Nashville skated again today, with another day of uptempo drills to keep the pace up as best as possible while awaiting the winner of the Phoenix/Chicago series. At least the Predators now know they will face whichever team survives that tussle after the LA Kings polished off the Vancouver Canucks in five games on Sunday night.

At this point the Preds are trying to strike a balance between rest and keeping up the pace while knowing they may not play for almost another week. Barry Trotz has said he feels the balance his team has between beingserious and having fun is a good one right now, and he’d like to see that continue. It certainly helps to keep things light in and around the locker room on practice days, and bear down and be serious on game days. So far, the Predators have been able to do just that.

For the most part the players know they can’t go into this year’s second round by waiting for the opponent, waiting for the dates, waiting for Game One… it didn’t work against Vancouver and memories are long. To a man this team seems determined to make sure it won’t happen that way this year. They know the series could have gone differently, especially if they were prepared to jump out of the gate right away.

So even though it may take three more days to decide a winner (should we see a Game Seven with the Coyotes and Blackhawks) look for the Predators to enjoy the off-day tomorrow and come back again on Wednesday with that same balance intact – perhaps even knowing this time who they will face and when.