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Blues host the surging Predators, Hutton earned a rematch?

November 24, 2017, 5:00 PM ET [0 Comments]
Jason Millen
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Tonight the Blues will host the Nashville Predators as they face a tough schedule against Central Division rivals on Friday and Saturday. The Predators are riding a 3 game winning streak though they did almost let the last game against Montreal slip away, allowing a late goal after failing to hit an empty net before winning in the shootout.

The Predators are tied for the 5th best point percentage in the league at 66.7%, less than 9% less than the Blues 75%. They are in the middle third of the league in goals per game and goals against per game. Their power play is 3rd best at just over a 25% conversion rate. Their penalty kill is 9th at 83.7%. The Predators have been winning without a lot of shot generation. They sit 3rd worst in shots per game.

The bulk of the Predators success has been at home where they are 8-1-1. On the road, they are only 5-5-1. They have the 4th worst road power play conversation rate and the 4th lowest road goals per game.

Goaltender Pekka Rinne is playing well winning his last 3 games and 7 of his last 8. An odd Rinne stats for this season is that he has been amazing in two Friday starts, posting a 95.1% save percentage in the games without posting a shutout. Against the Blues, Rinne has posted strong numbers but gotten relatively little to show for it, going 19-16-4 even though he has a 2.12 goals against average and a 92.6% save percentage.

Much like the Blues, the Predators offense is keyed by their defense. The Blues Blues have the top 2 defensemen in all of the NHL in goals scored (Alex Pietrangelo and Joel Edmundson) but the Predators are 2nd best with 2 defensemen who are tied for 5th in goals. Both Mattias Ekholm and Roman Josi have 5 goals, just 2 behind Pietrangelo. Ekholm’s 4 game goal scoring streak was snapped in their last game.

Perhaps more impressive is that the Predators have 3 defensemen in the top 23 in total points (Josi, Ekholm and PK Subban). Josi and Subban have fared well against the Blues with 15 points in 27 games and 8 points in 12 games, respectively. Ekholm has not with only 4 points in 20 games.

Filip Forsberg is having another great season with 11 goals and 23 points in 21 games. He also is a notorious Blues killer, with 9 goals and 18 points in 16 games. Newcomer Kyle Turris has only played 6 games with the Predators since arriving from the Senators, posting 5 points in those games. He has 9 points in 14 games against St. Louis. Ryan Johansen has 13 points in 20 games against the Blues.

For the Blues, Carter Hutton appears to be getting the start. This decision surprised me as Jake Allen has been much better against the Predators than Hutton and I think the Blues likely see the Predators as stronger divisional competition. Allen has a 91.7% save percentage and a 2.65 goals against average versus the Predators while Hutton only has a 89.7% save percentage and 2.79 goals against average. This might be a nod by Yeo to Hutton, saying that he earned a chance to avenge his only start against the Predators. The start was just over a year ago when Hutton stopped 25 of 28 shots, losing 3-1 in Nashville. In the game, Calle Jarnkrok scored 2 goals with the departed to Vegas James Neal scoring the other.

As you might expect Vladimir Tarasenko has had the most success against the Predators with 10 goals and 22 points in 24 games. Jaden Schwartz, Brayden Schenn, Paul Stastny and Alexander Steen all are averaging about 0.6 points per game against the Predators.

A lot of the Blues have been hot lately. Schenn has an 8 game point streak during which he has netted 7 goals and an incredible 19 points. Schwartz has a 5 game point streak and points in 7 of his last 8 games. During those 8 games, he has 3 goals and 10 assists. Stastny has a 4 game point streak where he has notched 7 points. On defense, Colton Parayko has a 4 game point streak and Alex Pietrangelo has a 3 game point streak.

It sounds like the lines will remain the same, starting like this:

Forwards
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko
Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Alexander Steen
Magnus Paajarvi – Oskar Sundqvist – Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn

Defense
Joel Edmundson - Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester - Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo

Goalie
Carter Hutton

It’s a great day for hockey.

Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers Nashville Predator's Paul McCann, Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. We were hoping to do the whole division but don't have it fully represented yet. The blogger whose team finishes the highest the standings at the end of the year gets to pick a charity to whom the others will donate in their name.
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