Nashville Predators

Back-to-back game night
March 28, 2017, 11:17 AM ET [7 Comments]
Paul McCann
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A workman like, effective, efficient 3-1 win over the New York Islanders last night that held to the Nashville Predators latest game scheme. Play a tight defensive first period, open it up a little in the second and play smart with the puck, especially in the third. No underestimating how big last night’s two points were, the Preds continue to hold off the “feasting on weak sisters” St. Louis Blues who cruised past the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 to remain a point behind Nashville in the Central race.

The Predators were solid for all three periods, getting a goal from Kevin Fiala in the first, Viktor Arvidsson in the second and an empty netter to seal the win from Ryan Johansen, marking his 100th goal in the NHL. You also cannot underestimate the performance of backup netminder Juuse Saros who put in an outstanding performance between the pipes. Nowhere was that performance more evident than in the third period as Saros stopped a redirect attempt from Calvin de Haan, an excellent read of the play from the youngster that maintained a one goal lead.

This was a large win, but there is no time to savor it… Let’s get to the Good the Bad and the Ugly of last night before we look ahead to tonight.

The Good - The play of Kevin Fiala and finally getting rewarded for it, I am going to draw a comparison with last season’s Viktor Arvidsson… Fiala has developed a work ethic that is rapidly approaching a match to his innate skill. This could be a lethal combination.

The Bad - I can be picky here… but there were a few defensive breakdowns last night… a little more than we have seen in the past few games, but Saros was there to cover them.

The Ugly - Nothing ugly about a win over a team desperate for points in a pitched playoff race.

So… let’s move on to tonight’s game in Beantown. Game two of a five game in seven night stretch that would tax even the deepest team in the league. Boston stands fourth in the Atlantic and is in the 2nd Eastern Wild Card slot. The Bruins trail Toronto (Thursday night’s Preds opponent) by a single point for the 3rd spot in the Atlantic. The Predators have an opportunity to make a real mess of the Atlantic race over the next three days.

The Bruins have rebounded since making a coaching change, dumping Claude Julien for interim head coach Brice Cassidy, who has made a case to get the interim title removed... maybe. A lot will depend on the Bruins playoff status come April 5. Boston has had a bit of a rough ride over the last ten games, going 5-5-0, but four of those losses have come in the last five games, the Bruins got a win over the Islanders Saturday night and have been idle since. The B’s are led by Brad Marchand… their leader in points (80,) assists (43) and goals (37.)

The Bruins were without Tuukka Rask on Saturday who missed with a lower body injury, but he was on the ice for practice yesterday and is expected to go tonight against Nashville. After Saros last night, it is all but assured that Pekka Rinne will be in net tonight for the Preds.

On the injury front, Yannick Weber is day-to-day with an upper body injury, Mike Fisher will miss tonight’s matchup with a lower body injury… it has got to be a real confidence boost to have the Predators depth cover losses like Fisher and Weber so well.

So… who gets to 30 first, Arvy or Prince Filip? How will the Preds handle the back-to-back, did they spread the minutes around enough last night? Will Rinne continue his hot stretch? In the last five games he has gone 5-5 with a GAA of 1.24 nd a .951 save percentage. Many of these questions will be answered tonight.

Should be a good one, game time is 6pm central, pregame starts at 5pm on the radio, 5:30pm on TV.

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Random Notes

- Where We Stand – After yesterday’s play, the Nashville Predators have 89 points in 75 games played and remain in the 3rd spot in the Central, leading the Blues by a single point. Per sportsclubstats.com, the Predators playoff chances are at 99.9%.

- Impact Game(s) Tonight - Some interesting games, but nothing that really impacts the Preds playoff positioning… I will be watching the Wild vs. Caps.

- If the Playoffs Started Today - As the 3 seed in the Central, the Predators would play the Minnesota Wild in the first round. Chicago leads the Western Conference and Central Division by eight points.

- Teams that have clinched playoff spots - No new clinches last night… Five down, 11 to go… Washington, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Minnesota have punched their tickets.

- Playoff “Tragic Numbers” - In the West… Los Angeles = 6, both Dallas and Winnipeg were officially eliminated last night. In the East… Carolina = 13, Tampa Bay = 14, New York Islanders = 13. (Stick tap to Damian Echecarrieta for this data)

- Last night was Roman Josi’s 400th NHL game.

- Tonight is the second to last back-to-back of the season… the last one is this weekend, hone vs. the Wild, then on the road vs the Blues.

- Sharks tough guy Michael Haley got a one game suspension for his punch to Calle Jarnkrok.

- The Eastern Conference Wild Card race is bananas… four teams battling for that last wild card.

- Watch out for the Lightning… they are now just a single point out of the Eastern Conference wild card.

- Carolina is sneaking up as well, they extended their point streak to 11 games last night.

- Elevengames in the NHL tonight, all times CST – 6pm – WPG @ NJD, NSH @ BOS, OTT @ PHI, DET @ CAR, BUF @ CBJ. 6:30pm – FLA @ TOR, DAL @ MTL. 7pm – WSH @ MIN. 8pm – LAK @ EDM. 9pm - ANA @ VAN. 9:30pm - NYR @ SJS.