I Wish I Could Trust Him

Posted 11:11 AM ET | Comments 5

<a href='http://predjoe.wordpress.com/files/2008/03/ellis-mason.jpg' title='ellis-mason.jpg'><img src='http://predjoe.wordpress.com/files/2008/03/ellis-mason.jpg' alt='ellis-mason.jpg' /></a>
Dan Ellis has unseated Chris Mason as the teams starter.

"I wish I could trust him."

That's what kept echoing in my brain last night following the superb performance by Dan Ellis last night in goal. for the second game in a row Ellis has stood on his head and led this team to victory. First it was the 2-1 shootout victory over the Blackhawks where he stopped 37 of 38 shots then last night he shutout a hungry Columbus Bluejacket team that was hoping to play spoiler to the Preds. Nary (wow...when was the last time I used the word nary. I guess I am running out of descriptive words!) one of Columbus's 36 shots made it through the mighty wall that was Dan Ellis last night. He was playing inspired hockey and once again was there to bail out the defensive lapses (though those did seem less frequent last night...but there will still some).

But all is not right in my hockey world. We have seen these stretches from Ellis before. We have seen him post shutout wins before. We have seen him make huge save after huge save before. As much as I want all the good to be my memory I can't help but remember all the times that he has been pulled from goal. All the times that he has allowed some soft goals. All the times I wondered what happened to that goalie who seemed to have an 'S' etched on his chest.

I wish I could trust him. I wish I could believe that the Dan Ellis that we saw these past few games would be the one we could ride the rest of the season.

That being said I still believe that Ellis is our best option going forward. Mason has seems to have lost his game somewhere. While I don't think all is lost with Mason I do have to wonder what role he will play for us in the future.

Scoreboard Watching: Calgary helped us out last night by keeping Vancouver in striking distance but tonight the Canucks play the Avalanche...meaning tonight we are rooting for the Canucks to win in regulation. The absolute worst possible outcome would be a three point game. The way the schedule lays out the rest of the week the Preds will have a real good idea where they stand when they visit Columbus on Friday. Colorado hosts Vancouver tonight and then host Edmonton (who have played themselves right back into the mix as well) on Friday.

Bottom line here...we have to take care of ourselves. Go out and win boys!

Filed Under: predators predjoe ellis canucks oilers avalanche playo

OneTimer

March 26, 2008 1:29 PM ET | Delete
Indeed, Ellis is our best option for the next five games.

jmayfield

March 26, 2008 9:23 PM ET | Delete
It's tricky who to root for... You want the Canucks to win and get us within 2 points of Colorado with the CBJ game in hand (looks good, right?). But if those 2 things happen, we still are out of the playoffs because Colorado gets the tiebreaker in games won (they will have one more than us) if it ended that way. BUT, if Colorado wins, and we can somehow coax Vancouver to lose that next game in hand, we would tie them in points, but get the tiebreaker... decisions, decisions

arwilson529

March 27, 2008 9:57 AM ET | Delete
I'm leery about his weight-loss problems. 13 lbs in one game is huge, isn't the norm about 5-7? Glennon wrote about it yesterday in the Tennessean. What's going to happen in the playoffs?And yes, thank you Calgary, thank you Minnesota.

predjoe

March 27, 2008 10:13 AM ET | Delete
There was also mention of this earlier in the year in another Tennessean article. That time it referenced that he would lose about 10 pounds per start. I know when I work out hard i can lose three pounds…I can’t imagine what losing ten or more would feel like. Can’t someone just bring him some BBQ nachos between periods?

blueline