Steve Sullivan has been leading this powerful offensive attack with 2 goals and 3 assists. David Legwand has also begun the season strong with 2 goals of his own. Paul Kariya has been a quiet force only recording 1 assist so far. Jason Arnott, the Preds most recent All Star edition, has also been quiet beginning the season with only 1 assist as well.

Even with this rough start, the Predators are still showing signs of life with the numerous goals they have scored already. But, the defense and Tomas Vokoun have yet to show their strength in the league.

Next game is Thursday evening against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Predators are already 0-1 against Chicago. They lost a scoring-fest 8-6. Let’s just hope they can gain their composure and come out with a victory… And maybe a Stanley Cup Finals birth later this season.

Written by Eric Shuff

First of all, congratulations to the San Jose Sharks for their first round win over Nashville. We would have preferred it to be us, but we can only hope the Sharks do well.

The Predators put up another valiant 3rd period effort in game 5 of the first round against San Jose, but they came up 1 goal too short of a tie before the final horn sounded. Paul Kariya was the last Predator to place a goal on the score sheet for the Predators’ very strong season.

Leading up to the third, the Predators allowed 2 goals. One of these was quite controversial at the end of the first period. The fans and Predators believed the puck did not cross the goal line before the buzzer ran out, but the officials and the booth saw otherwise. 1-0. Later, the Sharks snuck in another goal in the second period of play. 2-0. Midway through the third period, Paul Kariya placed a goal on the board for the Preds and brought the crowd back into the game. 2-1. The Preds placed a strong attack against the Sharks throughout the rest of the period, but they could not get past the tough defense of the Sharks and great goaltending of Vesa Toskala.

Now, new things are happening. Several players including Martin Erat and Scott Hartnell have gone on to play in international play, and are doing quite well.

The off-season brings about many things to an organization. Ryan Parent just signed a new entry-level contract with the Preds and Marek Zidlicky signed a 4-year extension. These signings seem to show that the Predators are really looking for their future and a Stanley Cup in the next few years.

We will keep you updated with the most recent news around the NHL and about the Predators. Also, keep watching nashvillepredators.com for other updates.

Here it is, folks. It’s make it or break it time.

The Predators have found themselves in a 3-1 defecit to the San Jose Sharks in the series, but after the phenomenal finish the Preds added to game 4, things have begun to look up.

Now, how, after such a long time of barely scoring, did the Preds gain 3 goals right at the end of game 4? Very few penalties in the final 10 minutes of the 3rd period. Penalties have been severely hurting the Predators in this series. Coach Barry Trotz has addressed the importance of this to his team since game 1, but it has not shown any change until the final minutes of game 4.

This streak of 3 unanswered goals showed the Sharks that the Predators are down, but not out. They are not the 4th seeded team in the Western Conference for no reason.

Predators fans have blamed much of this lack of success on the referees of the past 3 games, but it is not all their fault. The team has struggled in the last few games offensively (scoring only 6 goals leading up to game 4) and defensively (allowing 17 goals in 4 games).

Goalie Chris Mason has been doing his best against this high-powered San Jose offense, but even his best is tough with light defensive play by the Predators.

Game 5 is this (Sunday) evening at 7:30 PM. Tickets looked to have been very slow on sales, but it has picked up and looks to be sold out.

We here at PredHead feel that the Preds still have a shot. We just have to go one shift, and one game, at a time.

I will begin posting my rants and raves about the Nashville Predators from the playoffs, through the offseason, and back into the new 2006 season.

If you are interested in posting on here as well, e-mail me at eric.shuff@gmail.com. Tell me how long you have been a hockey fan, what teams you follow, and anything else relevant (i.e. season ticket holder, etc).

Enjoy your stay here at predhead.wordpress.com.