The Preds lines at the start of the game (in order of first shift)
    Legwand centering A. Kostitsyn and Radulov
    Fisher centering Erat and S. Kostitsyn
    Gaustad centering Halischuk and Yip
    Spaling centering Bourque and Hornqvist

Defense pairings:
    Suter and Weber
    Josi and Klein
    Bouillon and Ellis


THREE MUSINGS:
Spaling -- Nick Spaling had a very good first period. His line was responsible for three of Nashville's four/five best five-on-five chances in the period. Spaling also drew both Nashville power-plays, taking the elbow from Bertuzzi and being tripped on the PK by Datsyuk (great one-on-one battle win by Shea Weber just seconds before Datsyuk's penatly to win puck possession for the Preds).

Special Teams -- Nashville's penalty kill went a perfect three-for-three in the first period. The Preds also were able to keep up with the Wings during a pair of four-on-four situations. Nashville's power-play was unable to convert on two abbreviated chances, but the first PP opp generated a pair of quality sequences.

Clearing the Zone -- By my unofficial count, the Preds had 7 unforced failed clears in the first period (discounting the attempts under duress or rushed passes by a forecheck), however five of those seven occurred in the first three minutes of the game, the sixth failed clear resulted in a great scoring chance for Filppula and then the first Nashville penalty on the same sequence. The second half of the period, though, Nashville was nearly perfect on its clearing attempts.

Preds have 20 skaters out for pregame warmups (in numerical order)
  Forwards (13): Erat, Legwand, Fisher, Spaling, Smith, Yip, Halischuk, Hornqvist, Gaustad, Anderi Kostitsyn, Radulov, Bourque, Sergei Kostitsyn
  Defensemen (7): Weber, Klein, Suter, Hillen, Ellis, Bouillon, Josi


Three quick takeaways from morning skate conversations...
Weather the early storm --- Joe Louis Arena is likely going to be loud at the outset and the Red Wings will look to feed off that emotion for a fast start. Nashville needs to stay disciplined, stay to the game plan, and survive the surge through the first television timeout; after then the game should settle in. At the same time, there's a nervous pall in the air at The Joe tonight; an early lead by the Preds and things will get very tight for the hometown crowd; fans here aren't used to seeing the hometeam lose, especially during the playoffs, but Nashville has won in four of its last seven trips to The Joe since the start of the 2010-11 season (including the Game 3 playoff win) and seven of its last 13 going back to '08-09.

Clear the zone --- Nashville struggled getting the puck out of the zone at times in Game 3. The Preds need to improve tonight; it will help limit Detroit's shots and scoring chances. Additionally, it will help the Preds maintain regular line changes and allow the coaches to more easily roll all four lines on a consistent basis, which should pay dividends later in the game.

Special teams --- The Preds have held the upper hand in five-on-five situations through the first three games of the series, but the Red Wings have held the edge in specialty situations. Nashville is 1-of-16 on the power-play, while Detroit is 3-of-14. The Wings have also scored one four-on-four goal. In contrast, the Preds have out-scored the Wings 7-to-3 during five-on-five play. Nashville's power-play has had several great chances, but -- outside of Weber's goal to open the scoring in Game 3 -- has been unable to find the back of the net; still the Preds players and coaches say they feel like the power-play is close to exploding ... a multi-goal performance from the power-play tonight would put the PP percentage closer to its success rate from the regular season when Nashville lead the league at 21.6%.

Routine game day morning skate today at Joe Louis Arena. Not too much to glean about lines; Preds coaches and players were coy about any potential lineup and line changes. Based on conversation it sounds like Jordin Tootoo is likely out of the lineup tonight, probably with Matt Halischuk back in, but that appears to be a game time decision. As for line combinations, Coach Trotz said he might use the pairings from practice yesterday or might start with the same lines as Games 1 and 2 with option to switch later in the game if necessary, but he did mention that the potential reconfigured lines gives the team a little more balance through all four forward combinations.

Defensively, Hal Gill skated with the team again. Coach Trotz termed it a very good, very positive showing by Gill, but said he will not be in the lineup tonight. Coach would not tip his hand to whether Ryan Ellis or Jack Hillen would be in the lineup as the sixth defenseman.

The theme of the media sessions was desperation level and emotion. The expectation is Detroit will play a very desperate game tonight and try to set the tone early with a quick start. Nashville's players and coaches recognize the importance of weathering the opening salvo by the Wings and staying within the team system. Players talked about learning from the experiences the last two years --- in '10 vs Chicago when Nashville held a two games to one lead and again last year vs. Anaheim when the Preds again held the 2-1 series lead --- as to how high Nashville needs to bring its game tonight.

Check back for video interviews from this morning...

Lines from today's practice:
  White - Fisher centering Erat and S. Kostitsyn
  Gray - Spaling centering A. Kostitsyn and Radulov
  Yellow - Gaustad centering Bourque and Hornqvist
  Green - Legwand centering Halischuk and Yip
  Burgundy - Smith centering Tootoo and Wilson

- For the first time this series, Hal Gill practiced with the full group. Coach Trotz mentioned that Gill skated longer than the coaches had anticipated he'd be able to today. He'll be a game day decision tomorrow, but seems to be getting close to returning to game action.
- Gaustad was complementary of his two new linemates, Bourque and Hornqvist, commenting on how hard they play and their ability to retrieve pucks, especially on the forecheck.

More locker room reaction, including Coach Trotz press conference, coming soon.

Both teams scored once in the second period and both teams had near-misses on power-play opportunites for what could have been a second goal in the period for each squad. At the end of the period, Nashville heads into the locker room with the same one-goal lead it held after the first period.

Momentum Shifts – The momentum swung wildly throughout the second period. Detroit came out fast. Nashville grabbed the momentum back and had a great chance to stamp the game with consecutive power-plays, but Detroit killed off both penalties which brought the crowd back into the game. Nashville re-settled things when Datsyuk stole the puck off Josi’s stick behind the net and tucked the puck nearside late in the period to bring the momentum back in Detroit’s favor. The final TV timeout of the period – at 4:07 of the frame – settled the buzz in the building, but Detroit again surged when the Wings were able to draw four-on-four action late in the period.

Erat’s Defense – Martin Erat made two tremendous defensive plays on backchecks to negate what could have been a pair of high-level scoring chances for the Wings, the first around six minutes into the period and the second on a Detroit shorthanded rush late in Nashville’s second power-play of the period. Erat also assisted on Klein’s goal, moving the

No Goal -- The Preds escaped the end of the period when Detroit's power-play shot crossed the line after time expired in the second period.

The Preds lines at the start of the game (in order of first shift)
   Legwand centering A. Kostitsyn and Radulov
   Fisher centering Erat and S. Kostistyn
   Gaustad centering Tootoo and Yip
   Spaling centering Bourque and Hornqvist

Defense pairings:
   Suter and Weber
   Bouillon and Klein
   Ellis and Josi


THREE MUSINGS:
Heating Up -- Good start by the Legwand line. Andrei Kostitsyn and Radulov created a turnover behind the net on the game’s opening shift to set –up Legwand for a point-black chance. On Nashville’s first power-play the trio combined to create the game’s opening goal with Legwand and Radulov making crafty passes to find Kostitsyn alone at the top of the crease; Kostitsyn’s chance was stopped, but Weber netted the rebound. The line created Nashville’s second power-play with a good work in transition and finished the first period with four of Nashville's nine shots on goal.

Controlling the Circle – Nashville was dominant in the faceoff circle early in the game, winning 14 of the first 23 draws in the opening period, several clean wins. Even the three lost draws were well contested. The faceoff wins were key to the special teams success In the period with the win on the second faceoff of the first power-play leading to the possession that resulted in Nashville’s goal. Paul Gaustad clean won a pair of faceoffs on the Nashville penalty kill, which allowed the Preds additional clearing opportunities.

Clearing the Zone – Nashville got into trouble on a couple of occasions after failed clearing attempts. Detroit was able to make plays high in the zone and re-establish its puck control/half-wall cycle leading to some the Wings best chances in the period. Nashville got away with it in the first period, but will need to clean things up, especially for the second period with the long line change.

A quiet crowd here for pre-game warm-ups; kind of a late arriving crowd into the building for the early start (filling up more as warm-ups move through). But a pretty good showing by Preds fans – a couple pockets of Gold and Blue jerseys in the arena. Reminder: 11 am start time on NBC National Broadcast, with puck drop closer to 11:20 am CT

Nashville sent 20 skaters out for pre-game warm-ups, 13 forwards and seven defensemen:
  Forwards: Erat, Legwand, Fisher, Spaling, Yip, Tootoo, Halischuk, Honrqvist, Gaustad, A. Kostitsyn, Radulov, Bourque, S. Kostitsyn
  Defensemen: Weber, Klein, Suter, Hillen, Ellis, Bouillon, Josi

Takeaways from pre-game chatter:
 - Look for the Preds to ramp up the intensity early in the game; there's been talk in the Preds camp about wanting to hit more and try to initiate the physical contact.
 - Fans were given red light sticks on entrance; a pretty cool scene when they dimmed the lights at the end of pregame skate -- check out @predsradio twitter for some pics.

There was a lot of action in the second period, but entering the intermission the game remains in essentially the same postion as Detroit retains a two-goal lead.


THREE MUSINGS
1) Special Teams – Detroit’s penalty kill dominated Nashville’s power-play early in the period. The Preds had three chances early in the period with the man advantage – including 30 seconds of 5-on-3 play – and were unable to convert. With the score 3-1, Bourque drew another Preds power-play, but Nashville was unable to get any momentum from the 2:00 advantage.

2) Hit The Net – Nashville had a ton of looks, especially in the first half of the period, but still were credited with only 10 shots on net for period despite attempting 21 shots. Through two periods of play, fewer than 50% of Nashville’s shot attempts found the net with just 15 shots on goal on 36 attempted shots. It was especially noticeable on the power-play where Nashville’s five opportunities have resulted in only seven shots on goal.

3) Momentum Changer – The Preds had everything rolling back in their favor when Kostitsyn scored, but less than a minute later Nashville misplayed a routine zone entry by the Wings and Detroit converted to re-gain a two-goal cushion.

The Preds lines to open the game (in order of first shift) were:
   Legwand centering A. Kostitsyn and Radulov
   Fisher centering Erat and S. Kostitsyn
   Spaling centering Bourque and Hornqvist
   Gaustad centering Halischuk and Yip

Defensively:
   Josi and Klein
   Suter and Weber
   Bouillon and Hillen


Despite the scoreboard reading 2-0 Detroit, Nashville didn't play a bad first period. The Preds out-chanced the Wings in the period and --- if not for some unfortunate bounces --- could easily have been up by two or three goals midway through the period. Still, Detroit capitalized on its chances and takes the lead into the first intermission.


THREE MUSINGS
1) Physical First -- It was a much more physical tone to the first period. Mike Fisher and Johan Franzen sparred behind the play on their first shifts (around 1:20 into the game). Shea Weber and Todd Bertuzzi dropped the gloves 1:36 in (Bertuzzi sought out Weber after the whistle). Beyond that, the hitting was more pronounced and the pace much quicker.

2) Missed Opportunities -- The Preds generated a ton of quality scoring opportunities in the first period, but were just unable to convert. The Fisher and Legwand lines were much more noticeable, with Erat creating the play that led to Nashville's first power-play with a strong move down the right wing before taking the puck back in front of the net. The Nashville power-play had four or five dangerous opportunities that misfired for one reason or another. The Spaling line created good chances on two shifts during the second half of the period.

3) Mental Mistakes -- The Preds made two mental mistakes in the first period and Detroit made them pay both times. One of the Preds defensemen cheated too far down low in the zone and then Brandon Yip peeled away from the point for the hit along the boards high in the defensive zone and the combination of the two decisions left Ian White all alone at the right point --- White took his time and slowly skated in before picking his corner for the first goal. Kevin Klein made a poor puck decision with Nashville buzzing in the Detroit end, leading to an easy shot-block and two-on-one for the Wings in the other direction; Klein then took an awkward angle getting back on defense allowing a more pronounced odd-man opportunity which Emmerton converted for the 2-0 lead.

Both teams got on the board in the second period with Detroit netting an early period power-play goal and Nashville countering with an even strength goal mid-way through the frame. The Red Wings held the territorial advantage early in the period, but the second half of the period was very even. Nashville played with much more intensity and "jam" after the Halischuk goal put the Preds ahead 2-1.

THREE MUSINGS:
1) Nashville's most consistent play continued to come from the Spaling and Gaustad lines during five-on-five play. Halischuk's goal in the middle of the period ignited the crowd and led the Preds to step up their physical play. Beyond the goal the Spaling and Gaustad lines each drew a power-play opportunity for the Preds during the second period and seem to be much more effective tonight in all phases of the game than the Fisher and Legwand lines. Additionally, Gaustad's been a beast in the faceoff circle, winning 8-of-11 draws through the first two periods.

2) Howard gave up another suspect goal in the second period. He looked unsure on a couple saves late in the first period and then allowed a goal on a wrist shot in transition from just inside the blueline -- granted Bourque was cutting across his vision, but Bourque was around faceoff dot high when the puck passed him. The first period goal by Gaustad --- while not Howard's fault --- was also on a rather non-descript type of play.

3) The first two periods have been much more blue collar and "ugly" than a skilled, creative, skating display. There have been very few odd-man rushes and even fewer pretty passing combinations from either team. Instead the majority of the play has been more board battles, puck retreavals, dump-and-chase attempts. The passing attempts for both teams seemed to be just a hair off -- passes more into skates than tape-to-tape. Its even more surprising given the high number of power-play attempts both teams have garnered.