Six out of a possible six… the Nashville Predators just swept another roadie with their 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres last night at Key Bank Arena. Another uneven performance from the Predators as they really played sloppy hockey in the first two periods as they extended their franchise record point streak to 15 games. Oh… and they also ran their road point streak to 15 games as well. Nashville has not lost on the road since January 2nd.
The Predators did not look good in the first two periods, but found themselves leading 2-0 after two thanks to a couple of good bounces and the simply phenomenal play of Pekka Rinne. Rinne posted his league leading 8th shutout of the year in this 35 save masterpiece. It was also Rinne’s 40th win of the season… the third time he has done that in his career, tying legends like Terry Sawchuk and Jacques Plante and three others for third on the all-time list of number of 40 win seasons. The win also ties Rinne for the league lead in wins with Andrei Vasilevskiy, but Rinne has done it in five less games.
Frankly, Nashville was outshot, outhit and outplayed in the first two periods, but Buffalo couldn’t crack the Rinne Wall. Twelve minutes into the second, a Mikkaa Salomaki shot from the high slot bounced off the shaft of both Scott Hartnell and Mike Fisher’s stick for the first goal. A seeing-eye puck to be sure puts the Preds up 1-0.
The, the JoFA line struck five minutes later as Ryan Johansen showed a deft shot and just the right amount of patience to deposit a rebound to put the Predators up 2-0. That goal seemed to finally wake the team up and they handled Buffalo’s inevitable pushback with relative ease as Rinne continued to stop everything that came his way. Filip Forsberg made it 3-0 with some solid fundamental hockey, following his pass, picking up a rebound in the low slot and putting it home. Ryan Hartman put the exclamation point on the win with a final goal with 24 seconds to go in the game.
Fifteen on the road and 15 overall… both of those point streaks will be severely tested this week as Toronto visits Thursday night for the final game of the Leafs three game road trip, then the Predators head out again for the most difficult back-to-back of the season. Saturday in Minnesota and Sunday in Winnipeg.
Very few tickets remain for Thursday’s game.
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“Where We Stand” update… a daily tracking of where the Preds are in the standings and the games that impact them most, brought to you by Mark Lonsway - THE real estate professional for hockey fans!
After last night’s play the Predators remain first in the Central Division with 106 points, leading Winnipeg (0 GIH) by ten points … The Predators lead the Western Conference, holding a nine point lead over Vegas (0 GIH.) The Predators also now lead Tampa Bay (0 GIH) in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy by four points.
Impact games tonight (all times Central) – 6pm – DAL @ WSH. 6:30pm – TOR @ TBL. 7pm – LAK @ WPG. 9pm - VAN @ VGK.
Playoff seed chances - The Predators chances of top seed in the West stand at 97%, their chances at the President’s Trophy stand at 74.8%
The Current Opponent - If the playoffs began today, the Predators would draw the number 8 seed in the second wild card position… currently the Anaheim Ducks.
Most likely first round opponent - The highest percentage goes to St. Louis at 23.3%... Dallas is at 18.5%, Colorado is at 18.2%.
Teams that have punched their playoff ticket - Nashville, Tampa Bay.
Playoff odds and playoff point line courtesy of SportsClubStats.com
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Random Notes
- Filip Forsberg is heating up… another one last night…
- The Stars goaltending situation just clarified for the worst possible reason. Ben Bishop will be out for at least two weeks with a lower body injury. The Stars will be counting on Kari Lehtonen to get them to the playoffs.
- The Predators will see Buffalo again, only this time at home next Saturday night.
- Eeli Watch – Eeli Tolvanen’s Jokerit team now trails their series with CSKA 2-1, after their 2-1 win in OT yesterday. Tolvanen posted his first point assisting on Jokerit’s first goal. Game four is today.
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