It is the first of only three game nights in Smashville for the month of January as the Winnipeg Jets land in Music City for a Tuesday night Central Division donnybrook. Tonight is the first of an eight game stretch that has seven of them against Central Division opponents. The last time these two teams met, the Predators hung a touchdown and tacked on the extra point in a 7-0 shellacking.
Nothing much has improved for the team from Winnipeg as they have lost 13 of their last 15 road games and are coming off a 4-1 loss to Anaheim. Well… the one thing that has improved is between the pipes. Rookie netminder Connor Hellebuyck has posted some solid numbers and is the only Jets goaltender with a winning record. Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler lead the scoring for the Jets.
Nashville has turned the ship around, posting points in five of their last seven games. Offensively Mike Ribeiro and Filip Forsberg are clicking along nicely and other forwards are showing solid signs of shaking of that rather nasty slump November brought.
The last player on IR seems to close to a comeback as Gabriel Bourque was a full participant in practice yesterday, skating on the third line. Bourque has been out of the lineup for over a month. Activating Bourque will require some roster juggling as there are already 23 players on the Preds roster. While Hellebuyck should be in net for the Jets, Nashville’s netminder has not been announced and head coach Peter Laviolette seems to be playing this one pretty close to the vest as he makes a decision between Pekka Rinne and Carter Hutton. I would guess that Rinne would be in net as there is a back-to-back coming this weekend (Colorado Friday and Arizona Saturday) and I do expect Hutton to get one of those games.
The Preds hold a seven point lead over the Jets and play this team three times over the next 15 days… IN the next two weeks plus, the Jets can jump back into serious playoff contention or could be left for dead by the side of the road. Game time is 7pm and some tickets remain… coverage is on 102.5 the Game and Fox Sports Tennessee.
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Random Notes
- Well… the new year is here and time for our first “Where They Stand” entry. Entering tonight’s play, the Nashville Predators stand 5th in the Central Division with a four point lead (and a game in hand) over Colorado. The Predators trail MIN by 2 points (-1 GIH,) CHI by 5 points (1 GIH,) STL by 6 points (3 GIH) and 1st place Dallas by 15 points (2 GIH). The Predators are currently in the second Wild Card slot, ahead of Colorado, Vancouver trails the Preds by six points and the rest of the Pacific Division trails by 7 or 8 points.
- The rumor mill was cranking pretty heavy yesterday as I heard from multiple folks about trade discussions between Nashville and Columbus over the past 24 hours.
- If you think Pred Nation ain’t happy with the progress of their team, check out the Jets social media/blogosphere… that fanbase is up in arms! And rightfully so.
- Interesting story on NHL.com regarding the Dallas Stars facing “adversity” … ummm… a 2-2-2 stretch, while leading their division, conference and league is adversity??? Wow… what would a four game losing streak then be defined as… Armageddon? The Stars are playing the slumping Rangers tonight at MSG.
- Disappointing result for Team USA yesterday, but give Team Russia credit… they played the perfect game to beat the US. Russia takes on Finland for gold at noon central today.
- Congratulations to Jarome Iginla who potted his 600th career goal in Colorado’s 4-1 win over Los Angeles.
- Bad news for Colorado as in that same game they lost Erik Johnson to a lower body injury… the Av’s blueline is thin at best and losing Johnson for any period will really hurt Colorado.
- Eight games on the NHL schedule tonight (all start times CT) – 6pm – WSH @ BOS, FLA @ BUF, DAL @ NYR, CHI @ PIT, MIN @ CBJ. 6:30pm – MTL @ PHI. 7pm – WPG @ NSH. 8pm – TBL @ CGY.
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