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Nashville Predators (14-14-2) 30pts 5th in Central Division
2.70 Goals per Game (14th in NHL)
2.90 Goals Against per Game (20th in NHL)
12.4% Power Play (29th in NHL)
83.2% Penalty Kill (13th in NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #10 Martin Erat ~ 9G 16A = 25pts
2. #11 David Legwand ~ 7G 16A = 23pts
3. #19 Jason Arnott ~ 8G 13A = 21pts
4. #47 Alexander Radulov ~ 7G 13A = 20pts
5. #17 J-P Dumont ~ 7G 11A = 18pts
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:
1. #22 Jordin Tootoo ~ 39PIM’s
2. #12 Scott Nichol ~ 30PIM’s
3. #3 Marek Zidlicky ~ 29PIM’s
Goaltenders:
1. #30 Chris Mason ~ (8-15-2) 3.04GAA .893SV%
2. #39 Dan Ellis ~ (6-2-0) 2.23GAA .922SV%
at
Minnesota Wild (18-12-2) 38pts 1st in Northwest Division
2.50 Goals per Game (25th in NHL)
2.47 Goals Against per Game (8th in NHL)
18.5% Power Play (13th in NHL)
83.3% Penalty Kill (11th in NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #10 Marian Gaborik ~ 12G 14A = 26pts
2. #12 Brian Rolston ~ 11G 13A = 24pts
3. #96 P-M Bouchard ~ 5G 17A = 22pts
4. #25 Eric Belanger ~ 7G 12A = 19pts
5. #9 Mikko Koivu ~ 5G 11A = 16pts
Top 3 Penalty Minutes:
1. #17 Todd Fedoruk ~ 63PIM’s
2. #34 Aaron Voros ~ 53PIM’s
3. #24 Derek Boogaard ~ 52PIM’s
Goaltenders:
1. #32 Niklas Backstrom ~ (13-6-1) 2.29GAA .915SV%
2. #29 Josh Harding ~ (5-6-1) 2.68GAA .915SV%
Welcome to the numbers game.
To the chagrin of many in the league, this game against the Predators will be the 1,000th game as a head coach for Jacques Lemaire. Lemaire, a two-time Jack Adams Award winner (one of those awards while coaching the Wild) has been the only coach for the Wild in its seven years existence. While that might not seem monumental or impressive, compare that feat with that of the merry-go-round of coaches that fellow expansion team the Columbus Blue Jackets have seen. However, the Wild are facing a team that has also ever had one coach. From the first, Barry Trotz has been the sole coach in Nashville from their first season in 1998.
This will also be the fourteenth game that the Wild will be without the services of center Mikko Koivu. Koivu was injured in Vancouver on November 16 from a two-handed lumberjack chop delivered by Mattias Ohlund. Many believe that the team has struggled partly to the absence of Koivu, who is greatly missed on the ever-important face-off. Koivu has been skating lately, however he left the ice on Monday due to pain in the injured leg. The fracture has healed, and now it’s just a matter of getting his strength and endurance back.
The flu-bug continues to claim victims in the Wild locker room. So far it has taken Marian Gaborik, Aaron Voros, Niklas Backstrom, and Josh Harding. You can now add another to its ranks. On Monday, the bug hit the struggling Pavol Demitra. Due to the illness, Demitra did not practice on Monday. Thankfully, the team will be home for a couple of games, and can hopefully get rid of the bug before heading back out on the road after the Christmas break.
In Predators’ news today, they signed Jonathon Blum to an entry-level contract. Blum, a native of the hockey hotbed of Rancho Santa Marguerita, California was the Predators’ first-round pick in 2007. While many might not recognize the name, you may recognize him when I mention this: Blum was one of the featured players California Waves, the team featured in the hockey documentary, In the Crease. Currently, Blum is playing for the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League and has been named to the U.S. team for the World Junior Tournament.
In other numbers, you will most likely see one of two teams on the ice. You will either see a team who manages to squeak by and get a win. Or, you will see the team that doesn’t show up all together, and ends up embarrassing not only themselves but the fans as well. Personally, I hope neither of those two teams show up. I, along with the Wild faithful, are hoping a hungry, dominant team shows up. They are now sitting in first place in the Northwest Division. It is time to show the hockey world that they deserve to be there. Time to put the embarrassing losses to Columbus, Detroit and San Jose behind them and get back on track. However, if the dominant team refuses to show up, we can only hope the struggling team who manages to squeak by and win shows up.
With all those numbers, it can only hoped that the numbers that really matter work out in the Wild’s favor.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 17th, 2007 at 11:13 pm and is filed under 2007-08 Game Reports & Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
