Game night in Big D as the Nashville Predators are in Dallas for a critical Central Division showdown against the Stars. It’s the final game of the season series between these two teams and frankly… a lot is on the line.
Dallas is looking to stay hot in the playoff race as they have gained points in seven of their last ten games, including taking 3 of a possible four points from Nashville. The Predators are looking for some consistency as the dog days of the season have not been kind to Nashville. St. Louis is drawing ever closer and chances to overtake Winnipeg for the division lead have been squandered.
All that being said; despite all of the whining and gnashing of teeth on social media… the Predators are still in a pretty good spot for the stretch run. The Central is not a strong as it has been in the past few season; heck, the West isn’t as strong as it has been. A few tweaks here and there, and this team will be just fine. But this tweaking has to start… well… now.
The trade deadline is coming up fast, adjustments to this team are certainly possible and those potential adds have been discussed ad infinitum… I won’t go there here. This team has the talent and chemistry to make a deep run… the question is, does it have the will?
We’ve seen it before, the team has shown resiliency, determination and grit in getting where no one expected them to. But now, with the weight of expectations heavy on the team’s shoulders, what will be the reaction? We will find out over the next 21 games, starting tonight.
The Dallas Stars will probably start Anton Khudobin, who has made a case to be the number one in Dallas as Ben Bishop recovers on IR. This is a high powered offense led by Tyler Seguin and a serviceable defense that has been made to look better by Khudobin’s brilliance in net. Khudobin is 2-0-1 against the Pres this year with a 1.33 GAA and a .964 save percentage in those three games.
The Stars IR list is a long one, Martin Hanzal, Tyler Pitlick, Stephen Johns, Ben Bishop and Marc Methot. The Preds still list Miikka Salomaki, but he has been practicing with the team.
Game time is 7:30pm at American Airlines Center, coverage begins at 6:30pm with pregame on 102.5 the Game, Fox Sports TN pregame starts at 7pm… puck drop is at 7:38pm.
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The
Where We Stand section
Nashville maintains the second slot in the Central Division, three points behind the Winnipeg Jets, Winnipeg holds two game in hand over Nashville. The Preds lead St. Louis by six points, Dallas by 10 and Minnesota by 13.
Nashville currently holds the 4 seed in the Western Conference playoff race and has a 99.7% chance of making the playoffs according to SportsClubStats.com… the “85% chance” line in the Western Conference is down to 88 points right now.
Impact Games Tonight – 7pm, TOR @ STL, ANA @ MIN.
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Random Notes
- Milwaukee Update – The Admirals dropped the back half of their back-to-back with Manitoba 3-2 yesterday. They travel to Cleveland for a Friday night tilt with the Monsters.
- Subban Resurgence – PK SUbban has looked MUCH better in the last few games, three points over the past three games and just looks stronger on his skates.
- Rumors – The Mats Zucarrello to Nashville rumor just won’t go away. I really like the add, if it happens.
- Arvy – Viktor Arvidsson leads the NHL in goals per game played with .70 per game. Imagine if he didn’t break his thumb what we would be talking about.
- Hypocrite – Does anyone else find it interesting that a grumpy old guy who wears very loud, attention getting suits just for fun… has a problem with the Hurricanes “Storm Surge” Get over it Don…
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