Pre-Game Talk: Who do you want in the 1st round?

[Gnashville]

Anyone that said they wanted Chicago is either lying or crazy!! The worst possible matchup for this team and there is no chance in hell this team wins this series. Another wasted season from this franchise. This team vastly underachieved and the 3 on 3 gimmick has prevented them from ever having home ice in playoffs.

 

[klt2001]

Plus what's the point even going into the playoffs if you aren't going to give it all you got even if the odds are against ya. Might as well just not even play and just go golfing instead.

 

[klt2001]

Anyone that said they wanted Chicago is either lying or crazy!! The worst possible matchup for this team and there is no chance in hell this team wins this series. Another wasted season from this franchise. This team vastly underachieved and the 3 on 3 gimmick has prevented them from ever having home ice in playoffs.

I don't think anybody was wanting Chicago (at least I didn't) but that is who we got so got to just deal w/ it and go out there and compete/play and beat them if you want to get to the next round. It's do or die at this point. Just go out there and get it done.

 

[bdub24]

I'm perfectly fine playing Chicago right away. If they're as scary good as you're making them out to be, we would have to play them eventually to get to the cup finals. So let's get them out of the way sooner rather than later.

 

[klt2001]

I'm perfectly fine playing Chicago right away. If they're as scary good as you're making them out to be, we would have to play them eventually to get to the cup finals. So let's get them out of the way sooner rather than later.

Agree. In our franchise history, we haven't even been able to get pass the second round no matter what team we played let alone the cup finals so might as well play the best and get it out of the way. We could just consider the first round as our cup final . If we can get pass that I seriously think we can get pass any of the other rounds and it might be the thrust we finally need to get pass the second round w/ a win for a change. If not, it wouldn't have been much different from the other seasons where we got pass the first round to only lose in the second.

 

[Gnashville]

I don't think anybody was wanting Chicago (at least I didn't) but that is who we got so got to just deal w/ it and go out there and compete/play and beat them if you want to get to the next round. It's do or die at this point. Just go out there and get it done.

Several on here were/are making that claim. And for the whole "we'd play them anyways" crowd, I honestly thought they would lose to St. Louis in the 2nd round if they play Calgary. The long travel would have hurt the Blackhawks in an earlier round. Plus I think the Flames match up better with the than the Predators do. I had us going to the WCF if they played out west. Predators have proven they can win in Anaheim and I think Edmonton beats the Sharks in 7, and the Predators would have roasted the Oilers in 5. The only 2 teams in the West the Predators could not beat is Chicago and San Jose because they cannot win on the road vs those teams.

 

[klt2001]

Several on here were/are making that claim. And for the whole "we'd play them anyways" crowd, I honestly thought they would lose to St. Louis in the 2nd round if they play Calgary. The long travel would have hurt the Blackhawks in an earlier round. Plus I think the Flames match up better with the than the Predators do. I had us going to the WCF if they played out west. Predators have proven they can win in Anaheim and I think Edmonton beats the Sharks in 7, and the Predators would have roasted the Oilers in 5. The only 2 teams in the West the Predators could not beat is Chicago and San Jose because they cannot win on the road vs those teams.

Maybe but I can only go by history and history has shown that the Preds haven't ever gotten past the second round even when they have played different teams. The Preds under performed in the regular season to what fans were hoping for this year and thus didn't move up in the standings to get a better/easier match up than wanting. What's to say they wouldn't have done the same in the playoffs too and under performed and got knocked out in the second round too like they have in the past. The Preds made their bed and are where they are in the standings because of their performance on the ice and the only way they are going to get out of it is to perform their butts off in the POs and find a way to get the "W". That's on them. If they want to get past the first round, they are just going to have to take care of business or learn to play better in the regular season to get a better seed next time. Whether that means playing better in the regular season or playing better in the POs (due to getting a harder team to play against); either way they got to play better no matter what if they want to get far. The Preds under performed in the regular season; so just going to have to hope they over perform in the POs.

 

[Armourboy]

Several on here were/are making that claim. And for the whole "we'd play them anyways" crowd, I honestly thought they would lose to St. Louis in the 2nd round if they play Calgary. The long travel would have hurt the Blackhawks in an earlier round. Plus I think the Flames match up better with the than the Predators do. I had us going to the WCF if they played out west. Predators have proven they can win in Anaheim and I think Edmonton beats the Sharks in 7, and the Predators would have roasted the Oilers in 5. The only 2 teams in the West the Predators could not beat is Chicago and San Jose because they cannot win on the road vs those teams.

And I completely disagree with you. I think we come out of another series with Anaheim beaten to a pulp and with the added travel your perfect set up with Edmonton wouldn't be nearly as easy as you think.

With Chicago you gotta best them, but they aren't going to go out of their way to put a hurt on you. Anaheim we may match up better with, but physically I think we would be a mess after that series.

So as I said earlier, pick your poison.

 

[Drake744]

For those keeping score, Minnesota is up 1 in the "8:30 Central home start time" category. It's not just us.

 

[drwpreds]

For those keeping score, Minnesota is up 1 in the "8:30 Central home start time" category. It's not just us.

True, but it still bugs me that Chicago gets two 7:00 starts. And I still can’t get over the fact that we are the only team in the playoffs that don’t have at least one home game on a FRI/SAT/SUN. 15 teams do, 1 doesn’t- and of course it is us.

 

[TitansVolsPreds615]

And I completely disagree with you. I think we come out of another series with Anaheim beaten to a pulp and with the added travel your perfect set up with Edmonton wouldn't be nearly as easy as you think.

With Chicago you gotta best them, but they aren't going to go out of their way to put a hurt on you. Anaheim we may match up better with, but physically I think we would be a mess after that series.

So as I said earlier, pick your poison.

After two 7 game west coast series against physical teams the Preds were beaten to a pulp and exhausted. Now we are playing a team that focuses on skill (I believe they have the fewest hits of any team in the playoffs) and is in the same time zone as us. Not to mention a familiar division opponent. If we can get past Chicago in Round 1 we will have the best path to the finals since we lost to Phoenix in 2012...

 

[Drake744]

True, but it still bugs me that Chicago gets two 7:00 starts. And I still can’t get over the fact that we are the only team in the playoffs that don’t have at least one home game on a FRI/SAT/SUN. 15 teams do, 1 doesn’t- and of course it is us.

It irritates me too (I know you're 3 hours away), but it's a mix of NBC wanting Chicago on TV and the fact that the damn Bulls have a game tonight in Chicago. If the Bulls weren't there we'd likely have played a WED/FRI set in Chicago and a Sunday game here.

 

[kypredsfan]

It irritates me too (I know you're 3 hours away), but it's a mix of NBC wanting Chicago on TV and the fact that the damn Bulls have a game tonight in Chicago. If the Bulls weren't there we'd likely have played a WED/FRI set in Chicago and a Sunday game here.

Plus the fact that Bridgestone is booked next Wednesday, preventing game 4 from being on that night, which in effect would prevent a possible game 6 here from being on that Sunday as well.

 

[drwpreds]

It irritates me too (I know you're 3 hours away), but it's a mix of NBC wanting Chicago on TV and the fact that the damn Bulls have a game tonight in Chicago. If the Bulls weren't there we'd likely have played a WED/FRI set in Chicago and a Sunday game here.

Yep- before I realized their arena was booked, that is what I was praying for- a Sunday game 3 here.

Oh well- we are coming to the game Monday anyway- won't get home until around 3 in the morning, but what the heck- you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

[Drake744]

Plus the fact that Bridgestone is booked next Wednesday, preventing game 4 from being on that night, which in effect would prevent a possible game 6 here from being on that Sunday as well.

When you play in one of the busiest arenas in North America, and the world, you have a lot of scheduling conflicts working against you.

 

[drwpreds]

Plus the fact that Bridgestone is booked next Wednesday, preventing game 4 from being on that night, which in effect would prevent a possible game 6 here from being on that Sunday as well.

Yep- those two arena bookings really screwed us- we probably would have had 2 weekend home games otherwise

 

[Cashville]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nhl-17...up-champs-ensuring-wont-happen-164223019.html

 

[Scoresberg]

Thank goodness we didn't have to deal with the Ducks' offense.