The Utah Mammoth are next up for the Nashville Predators who come in riding high after a game-winning goal from Ryan O'Reilly and a 37-save stellar performance from Juuse Saros on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Last season the Predators opened the season with an abysmal 0-5-0 record, but now they have that first win under their belt and now prepare for a talented Mammoth team who has a lot of offensive weapons and team speed.
The Mammoth lost their season-opener to a 2-1 final score to the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. The Mammoth put up 33 shots on net but were plagued by sloppy play with 36 giveaways and getting owned in the faceoff circle with just a 30 percent success rate.
The Tale of the Tape: Utah Mammoth at Nashville Predators
Even though they kept most of the players from the Arizona Coyotes days, the Mammoth are their own franchise with their own record books. So the Predators and Mammoth head-to-head series sits at just three games played, with the Predators having a 2-1-0 record.
The Predators and the Mammoth faced each other twice in the final week of last season, with the Predators winning 4-3 in a shootout and losing 7-3 four days later. The Predators posted a shutout against Utah in early November with two goals from Filip Forsberg and a 27-save shutout from Juuse Saros.
Utah was tied for 20th in goal scoring last season, averaging just under three goals per game. They had a much better power play, ranking 10th in the league with a percentage of 24.2, while the Predators were 18th on the power play and 31st in goal scoring.
Many think this can be the year the Mammoth really break through to the next level and get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They check all of the boxes on their roster and have a lot of offensive playmakers that can make team's pay if they're not disciplined in their own zone.
Players to Watch: Mammoth at Preds
For Utah, it's their top-six forwards that really scare me. They have a lot of pure goal scorers starting with Clayton Keller, who had 30 goals last season, and Dylan Guenther who had 27 goals.
They have a really deep group of forwards who can all chip in on offense. The Mammoth had 10 players score double-digit goals last season, with only two of those players not returning for this season.
JJ Peterka who is a new addition to the Mammoth this season and slots into the top-six after spending three full seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and posting back-to-back seasons of 27 and 28 goals.
In net for the Mammoth it's expeted for them to go with their ace, Karel Vejmelka. Vejmelka started 55 games last season for Utah and put up a .904 save percentage and 2.59 GAA. He had 25 saves on 27 shots faced in the loss to Colorado on Thursday. Utah's backup goalie is Vitek Vanacek.
For the Predators, all eyes will once again be on the rookie Brady Martin. Despite being held in check in his NHL debut with minimal ice time, Head Coach Andrew Brunette praised Martin for playing a steady game against Columbus:
"“He hung in there like he has all camp, found a way to get through it, found a way to make a few plays. Great learning experience.""Per the Preds Team Website
Martin is expected to keep his top line role against the Mammoth while skating alongside linemates Forsberg and O'Reilly. Let's see if Martin gets a little more ice time and can make some more noticeable impacts on offense.
Luke Evangelista might be the top Nashville player to watch in this one. He might swap spots with Joakim Kemell on the second line, putting him with Fedor Svechkov at center and Steven Stamkos on the other wing. That is a line I was hoping to see come together all offseason.
Evangelista missed all of training camp while negotiating his new deal with the Predators front office, dragging out far longer than anyone anticipated or would have liked to see. He has been skating and should be ready to go on Saturday night for his season debut.
That brings me to Stamkos. I'm kind of intrigued to see how the veteran plays tonight after beign held off the scoresheet on Thursday. Stamkos did hit the post on a breakaway, but other than that was pretty much held in check most of the night. He did manage three shots on goal.
Storylines to Watch
Everyone wants to see if the Predators can buid an early season winning streak. Thursday wasn't perfect, but they got the job done in the third period with the go-ahead goal while Saros did everything he could to keep the Blue Jackets at just one goal.
Now fans want to see if the Predators can string together some wins, something that rarely happened last season. The Predators had one 5-game win streak last season, but other than that struggled to even win more than three in a row.
The Predators were in catch-up mode basically what felt like all of last season, so it would be a weight of this team's collective shoulders to get off to a strong start and give yourself a safety net heading into November.
After this game, the Predators head on a tough four-game road trip to Canada that will feature the first back-to-back of the season with dates against the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. It would be really nice to have a 2-0-0 start before embarking on that road trip. Split your four games on the road and get to 4-2-0 after the first six games and I'll be very pleased with that.
Also, the major storyline will be how does Evangelista look. He'll obviously be facing some early season pressure to produce at a high level after that contract standoff lingered. Fair or not, fans will be critical of how Evangelista looks, especially in an elevated role in the top-six. He can't be invisisble out there or get pushed around otherwise it won't take long for fans to start getting critical.