And we sit in 9th

How fitting that the day after I blog about injuries David Legwand takes a deflected puck to the face at practice. He left practice for X-rays and is now doubtful for tomorrow night against San Jose. We just lost, arguably, our best player for the past month or so. It's not making the fact that we lost to the Ducks last night any better. The game at least went to OT, so we got a point. But that was a crucial game we had to win at home. Honestly, we need to beat San Jose tomorrow and the Kings on Saturday. Do that, and this team is back in playoff contention. Get less than 4/4 points and things start to look ugly. With the exception of St. Louis winning last night, every game went the right way for us. We just couldn't do it ourselves. Was an odd game; could tell that neither team wanted to be the first one to make a mistake. As soon as we did though, Anaheim capitalized. If it wasn't for Weber's blast on the power play, that game would have ended in a regulation loss. The Preds played a good third period, but looked off for the first two periods. And the crowd reflected that; didn't really get into it until Weber tied it. Playoff type game, yes. Playoff type crowd, no.
Will be interesting to see if a call-up is made before the game tomorrow. Would really love to see Santorelli get another shot. The kid has been awesome for Milwaukee, and with the right line mates I think he can do some offensive things here in Nashville. However, calling someone up and putting them on a line with Smithson and Tootoo and then having Fiddler center the first line is idiotic, which probably means that's what will happen if Legwand can't play. As nice a guy as Fiddler is, I just hate seeing him getting time on the top two lines. It forces him to take dumb penalties because he is so outmatched skill wise. And pleas for the love of God, don't put him in the shoot out again. He has ONE move, and everyone knows what it is. Stop the madness.
Time to move on and get ready for San Jose tomorrow. Minus Legwand, this is nearly impossible. With Legwand, this is nearly impossible. The Sharks are just so big and physical that they can come in and beat teams down. We have to come out firing and not let them take it to us. Here's to hoping it's a battle.