Time to Stop the Bleeding: Nashville Predators at Detroit Red Wings

Two very demoralizing losses for the Nashville Predators have them reeling a bit, and in need of a quick turnaround against the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night.

Look for a desperate Red Wings team at home against the Predators. They're 2-8-0 in their last 10 games, while the Predators are coming off a lopsided 5-2 loss to the Hurricanes on Wednesday.

The Red Wings are much better than their record of 16-15-4 indicates. They have dangerous offensive weapons in Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond.

Kane already has six goals and 11 points in his first 11 games with the Red Wings.

Tale of the Tape: Predators @ Red Wings

The Predators defense and goaltending will once again be tested with the Red Wings being 5th in the NHL in goals per game, averaging right at 3.5 goals. Their strength is at 5-on-5 ranking 4th in goals with 80, while only ranking 12th in power play percentage.

The Red Wings do give up their fair share of goals as well, giving up nearly 3.5 goals per game which ranks near the bottom of the NHL. Their goaltending has been unreliable with Ville Husso having a 3.52 GAA and James Reimer a 3.41 GAA.

Husso and Reimer will not be the starters against the Predators on Friday, and instead the Red Wings are going with Alex Lyon in what will be his 8th start of 2023-24. In limited action he has a very impressive 2.14 GAA and a .932 save percentage. He has never faced the Nashville Predators.

The Predators will need to exploit the Red Wings shaky goaltending with a high volume of quality scoring chances. Lately the Predators have regressed in this area, struggling to get over three goals expected goals over their last few games.

Filip Forsberg is on a goal drought in his last five games, so the Predators really need him to ignite the offense against the Red Wings in a game that could end up being high scoring.

It's unclear if Kevin Lankinen will return to the lineup after being sidelined with an illness on Wednesday, which allowed for the NHL call-up of Yaroslav Askarov as backup to Juuse Saros.

With the NHL roster freeze lifted, the Predators have the option to call up another forward from the Milwaukee Admirals. Egor Afansyev should be the top option to get another opportunity to show he can stick on the NHL level.

The Predators have only called up one forward from Milwaukee this season, and that was Mark Jankowski.

The Predators have faired pretty well against Eastern Conference opponents this season with a record of 10-5-0. Their last meeting against the Red Wings was a 2-1 win on March 14, 2023. Goals from Kiefer Sherwood and Tommy Novak, and a 28-save performance from Saros.