Nashville Predators: Predators Look To Start Homestand On High Note
The road trip is over and in a sink or swim situation, the Nashville Predators won a medley. A homestand begins though as St. Louis approaches.
The Blues sit quietly in third place in the tight Central division with 71 points. They sit two points back of the second place Jets and four points back of the Nashville Predators. This win is extremely important for both clubs as every team in the Central can’t stop winning. Sitting a point back of the Blues is the Dallas Stars, who show no signs of slowing down either. Despite winning so many games, the Blues are 6-4-0 in their last 10 and are coming off a tough loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Blues are not without their injuries as they’re missing Joel Edmundson and Zach Sanford for the majority of the season. The big gun that’s missing is Robby Fabbri who tore his ACL before the season began. He had 29 points in 52 games last year and looked ready to breakout in his third season in the NHL.
They’re Blue Da Ba Dee Da Ba Daa
Alex Pietrangelo had a scorching start to the season that had many saying thinking he’d be a Norris favorite. While the points are not coming in the bunches, Pietrangelo has been incredible defensively and a true leader on the blueline. His defense is incredible and it will be fun to watch him and P.K. Subban duel. Besides the great defense, Pietrangelo still has 37 points in 54 games and can be extremely dangerous on the powerplay.
Vladamir Tarasenko remains the best sniper in the Central as he has 23 goals and 49 points in 58 games. The Nashville Predators know his stinging shot well as he does what I like to call, “the disappearing puck trick”. Tarasenko lines up on the right circle and corrals the puck and uses his strong side shot to fire it past a goaltender before the goalie has time to drop to a butterfly.
The most surprising break out player of the year is definitely Brayden Schenn. The Philadelphia castaway was seen as powerplay scorer and not much else but has found his spot as a first line center on St. Louis. The playmaking forward has 23 goals and 53 points in 58 games and shows no signs of slowing.
The Nashville Predators
The whole squad is healthy and lines should be taking their playoff shape.
Filip Forsberg–Ryan Johansen–Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala–Kyle Turris–Craig Smith
Scott Hartnell–Nick Bonino–Calle Jarnkrok
Miikka Salomaki–Colton Sissons–Austin Watson
Mattias Ekholm-P.K. Subban
No starting goaltender has been announced but I imagine Pekka Rinne will get a start.
Keys
- Fire away: Carter Hutton will get the nod for the Blues, and he’s been lights out recently.
- No penalties: The Blues have a dynamic power play and can score at any given instance. Their most potent weapon is the Tarasenko disappearing puck trick as I mentioned earlier.
Where To Watch
The game will be on Fox Sports Tennessee at 7 PM. You can listen to the game on 102.5 The Game at the same time.