The Nashville Predators will answer an important question on Thursday night against the Colorado Avalanche: What is stronger? The dramatic effects of the Denver altitude on visiting teams, or the chance to play in front of your loved ones on the Fathers trip, as Nashville brings their Dads to Colorado in the middle of a two-game winning streak.
"Playing on the road in Colorado, obviously one of the hardest buildings to play in, we're definitely going to need some of that dad strength," Preds Captain Roman Josi said Wednesday. "But when you have the dads in town, there's a little extra motivation."
It has been a gauntlet for the Predators, starting with a 6-2 home win over the Avalanche and becoming a stretch of points in four of their last five games, including back-to-back wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes. If they haven't already, another win over the Avalanche will tell the league the Predators are playoff contenders this season.
The Predators enter this game with plenty of lineup questions, none of which have been answered as of this writing. The biggest thing to watch will be whether Jonathan Marchessault returns from the day-to-day injury that kept him out of the win over the Hurricanes. He was the lone player absent at practice on Wednesday in Nashville.
Another question is whether Nicolas Hague returns to the lineup. Still, with a two-game winning streak in his absence and the inability to take any of the forwards out right now given how they've been playing, it feels unlikely the veteran will get back in. The Predators haven't given up on him, but the timing is unfortunate, given the team is playing some of its best hockey of the season while he's scratched.
The Predators have had one of the toughest schedules in the league so far this season, and it won't get any easier against the Avalanche. However, the bright side is that they are still in the thick of the division, and a regulation win over Colorado on Thursday night will tie them with their opponent.
Nashville returns home Saturday to face the St. Louis Blues, then heads on a West Coast road trip to play the California teams and the Vegas Golden Knights before finishing with the Minnesota Wild. It’ll be intriguing to see where they stand after that trip, which can be tough, especially finishing against one of the league’s hottest teams.
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