UPDATE: It appears the ping pong victory for Paul Kariya against
@Hartsy43
was not his only victory.
The wonderful
@bmckeegan
has sent me some old footage of a Hall of Fame battle between Kariya and Peter Forsberg in Nashville. It’s priceless.
Pekka Rinne woke up this morning with more goals this decade than Tyler Seguin, Gabriel Landeskog, Shea Weber, James Neal, Mat Barzal, John Tavares, Sebastian Aho, Mark Stone and Brad Marchand, among others.
So...want to point something out real quick. I had somebody tell me they saw Pekka Rinne come into a store yesterday and buy every single flashlight they had in the entire store to donate for tornado relief. He's a cool guy.
Filip Forsberg just tossed a puck up in the air at practice that almost hit the ceiling and caught it with the shaft of his stick. Not the blade of his stick. The shaft of his stick.
So
#Titans
fans, did the Bengals win today make you feel better or worse? Because the feeling of “man I think the Titans really screwed this up, it was their year” is strong with me today.
Poile on Tolvanen in Seattle:
"This could be a mistake on our part. That's on me if he turns out to be really successful. We thought we tried him in a lot of different areas, different places."
Also mentions they really hoped they got him through on waivers.
So. Let’s say Shea Weber returns to the lineup for Montreal tomorrow, which it sounds like he certainly wants to. He’s played 980 games in his career. If he returns tomorrow and doesn’t miss another game, his 1,000th game will take place........in Nashville, TN on April 1.
My
#NFL
week 11 power rankings:
1. Tennessee
2. Green Bay
3. Dallas
4. Arizona
5. Buffalo
6. Tampa Bay
7. LA Rams
8. New England
9. Kansas City
10. Baltimore
11. LA Chargers
12. Pittsburgh
13. New Orleans
14. Cleveland
15. Cincinnati
16. Minnesota
17. Las Vegas
I say it almost every week. But I hope we don’t take what we’re watching for granted. Derrick Henry is one of the best football players I have ever seen in my life.
I've seen every playoff game the
#Preds
have ever played in. This is all-time stuff from Connor Ingram in this franchise's history. Dan Ellis against Detroit. Pekka against Vancouver. Pekka against Chicago. Ingram has been unbelievable.
#SJSharks
coach David Quinn with a great line this morning on the
#Preds
run: “I’m trying to schedule a concert where I can cancel and hopefully we’d go on a 14-game run. I think the season is a little too late for that.”
My (very rough)
#Preds
lineup as things stand currently:
Stamkos-O'Reilly-Forsberg
Marchessault-Novak-Nyquist
Jankowski-Sissons-Evangelista
Smith-McCarron-Parssinen
Skjei-Josi
Lauzon-Carrier
Stastney-Schenn
Saros
Wedgewood
I don't think the
#Preds
are done tinkering.
Ryan Tannehill. Derrick Henry. AJ Brown. Julio Jones.
Ryan Tannehill. Derrick Henry. AJ Brown. Julio Jones.
Ryan Tannehill. Derrick Henry. AJ Brown. Julio Jones.
Ryan Tannehill. Derrick Henry. AJ Brown. Julio Jones.
Ryan Tannehill. Derrick Henry. AJ Brown. Julio Jones.
I don’t know how far this
#Preds
team is going to go. But if the first four games are any indication, they’re going to be very fun to watch. That’s a gutsy win. No other way to say it.
Ryan Johansen to me in the locker room: “Hey Stanley, how was the power play tonight?”
Me: “It looked good. Your plan worked.”
Johansen: “All you gotta do is score, baby.”
I said it this morning and I’ll say it again here. Derrick Henry is an all-time great running back. I hope we all appreciate what we’re watching. I don’t know how much longer he’ll keep it up (I’m not betting against him), but he is just special. What a combo of size and speed.
It’s pretty hard to overstate the disappointment of this game for the
#Titans
. Tannehill sucked. Todd Downing sucked.
This season was a failure. Do not let anyone tell you any differently.
*Looks around*
Ryan Johansen: Born in 1992. Slightly older than me. Signed a $64 million contract.
Bryce Harper. Born in 1992. Slightly younger than me. Signed a $330 million contract.
Robby Stanley. Born in 1992. Same age as me. Got excited over finding $1 in his pocket.
Shutout for Pekka. You just can't make this stuff up. If this is it, and I hope it's not, what a memorable night for the best player in
#Preds
history.
My
#NFL
week 10 power rankings:
1. Arizona
2. Tennessee
3. LA Rams
4. Tampa Bay
5. Green Bay
6. Baltimore
7. Dallas
8. Buffalo
9. LA Chargers
10. Cleveland
11. Pittsburgh
12. New England
13. Kansas City
14. Las Vegas
15. New Orleans
16. Cincinnati
17. Indianapolis
18. Denver
Ryan Johansen was serenading Calle Jarnkrok with “You’re still the one” by Shania Twain in the locker room at full blast, including him providing backup vocals.
Kyle Turris on the ice well before practice begins doing drills by himself. He was on early yesterday too. He wasn’t very happy with his first round series against the Avalanche.
Now, a few thoughts on Johansen:
He is the best center the Preds have ever had. Period. Sure, he did not live up to the contract these past few years and that’s part of the conversation. He also was a main reason for the 2017 run, the 2018 President’s Trophy, etc.
It’s not a
Last thing I’ll say tonight before we pick up the conversation tomorrow: Have to feel for Pekka Rinne, whose time to win a Cup is running out. He was fine and, at times, magnificent in this series. His team was not. Have to wonder how many more cracks at it he’ll get.
Allison Reese Stanley was born on August 2 at 5:13 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs, 8oz. She and mom are doing great. Heather is an absolute rock star. I am unbelievably blessed to have her as my wife and we are so in love with our little miracle. God is so good.
P.K. Subban honored by the
#Preds
on the screen, receives a standing ovation from the crowd. He responds back with his signature point to the sky and taps his heart several times. Nice moment.
Ryan Johansen on Cody Glass: "I'm really happy for him. He's one of the most genuine kids I've ever met. He's a kid that's really easy to cheer for. I'm happy for him and hope he can gain some confidence from that and build his game here in Nashville."
The first power play unit I would like to see the
#Preds
roll out to begin next season:
Matt Duchene
Filip Forsberg
Ryan Johansen
Viktor Arvidsson
Roman Josi
Load that sucker up and see where it goes. Then adjust if need be.
The
#Preds
have adopted the strategy of Filip Forsberg scoring every single game, Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene playing their butts off, Roman Josi bending the laws of time and space and Juuse Saros transfiguring into a human brick wall in goal. It seems to be working.
I’ve said this a couple times this year but it bears repeating: Filip Forsberg and Matt Duchene have been sensational and I’m taking nothing away from them. But Roman Josi is having the best season a Predators player has ever had. It’s truly amazing.
So,
#Preds
fans:
@FriedgeHNIC
reported that David Poile is stepping down as GM effective June 30 and Barry Trotz is expected to take over as GM.
@AdamVingan
will be with us tomorrow on the show.
What’s your reaction?
Kyle Turris:
“I’m just thankful for the opportunity that [Hynes] has given me. He’s come in with kind of a clean slate, and I’m just trying to take advantage of the opportunity that he’s given me. Constantly trying to do that.”
I haven’t commented on this since the news came out, but the
#Preds
switching from Pepsi to Coke could be the second greatest thing in franchise history behind winning the Western Conference.
In other news, the
#Preds
have won four straight and don’t look now but Ryan Johansen and Matt Duchene have been pretty darn good. What does it all mean?!
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anything like this. The Preds get outshot 67-25 and win 5-3. Juuse Saros with 64 saves. They need to buy him Cracker Barrel tomorrow morning.
In important news, Filip Forsberg said he just got the new Call of Duty game and was going to go home today and try it out.
Ryan Johansen dressed up as Post Malone for Halloween and still had the temporary tattoos on his face at practice today.
Carry on.
Duchene: "This is exactly the team, tonight, that I wanted to come and join. This decision to come here was hockey first all the way. That was so much fun for me to play with a team like that tonight.”
Me: Have you ever met a more patient human being than Ryan Johansen in a shootut?
Brian Boyle: "Yeah, I taught him that. *Long pause* No, he did it to us earlier this year. It's incredible. It's tough to stop. Goalies get all upset about it. You know how goalies are."
So the
#Preds
now have a two-time Rocket Richard winner, two Conn Smythe Trophy winners and a Norris Trophy winner all on their roster. And then there’s Forsberg and Saros. What a difference a day makes.
Can we please stop with the “The Titans didn’t want it as bad” stuff? It’s maybe the single dumbest argument made. It’s the AFC Championship game. They want it. Kansas City is just better.
That was freaking unbelievable. What a win for the
#Preds
. Down three in the third and they come back to grab two points. What a story and what a run for this team.
Filip Forsberg just bumped Ryan Johansen’s hat off of his head in the middle of an interview. Johansen turned and said “I’m definitely not passing to you tonight.”
I've been fairly patient before slamming the door on this season.
But I think I've seen all I need to see at this point. The
#Preds
should be sellers at the trading deadline. This goose appears to be cooked.