Phoenix Coyotes Vs. Nashville Predators, NHL Playoffs 2012: Complete Series Coverage

This might just seem silly, but ... well, it’s the Cup and all that.

Hal Gill apparently played with a broken foot or perhaps even a broken leg in the Nashville Predators playoff series against the Phoenix Coyotes. That’s according to Montreal Gazette columnist Dave Stubbs, who had lunch with Gill on Friday afternoon.

via Reddit

Via Newseum:

The postgame handshake line was supposed to be the end of the franchise, owned by the NHL for seemingly forever, despite the league saying it won’t operate the team forever.

Monday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in Glendale, and it wasn’t to shop. It also wasn’t to drop the ceremonial first puck. It was to announce that the league was moving forward with San Jose minority owner Greg Jamison on a deal to buy the team.

Phoenix returns home with a 3-1 series lead after winning Game 4 1-0 in Nashville. The Coyotes are now one win away from advancing to the Western Conference final of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Phoenix is 2-0 at home in this series, winning 4-3 in Game 1 and 5-3 in Game 2. If the Predators are able to steal a game on the road, the series would return to Nashville for Game 6.

Monday’s Game 5 is slated to begin at 10:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on the NBC Sports Network.

Head coach Barry Trotz announced the news before Game 4, opting not to fix what isn’t broken. Radulov told reporters in his post-practice press availability that he thinks the coach made the right call.

We have full coverage of Game 4 between the Predators and Coyotes in our StoryStream. For more on the Predators, check in with On the Forecheck, and for more on the Coyotes, check in with Five For Howling.

“We just had to go back to basics,” said Suter. “We were trying to be too fancy earlier in the series and it ended up costing us.”

The two suspended players were brought in during the regular season to add more scoring flair and offensive depth for the Predators, a slight shift in philosophy that might get Nashville away from its game a bit. Radulov isn’t exactly the most defense-committed player in the league, after all.

There are no details on what exactly the pair did to get under the skin of head coach Barry Trotz and general manger David Poile, but Poile released a statement on the reasoning. It’s pretty vague, but it hinted at some sort of attitude issue.

“The Nashville Predators have a few simple rules centered around doing the right things,” Poile said. “We have always operated with a team-first mentality and philosophy. Violating team rules is not fair to our team and their teammates.”

However, it was most important to get offense from the blueline to come up with the win. Pressure from the Coyotes’ defensemen was (and will continue to be) necessary to beat the Predators’ stingy defense and goaltending, and since Nashville’s a team that gets plenty of production from defense, Phoenix had to find a way to match.

This, coupled with a more disciplined game for Phoenix, kept the Predators on their toes all night in their own end, and the Predators were unable to get better offensive opportunities for themselves.

With a two-goal lead in the third period, the Coyotes began to play a slightly more conservative style of hockey. They locked things up and went totally defensive with around six minutes remaining, and Nashville had no answer. They pulled Rinne and brought on a sixth skater with well over two minutes remaining, but couldn’t find a goal to get back into the game.

For more on the two teams, check in with Predators blog On the Forecheck and Coyotes blog Five For Howling.

Here’s the full series schedule:

For more on the Predators, check in with On the Forecheck. For more on the Coyotes, check in with Five For Howling.