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.