You could be forgiven for feeling a twinge of nostalgia for the Western Conference yesterday, after news emerged that the NHL is nearing an agreement on radical realignment. The new setup is better almost every way: less travel, more geographic rivalries, the chance for every team to host every other team. But for…

This is hockey's version of going coast-to-coast, though with a much greater degree of difficulty. It's the Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk single-handedly tying the Predators and forcing overtime with 6:30 to play last night in Nashville. Datsyuk ultimately couldn't do it all, though. The Preds went on to win in OT.

Nashville Predators winger Sergei Kostitsyn has been playing for Avangard Omsk—a KHL hockey team from Omsk, a Russian city located in Siberia—while he waits for the NHL to end its lockout. Don't feel bad for Kostitsyn though; he seems to be enjoying himself in Omsk. From Reuters:

When Philadelphia surprised everyone by giving Predator defenseman a 14-year, $110 million offer sheet, we were awed by Paul Holmgren's balls and savvy, and sad for Nashville fans, most of whom are actually quite devoted (there's just not enough to of them to, you know, make the team profitable.) We assumed Nashville…

The Predators have been poking around for weeks, looking to see what they could get in a trade for star defenseman Shea Weber, who's a restricted free agent. The fruitless talks have been maddening for Weber, and for all the teams waiting on Nashville, and last night the Flyers put an end to it all. They signed Weber…

The feud between the Red Wings and Predators that began when Shea Weber smacked Henrik Zetterberg's head off the turnbuckle glass at the end of Game 1 has extended all the way to table tennis. At Joe Louis Arena, there's a ping pong table in the hallway between the home and visitors locker rooms. And yesterday, Detroit …

Shea Weber shoves Henrik Zetterberg's head into the glass: fine, no suspension. Byron Bitz hits Kyle Clifford from behind, sending him into the boards: two-game suspension. Matt Carkner sucker punches Brian Boyle, continuing to hit him after he goes down: one-game suspension. Carl Hagelin elbows Daniel Alfredsson in…

Nashville captain Shea Weber won't miss any games of the Predators' opening round Stanley Cup playoffs series against Detroit after last night's incident in which he made Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg's head extremely intimate with the glass.

It's 2012, so hopefully you're not reliant on the morning paper for game results from the night before. Still, maybe there are a few elderly Baltimore hockey fans a little confused by today's Sun, which omitted the Nashville/Detroit capsule for some very unhelpful dummy text.

The Nashville Predators killed a late penalty and held on to beat Detroit 3-2 tonight, but winning the opening game of their Stanley Cup playoff round apparently wasn't enough for Preds captain Shea Weber. Weber can be seen in the final moments bashing the head of Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg into the boards, …