The Nashville Predators will be starting their season against the division rival Minnesota Wild, and they will also be lining up against a few familiar faces tonight.
Former Nashville Predators Kevin Fiala and Ryan Hartman will be among the many things to watch, as they will try to spoil Matt Duchene’s first game in Nashville.
Fiala and Hartman can both be sneaky good pieces for the Minnesota Wild this season, and they will have extra motivation tonight as they play against their former team.
Fiala, in particular, will be on the Wild’s second line alongside Jason Zucker and Mikko Koivu, which is a line the Predators definitely have to look out for.
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He could definitely benefit from playing with a skilled playmaker in Koivu and a dangerous goal-scorer in Zucker, so the Predators will most definitely have to keep tabs on that line tonight.
Hartman will likely be on the Wild’s fourth line alongside Joel Eriksen Ek and Marcus Foligno, which could be a sneaky good line tonight, especially as Ryan Hartman lines up against the Nashville Predators for the first time since he was traded last year.
Another thing to look out for is Matt Duchene, as he will be making his Nashville Predators debut tonight in front of the home crowd.
He will likely be on a line with former Minnesota Wild Mikael Granlund and noted goal scorer Filip Forsberg, so the Wild will have their hands full handling the second line.
Matt Duchene could very well find the score sheet to hype up the hometown crowd, as Mikael Granlund can also dish Duchene the puck, and he has that goal scoring touch as well.
The final thing to watch for is Dante Fabbro, as he will play his first regular season game as a part of the Nashville Predators top-four defense group.
Fabbro will have huge shoes to fill, as he will be taking P.K. Subban’s spot alongside Mattias Ekholm and will have larger responsibilities defensively because of that.
He will likely get a heavy amount of minutes against the aforementioned dangerous second line that the Wild have, so the Nashville Predators will be relying on Fabbro to play a huge role in shutting that line down tonight.
If Dante Fabbro can play the same way he did when he impressed the Predators enough to pull the trigger on that trade during his stint in the playoffs, he should be able to do a good enough job tonight.
You can watch all of these storylines go down tonight at 7 p.m. CDT on NBCSN as the Nashville Predators look to open their season up with a win.