The Nashville Predators finish their pre-Christmas schedule with four on the road starting tonight in Ottawa… they wake up in Ottawa in an unfamiliar position… second in the Central Division after the Winnipeg Jets win over Tampa last night, the Jets have a single point lead over Nashville.
After a sweep of a three game homestand, the Predators are beginning to get a bit healthier, the return of Kyle Turris paid immediate dividends and PK Subban’s return seems imminent as well as Instagram posts from the superstar blueliner indicates he is travelling with the team. Ottawa’s injury situation is also looking up as Mark Borowiecki and Matt Duchene may both suit up tonight, Bobby Ryan has already returned to the Sens lineup.
Tonight’s game against the Senators should be an interesting one. The speed and work ethic of this Sens team keeps them in most of their games. Since dropping a 3-1 decision at Briodgestone Arena six days ago, they split a road back-to-back, beating Detroit and losing to Montreal. Ottawa is completing a three games in four nights stretch before finishing their pre-Christmas break schedule with a back-to-back, at New Jersey then hosting Washington this weekend.
Given that Juuse Saros posted the win Saturday night over New Jersey, I would expect to see Pekka Rinne tonight facing off against Craig Anderson in the Sens net. Game time is 6:30pm on Fox Sports Tennessee and 102.5 the Game. Pregame starts at 5:30 on the Game and 6pm on FS-TN.
It’s right on the plane post-game for a quick flight to Chicago for the Preds first visit to United Center. Oh, how the mighty have fallen… Since the Preds win over the Blackhawks two weeks ago, Chicago has gone 1-6-1, their lone victory was against the Penguins. In their six regulation losses and one OT loss, they have given up a total of 31 goals… and in last night’s loss to San Jose, the Blackhawks lost Corey Crawford to a concussion on a collision that caused Crawford to hit his head on the post. Not good news for a team headed in the wrong direction.
If you think the drama in Chicago is crazy, wait till the Predators hit Philly on Thursday. Over the weekend, the Philly media had current coach Dave Hakstol fired and Joel Quinneville hired… that has been denied from all sides, but the Flyers do play Detroit on Tuesday so depending on what happens that night, who knows who will be behind the bench?
After Philly, Nashville heads to Beantown to a Saturday matinee against the Bruins. These two teams played a heckuva game at Bridgestone Arena back at the beginning of November with Nashville taking a 1-0 decision. As I write this on Monday morning, Boston is hanging on the last wild card slot in the Eastern Conference race. After a nice little 3 game win streak, the B’s have dropped their last two and have a grudge match in Montreal tonight.
A schedule that should… I said should end the Preds road woes, they have not won a game on the road since November 10th. However, the Preds are 10-0-0 against the Eastern Conference so far this season, so one of these streaks is going to go away tonight.
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Random Notes
- Milwaukee Update –The Admirals split their weekend, beating Texas, then losing to Grand Rapids in a shootout. They are back in action on Wednesday at Rockford.
- There’s a watch party at Top Golf Nashville tonight… join Zack McCann, Deanna Kay, Gansh and the Energy Team for all the fun.
- Juuse Saros got his first win since Nov. 10th on Saturday night… ironically, the last win the Preds got on the road.
- Nashville’s 10-0-0 start against the Eastern Conference is an NHL record, eclipsing the previous record of eight by the San Jose Sharks in 05-06.
- The Predators have only lost once this season when leading after the first period.
- Quick detour into the NFL... Now I know the Philly sports media can be crazy, just look at the frenzy around the coaching situation of the Flyers… but suggestions that the Eagles should trade Carson Wentz in order to have Nick Foles be the starter is just loony. I love St. Nick, late regular season Nick is great and playoff Nick is awesome… but early regular season Nick has been terrible. This could be the most Eagle thing ever.
- Team USA opens its defense of their WJC Gold Medal on 12/26 at 5:30pm on NHL Network. It looks like the US and Canada won’t play until the knockout round. The World Juniors are being held in Vancouver this year.
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