It’s safe to say the Nashville Predators are climbing out of whatever funk they were in, but they still have time to end November on a high note.
Just a couple days after surrendering a goal in the last minute of the game and suffering an overtime the loss, the Nashville Predators hit the road to face an exciting Carolina Hurricanes team.
Carolina is a flashy offensive team just like the Predators are. They’re both fun teams to watch and their home crowds bring tons of energy. The Predators are going into a tough road environment in Carolina.
What’s really impressive about the Hurricanes is they’re among the league’s best in many important categories. To name a few, they’re top-ten in penalty kill, power play percentage, goals per game and goals against per game. They do a lot of things very well and you have to play your best game to beat them.
Who leads the Canes
The Hurricanes are a very stacked team with plenty of scorers. At the top they have Andrei Svechnikov leading the team with a blazing 28 points in 25 games played. He’s one of four players with 20-plus points already this season.
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Two of their biggest names are Sebastian Aho and Ryan Dzingel. This team has gradually been rebuilding into a serious contender out in the Eastern Conference. The Predators have a very tough challenge defensively for this one.
In net the Hurricanes primarily go with Petr Mrazek. His numbers don’t pop off the page, but they’re commendable at a 2.66 goals against average and a .901 save percentage while also compiling two shutouts. They also have backup James Reimer, who has similar numbers but in just eight starts.
Looking at the Predators
They’re certainly look night and day difference in their last three games. They’ve been playing with more energy and more focused on defense. They’re also continuing their trend of firing a lot of shots on net. Their last game against Vegas saw them literally lose the two points in the last second of regulation.
No projected lineup has been announced yet. The big question is does Juuse Saros get another start, or do the Predators finally go back to Pekka Rinne as the starter in net? Saros has three-straight starts under his belt, and has played well in all three.
We’ve been asking this every game for a while now and that’s will Kyle Turris get back into the lineup? Will he finally get in over two AHL players who have been getting starts over him? Clearly Turris is the better player than Daniel Carr or Mathieu Olivier, but for whatever reason he has kept riding the bench.
Puck drop is 6:30 P.M. CDT as the Predators will be on the road in a tough environment. This would be another statement win over a high-quality opponent if the Predators can get the win. They need to keep making up ground and finish a rough stretch of November off on a high note.
We’ll update this article as the day progresses and a projected lineup is announced.