It’s Game Night in Smashville as the Nashville Predators welcome the Carolina Hurricanes to town for a crucial inter-conference good ole' Southern showdown. As game time approaches, each of tonight’s combatants are in the nine slot in their respected conferences, the Hurricanes are one point out of a playoff spot, the Preds are three.
The desperation is palpable with both teams. The conference races are tight and while three wins in a row is good, it hasn’t gotten the Preds to as playoff spot yet. The team need to go on a run and fixing the home woes has been a critical missing piece for this team.
Smashville has become an advantage again… the Preds have won three of their last five on home ice including their last two games. Let’s face it… a 13-11-4 record on home ice is very un-Pred-like, but the home mojo seems to be returning… and just in time as they are in the middle of 12 game stretch where only they only have to travel to three of them. That 12 game stretch is off to a 3-0-0 start, so that is a good thing.
Tonight’s game comes between a back-to-back sweep of the defending Stanley Cup champs and a trip to Chicago… I won’t use the “t” word… however this game will be a stiff test of the Predators newly rediscovered resilience and resolve being sandwiched into critical divisional showdowns.
Look early in this game… both teams have exceptional records when leading after the first period. The Predators are 17-3-2 when leading after one, the Canes are 17-0-1. The Hurricanes are dominant against the West posting a 17-6-3 record.
In net, I would expect to see Juuse Saros get the start for Nashville and probably Petr Mrazek for the Canes. Keep an eye on Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svetchnikov, they are Carolina’s two big guns… Aho has 33 goals, Svetchnikov has 23. The injuries are a push, as I write this Ryan Ellis is still on IR, inching closer to a lineup return and Carolina lost one of the best d-men, Dougie Hamilton a few weeks back.
Game time is 7pm in Smashville, limited tickets remain. Game coverage starts with pregame on 102.5 the Game at 6pm, 6L30pm pregame on Fox Sports Tennessee. Game coverage on both media starts at 7pm. See you at the Bridge!
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Where They Stand – a daily look at where the Predators are in the playoff race.
The Predators got no help last night as both Arizona and Calgary won so as play opens on 2/18/2020, the Nashville Predators are in the 4 spot in the Central and the 9 spot in the Western Conference, three points behind Arizona and Calgary. They have three games in hand over the Flames and four games in hand over the Coyotes. The Preds trail Colorado by seven points for third in the Central, St. Louis and Dallas by nine for the division lead and hold a game in hand over the Blues and Stars.
Impact games tonight – NJD @ STL, CAR @ NSH, LAK @ WPG.
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Random Notes – Presented by
- Congratulations to former Preds captain Kimmo Timonen on his induction into the IIHF Hall of Fame.
- The Predators have dropped six of their last seven to Carolina, snapping a six game losing streak to the Canes after Thanksgiving on the strength of a 3-0 shutout.
- With his next goal, Filip Forsberg will take over sole possession of third on the Predators all-time goal scoring list.
- The hot may stay there… you can say that Kyle Turris and Mikael Granlund are the hot hands for the Preds right now, so when you look at who has scored the most on Carolina you would find those exact two names. Turris has 6g-6a against the Canes, Granlund has 4g-7a against them.
- Check out last night’s SlapShot Radio on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Tonight’s games – 6pm – CBJ@ PHI, TOR @ PIT. 6:30pm – BUF @ OTT, MTL @ DET. 7pm – NJD @ STL, CAR @ NSH, LAK @ WPG.
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SlapShot Radio is back for our 12th season as Zack, Brent and I are on Monday night’s this season. The best hour of hockey talk on the longest running hockey show in the southeast … Join us Monday’s at 7pm on 102.5 the Game.
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