Nashville Predators: Two Points Till Playoffs
With a regulation win Monday night, the Nashville Predators will clinch a playoff spot.
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The Nashville Predators came out looking like the “Best in the West” Saturday night by beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-1.
The Predators skated with a lot of passion and enthusiasm as rolled past the Jackets. Nashville had the first eight shots on goal including a goal in that span. Nashville even set a new franchise record of 27 shots in the first period, that is more shots than minutes in a period. The Preds dominance was on full display as they also out-shot Columbus 48-19.
That dominance needs to carry over into Monday’s tilt against the playoff-hopeful Colorado Avalanche. Nashville hopes to tie the season series as they have been only somewhat successful against the Av’s this season going 1-2-0 in three meetings.
Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche are a young team and one day they should be a scary force in the NHL. They have a lot of good young talent but it is hard to stay consistent when multiple people go down with injuries. Their captain, the team’s vocal leader, is one of the youngest guys on the roster. The Av’s made a splash on the trade deadline for their playoff push by picking up Mikkel Boedker. The trade has yet to work out as they are six points away from the final wild card spot with seven games remaining.
The Av’s will basically need a miracle to make the playoffs. Their final seven games are going to be extremely difficult as the play Nashville and then St. Louis twice as well as Washington, Dallas and Anaheim. It almost seems impossible for Colorado to do anything when you look at their injury report. Key injuries to Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, as well as Brad Stuart, Ben Street, Eric Gelinas, and Jesse Winchester, have left the Av’s almost down for the count.
Colorado, just like Columbus and Vancouver, have gone on a hot winning streaks as well as long scoring droughts. Even though they have lost the last two in a row and have gone 6-4-0 in the last ten, they are still a scary team to go up against. When you have the likes of Gabriel Landeskog, Carl Soderberg, Tyson Barrie and Jerome Iginla, you can score from anywhere on the ice. This game should be fun and physical as the Preds and Av’s have scored a total of 20 goals in the three meetings, splitting ten goals apiece.
Nashville Predators
Nashville broke multiple records Saturday night and came out on fire and never let up. James Neal scored his 30th goal of the season making Neal and Forsberg the second 30 goal pair since Paul Kariya and Steve Sullivan. Mattias Ekholm set a new career high in goals while Roman Josi grabbed his 43rd assist of the season which is the most ever in a single season by a defenseman for the Preds.
Even our Captain Shea Weber got in the record-breaking business by moving to 2nd overall in goals scored as a Nashville Predator by passing Martin Erat and is now chasing former Pred David Legwand.
Nashville must stay hot as this might be one of their toughest weeks this season. They finish their four-game homestand against Colorado before jumping on the road to play Dallas, Pittsburgh and then closing the week out at home against San Jose. Three games against at least two playoff-ready teams. The Preds have that important divisional matchup Tuesday but cannot overlook Colorado as they lost the first two games against the Av’s before beating them 5-2 on March 5th.
Nashville has been clicking at home, gaining a point in the last 10 home games and winning the last four. The Preds look to make that five wins and sweep the four-game home stand which should be easier as they have scored an average of 3.4 goals in the last ten games. The Preds could lose this game and still be okay in the standings but with it being this late in the season, every point matters.
Nashville and Chicago are too close in the standings to let any points go to waste in the final seven games.
Prediction
For Nashville, they find them self in a predicament before the game even starts. Which goaltender should they play? Do they start Rinne against the Av’s and let Hutton play the Division leading Stars or is it the other way around? Do you just let Pekka play both and allow Hutton to play Pittsburgh on Thursday? No matter who is in net the you have to like Nashville’s chances against every team in the league right now.
I thought Pekka might have grabbed a shutout against Columbus but settled for giving up the one goal. No matter whether it’s Pekka or Carter in net, Nashville will not only grab the “W” in a commanding effort but will steamroll their way into Dallas with more confidence than they have had all season. The next three games ( @ Stars, @ Penguins, Sharks ) will be a little harder to predict but if Nashville can finish this week out with only a single loss or no regulation losses, you should definitely be thrilled as a fan.
Nashville’s next game on the back-to-back is on the road against the Central Division-leading Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. That will be the first game of the two-game road series.