Rhymes With Ducks

by Jas Faulkner, Nashville Correspondent

Nashville won, right? So why did this game end up with me being one of the many denizens of Predsnation who muttered to themselves all the way home? Trying to obviate the need to mutter and fuss by recalling the 4 to 1 final score did not work. Singing along with the Black Crowes did not work. Contemplating the existential beauty of the perfect chant from Cellblock 303 or Paul McCann’s Tony the Tiger-like intro to the regular season? They were nice, but… I was still nattering to myself. I am nattering to myself as I write this.

You may be right. I may be crazy.

Here’s the thing or three…

Pekka Rinne is hurt. That (rhymes with “ducks”).

There were a few unecessary penalties. Sorry guys, I know…me anthropologist/writer, you hockey pros, but yeah, some of those should have been easy to avoid from my vantage point in the Press Belfry. That, too, (rhymes with “ducks”).

Ryan Getzlaf? You’re so pretty, but so… Bubba, you really wanted to tug on superman’s cape last night, didn’t you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-k5J4RxQdE

Fortunately for you, Weber wasn’t having it. Seriously, this is Shea Freaking Weber, not Pete Weber.* Getzlaf? You (rhymes with “duck”).

And number 50? What’s your name? Troy Bodie? You (rhymes with “duck”) for many, many, many reasons. I am not a fan of fights, but man, I wanted to see you covered in BBQ sauce and shoved in front of Bouillon last night.

(This is not a picture of Francis Bouillon)

(This isn’t Bouillon, either.)

So what didn’t (rhymes with “duck”)?

The Legwand-Erat-Lombardi line. It was pretty and made me happy. Was it perfect? Nope. But once they streched a bit and got those kinks worked out, it was a thing of beauty. I am loving the revamped lines and the PP and PK. Remember what I said day before yesterday about the Preds seeming like a completely new team? There ya go. They don’t (rhymes with “duck”).

Pekka Rinne, until he got hurt. He doesn’t (rhymes with “duck”) now, but his being hurt does. The Predators without the Great Wall of Finland? To steal a phrase from my friend, Howard, Avenging Litigator for the Whales, Seals and Dolphins, that’s a big bowl of wrong.

Everyone who made a goal or an assist. **

Everyone who brought the grit.***

Even though I said that the Preds – Pekka = a big bowl of wrong, I think Anders Lindback could change my mind. That young man more than held his own in the face of Anaheim’s sheer darned punkitude. Trotz gave him a much deserved nod during his post game press scrum for handling the situation as well as he did. Keep in mind that Lindback withstood assualts and said nej to every waterfowl who came a’knockin’ last night. Good for him and Nashville! The additional silver lining to all of this was that his parents were in town to help him get settled in and got to see him play.

All in all, the regular season opener was bittersweet. What will the coming week bring? Stay tuned, Predsnation. It ain’t over even if the aging progrocker has lip-synched. Carry on you wayward sons and daughters of the Tiger Tribe! This is Jas Faulkner and I’ll see you at the ‘Stone and the ‘Plex and online at Twitter and Facebook.

* Love ya, Pete, but I wouldn’t want to make a bet on you in a fistfight with Ryan Getzlaf.

**Long may you run, Sully!

***I’m lookin’ at you, Bouillon, Hornqvist and Tootoo. Not that I want to make anything of it.