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This December is looking a lot like last December for the Nashville Predators, which is not a good thing.A season ago, Nashville went 5-6-3 in December, kicking off a stretch of just over two months featuring inconsistent play and resulting in real doubts as to whether the Predators could make the playoffs.This season, Nashville has lost four of its first five games in December, picking up just three points. That includes a 5-4 loss Dec. 3 to the New Jersey Devils in which the Predators coughed up a 4-1 third-period lead, and back-to-back losses on a brief road trip to Dallas and Arizona.If the Predators (12-11-4) are to get back on course, a win Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues in Bridgestone Arena would be a good way to do it. It would, if nothing else, erase the taste of a 4-1 defeat against the lowly Coyotes on Saturday night.Weve got to play faster and be better than what we were, Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said after his teams second defeat to the Coyotes in just over a month.Getting back home could help the Predators in that regard. They are 9-2-2 in Bridgestone, including a 3-1 win over St. Louis on Nov. 10. That game came during a stretch in which Nashville won six straight home games and went 9-3-2 in November.Nashville might also get top-four defenseman Ryan Ellis back from an upper-body injury that caused him to miss the past eight games. Both Ellis and center Colton Sissons, out for seven games with an upper-body injury, practiced Monday.It stinks when youre sitting on the sidelines, whether youre winning or losing, Ellis said. Either way, its not fun when youre hurt or youre out. You always hope the team can pull through for you, but at times if they dont, if they do, its tough either way.The Blues (16-9-4) are a bit like Nashville in that they are world-beaters at home and something resembling mop water on the road. St. Louis is coming off a 3-1 loss Sunday in Minnesota, falling to 1-2-0 on its four-game road trip and 2-7-0 in its past nine away games.Two quick second-period goals doomed the Blues against the Wild. St. Louis controlled play in the first period with an 11-6 advantage in shots on goal, but once the Blues had to chase the game against impenetrable Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk, they were in a position they couldnt escape.All these games are right there, but were not getting a big enough push-back against these teams that really check hard, St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. They checked hard. We really checked them hard, but as the game wore on, they started to get a little bit control of it.Jake Allen will get the start in net for the Blues. Allen stopped 22 of 24 shots Sunday but took the loss, falling to 14-5-3 with a 2.39 goals-against average and a .910- save percentage.He probably will be opposed by Pekka Rinne (11-7-4, 2.45), who has given up 16 goals in four December starts after earning the NHLs First Star for November. Rinne still sports a .920 save percentage.Jamal Crawford Suns Jersey . 10 Texas A&Ms offence dominated as usual against SMU. Jason Kidd Jersey . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. http://www.officialsunsfanstore.com/charles-barkley-suns-jersey/ . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Shaquille ONeal Suns Jersey . But when it comes to determining if Raymond will find a place on the Leafs roster when training camp concludes in a week, well, that decision will ultimately fall to the head coach. Grant Hill Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla.Kolkata is a lovely, old city, but driving can be a pain in the central town, particularly for newcomers. Armed with GPS and maps, you can practise your driving in chaotic environments, but what do you do when the same road has two equally popular names: Shakespeare Sarini and Theatre Road for example? You can practise all your driving on one-way streets, but what do you do when one-ways change directions at 1pm? When you hit a one-way street that goes in the opposite direction of where you want to go, there is no looking back. You are forced to enter more one-way streets that take you away from your destination. GPS is helpless because it doesnt know the one-way-streets system of Kolkata. Not well enough anyway.It is a bit like playing spin in India. You have to keep so many things in your mind. Watch the grip, the release of the seam and decide early whether to go back or forward, watch for the variations yet there can still be natural variations off the pitch. You also have to look to score runs. Mike Hesson, New Zealands coach, has stressed the importance of getting starts: in other words, when you hit a wrong one-way street, find a way to get out. When you lose a wicket, dont lose another quickly.The biggest challenge here is to get a start, Hesson told ESPNcricinfo two days before the second Test. If you are able to get a start against spin, then you can apply your game plans. Its easier said than done. We saw that once the guys got underway they were actually able to score and defend and find ways to evolve the game. Starting against them is the hardest bit.New Zealand had periods in the first Test where they seemed like they could negate the India bowlers, but lost wickets in bunches. India did too in their first innings, but New Zealands clusters were bigger. Once you come out to bat, there is a lot happening on the pitch, but after facing 10 balls or so, you feel more confident. There was a strong partnership between Kane Williamson and Tom Latham in the first innings, but they then lost three wickets for 11 runs. Another partnership between Mitchell Santner and Luke Ronchi followed, but another collapse of five wickets for seven runs resulted in a 56-run first-innings deficit.We scored over 250 in both innings in conditions that are challenging where you are batting second and fourth, Hesson said. We certainly found ways to do it. The key is to get more starts. If we get more starts we get more opportunities to create partnerships. From there you turn that 250 into 320. Then you are very much in the game.It is not impossible to arrest a slide, but it is not easy either. Santner and Ronchi tried, but couldnt keep it up for long enough. I was pleased with the way Mitch and Luke batted in the first innings after losing three quick wickets, Hesson said. To still go out and to score and apply their game plan, it is challenging when you lose wickets like that. Because you start to think it is unplayable. Thats the challenge. How do we stick to our game plans?Hesson spoke about the challenges of facing spin when natural variation becomes a factor too. Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi fell lbw off consecutive deliveries by Ravindra Jadeja, which were released identically, in the first innings. One turned a long way, the other went straight on.Many ways it is actually natural variation, Hesson said. A lot of times you are actually not trying to bowl a straighter one. Sometimes it just lands on the leather and slides on. Other times it hits the seam and spins. You are obviously able to change the seam angle to have a little bit of control over there, but sometimes it is very accidental. That is the reality of it over here. And when it spins, it is extreme turn. Like both sides, you are just hoping that you play and miss.In many ways, everyone has a different game plan. You need to be able to protect your stumps. If the ball spins past the outside edge, it is okay.dddddddddddd We can accept that. You dont want to be beaten on the inside. Thats pretty much everybodys game plan. And around that you need to find ways to score.If it slides in, it is often going down. If it turns past the edge then you play and miss. And there are also a lot of balls that turn an abnormal amount. So you are dealing with three things. Thats the challenge of playing in India. Then as the game goes on, uneven bounce comes into play.Different degrees of turn hurt New Zealand in the Kanpur Test, according to Hesson. When rain interrupted the second days play, Williamson and Latham had added 117 for the second wicket. On the next morning, they lost three wickets in five overs. Once the covers were on for that period of time, and an early start, no doubt the first half an hour the ball spun a lot more and it spun sharper and it spun quicker, Hesson said. Both sides found that even on day four and day five, the first half an hour of the day it certainly spun more than the rest. There were certainly periods of time in the game, be it the new ball or the old ball, where the ball spun more. And that can challenge you. Because sometimes it does it quicker as well. There was lot to learn from Indias approach. For example, their batsmens technique to counter the straighter ones. Indian players are obviously more experienced so when they put their pad down they go down the line of leg stump, Hesson said. So if the ball is hitting your pad, often it is sliding down. Sometimes it looks worse - might often be going the same place - but sometimes it looks worse when you plant it across the crease. But the more balls the spinners put in the right area, the more it challenges you to defend. With Ashwin and Jadeja in Indian conditions they are very experienced.The New Zealand spinners, maybe playing for the first time in lead roles, didnt create the same amount of pressure India did. There were times when Kohli had the luxury of a seven-two field for Ashwin and six-three leg-side fields were commonplace. Kane Williamson had to defend both sides of the wicket because his spinners tended to offer more loose balls.Fatigue and heat are always an issue, Hesson said. Bowling long spells is challenging. Also this is the first time they have played a Test in India, the first time we are playing three spinners because conditions demand them, so it is a matter of allowing our guys to learn and evolve as well. You dont expect them to be geniuses in these conditions straightaway. But we do want to see improvement. We have got a smart group of spinners. I am sure they will improve.The humidity of Kanpur all but took reverse swing out of the equation. In the first session of the Test, Mark Craigs shirt was soaking wet with sweat. Of the four innings in the Test, there was reverse swing only in the last. Its very difficult for both the sides to keep the ball dry when you are soaking wet, Hesson said. And that makes it difficult. Hence, when you are able to get the ball changed [like it was when India bowled in the second innings], when the ball is dry to start off with, its easier to get it to reverse quicker. Thats something that sides will look to do.Hesson didnt complain about the ball change. Its a matter of luck. In some innings it goes out of shape; in others it doesnt. He echoed Williamsons sentiment that while the defeat looked big on the scoreboard, there were positives to take. Its a fine line, Hesson said when asked what the team can do mentally to recover in such a short time. For two days, we were in the game. And we fought right till the end. So we just need to get those partnerships for longer, create pressure for longer. We are not far away. ' ' '