Predators Can’t Slip Up in Trap Type Game Against Montreal
There’s no more room for slip ups over the last 14 games of the season for the Nashville Predators. Every game needs to feel like an elimination game.
Anyone can beat anyone in this league, just like what the Nashville Predators managed to do against the Dallas Stars in two consecutive shutouts.
The Predators now enter a four-game road trip that starts tonight north of the border against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens are far out of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference, which means very little pressure on them to win this game. The Predators, on the other hand, have an enormous amount of pressure as they’re in the thick of a congested playoff race.
Predators lineup coming together, finally
It’s taken nearly the entire season to get here, but there’s finally some consistency in the line combinations and who the Predators are starting in net.
Juuse Saros will reportedly get the start once again tonight after getting the last two starts in shutout over Dallas:
Coach Hynes says Juuse Saros will start tonight for the #Preds in Montreal. The defense corps will remain the same, and Calle Jarnkrok is a “question” up front - likely a game-time decision.
— Brooks Bratten 🍪 (@brooksbratten) March 10, 2020
Saros has absolutely earned the right to be the team’s primary starter. He’s got a save percentage of .935 since his first start after John Hynes took over as head coach.
Additionally, Saros has all four of his shutouts this season after Hynes took over as head coach. The defense has gradually improved in front of him, and Saros is delivering.
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Speaking of the defense, I’ve been encouraged by the improvement of the third defensive pairing thanks to the matching of Jarred Tinordi and Korbinian Holzer. They’re bringing a physical element to the team that has sorely lacked throughout the season.
Dan Hamhuis is considered questionable for this game, and I don’t see any reason to rush him out there with Tinordi and Holzer playing well over the last two games.
Roman Josi continues to have a big lead on the team in points (63) and assists (47), while Filip Forsberg has the slimmest of leads in goals with 19 over Nick Bonino and Craig Smith.
Here’s a full look at the projected lineup tonight for the Predators from the team’s official website.
Other game notes
The Predators and Canadiens haven’t played each other yet this season, with the last meeting coming over a year ago in February when the Predators won 3-1 at home.
Both teams give up around the same amount of goals per game, leaving them in the top half of the league in terms of how many they give up.
The Candiens fall somewhere in the middle of the pack in a lot of major statistical categories, but one thing they do a lot of is get shots away. They’re 2nd in the NHL averaging over 34 shots per game, so Saros could likely be in for a busy night.
The Predators are actually modestly improving their penalty as they’re no longer the worst in the NHL, which they’ve been for a huge chunk of the season They’re now 29th in that category, while Montreal is 19th.
We’ll see an old friend and all-time Nashville great in Shea Weber tonight, who is currently on a five-game point drought.
In four career games against the Predators, Weber has two goals and an insane 40 percent shooting percentage, although with only five shots on goal.
It’s felt like the Predators just can’t break over that playoff bubble. Whenever they’ve seemed to make strides and take a few steps forwards, they turn around and fall back two or three steps in return.
Tonight is a night when we’ll hopefully see the Predators show that they can string together several great games in a row and build towards building some type of a playoff cushion.
Going into tonight’s game, the Predators are outside of a playoff spot by one point. They’re tied with Vancouver in points, one behind Minnesota and two behind Winnipeg.
You also have Calgary just three points ahead and Arizona just two points behind.
Along with Nashville, Vancouver is the only team in these cluster of teams that are in action tonight. The Predators can leap frog Minnesota with a win tonight.
Puck drop is scheduled for 6 P.M. CDT and will be televised on Fox Sports Tennessee live from the Bell Centre in Quebec, Canada.