lol.
My God. FSN is waiting to show the Preds game until after the Memphis Griz game. Are you kidding me?!? They've already got a lock for worst record in the league! Who is actually watching this stupid freaking game.
My God. FSN is waiting to show the Preds game until after the Memphis Griz game. Are you kidding me?!? They've already got a lock for worst record in the league! Who is actually watching this stupid freaking game.
I'm not, I get to choice which fsn feed I see. It's your cable provider that decides what you are watching.
