Preds coach Barry Trotz isn’t saying which goaltender will start tomorrow night against Tomas Vokoun and the Florida Panthers. Chris Mason, the team’s prohibitive starter going into the season, said the following today about Trotz’s unannounced choice, “Whatever he decides he is doing what he feels is best for the team right now, so that is really all that matters,” Mason said.

Mason is a team player, and I completely agree. That said, I think Trotz should start Dan Ellis, who is fresh off of a 3-0 shutout last night, against the Panthers. It’s not wise to sit a hot keeper.

The Preds ended a brutal six-game losing streak by shutting out the Atlanta Thrashers 3-0 last night at the Sommet Center. It wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but a win is a win when a team is at risk for tying its longest-ever losing streak (seven games during the 1999-2000 season).

• The Preds (3-6) played the style of game they’ll have to play to emerge from the early-season hole they’ve dug for themselves: lots of shots on goal, more muscle than finesse and heavy forechecking. Less flash, more pressure on the other team.
• The role players and grind-line guys, notably Jerred Smithson, Vernon Fiddler and Jordin Tootoo, had a great night. The new line combinations shaked things up nicely, too.
• Dan Ellis looked sharp in goal and played an outstanding game, especially in the first and third periods when he wasn’t facing a lot of shots. Down time in net can be a killer when a team wakes up and starts firing again, but Ellis didn’t blink in the second or late in the game.
• Atlanta (2-8) is taking yet another loss hard, referring to the Preds as “woeful” in their story headline.
• One columnist is even washing his lucky Thrash jersey after the loss in an attempt to turn things around. The comments are full of good quips and other tidbits.

Nashville and Atlanta, separated only by one state line and 250 miles, should play more often than once per year. Since both teams have plenty more losses than wins in the NHL standings, it couldn’t hurt for these poor-performing squads to have more shots at each other during the course of the season, either. It’s a shame that a natural rivalry can’t fluorish because the teams are not only not in the same division, they’re in opposite conferences.