The Nashville Predators are in South Florida for a catfight with the Panthers. Florida is fighting for their playoff lives, but they are rapidly running out of runway. Their “tragic number” is 4 and they are coming off an emotional win last night against Carolina at the BB&T Center. Nashville is coming in off a big win of their own, over the Tampa Bay Lighting on Sunday.
The math is pretty easy… any win tonight and the Predators capture the Central Division and the Western Conference. Their first division title in franchise history. It’s just as easy for the Panthers, a New Jersey win and a regulation loss for the Panthers will eliminate the Cats.
Lots on the line in this one.
The questions for Nashville revolve around health. Yannick Weber and Viktor Arvidsson most notably. The absence of Arvidsson has allowed new acquisition Eeli Tolvanen to get some playing time and he is looking more comfortable with each minute of ice time. For Florida, keep an eye on Aleksander Barkov, who leads the Panthers in points with 77, they are lead in goal scoring by Vincent Trocheck with 30.
In net, it could be James Riemer for the Cats as Roberto Luongo played last night, but that is certainly not assured. I would expect Pekka Rinne in net for Nashville as he had Sunday off.
The Panthers have been a tough home team over the last 16 games, going 13-3-0 over that span. With four games left in their season they are scratching for every point just to make the playoffs, with two games remaining against Boston, the road for Florida is a tough one.
It may be even tougher because of one Filip Forsberg who has been on fire recently. Forsberg is only four points away from topping his career best points total… in a season where he missed 11 games to injury and 3 games to an insane suspension… his quote in yesterday’s Tennessean wraps it all up… "I want to be one of those guys who makes a difference for my team, that doesn't have to be on the scoreboard, but I'm more than happy if it is."
Game time is 6:30pm in Sunrise. Pregame gets going at 5:30pm on 102.5 the Game, 6pm on Fox Sports Tennessee. Puck drop is at 6:37pm.
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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 and the Western Conference with 113 points, leading Winnipeg by five points in the Central and Western Conference races … The Predators lead Boston in the race for the Presidents’ Trophy by three points, the Bruins do have a game in hand on Nashville.
Impact games tonight (all times Central) – 6:30pm – WPG @ MTL, BOS @ TBL. 9pm – VGK @ VAN.
Playoff seed chances - The Predators chances of top seed in the West stands at 97%, their chances at the President’s Trophy are at 66.4%
The Current Opponent - If the playoffs began today, the Predators would draw the number 8 seed in the second wild card position… currently the Colorado Avalanche.
Most likely first round opponent - The highest percentage goes to St. Louis @ 40.8%, then Colorado at 39.8%.
Teams that have punched their playoff ticket - Nashville, Tampa Bay, Boston, Winnipeg, Vegas, Washington, Toronto, San Jose and Minnesota. Vegas has clinched the Pacific and Washington has clinched the Metropolitan
Playoff odds and playoff point line courtesy of SportsClubStats.com
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Random Notes
- The Preds Magic Number for the Central Division crown remains 2… for the President’s Trophy it is now 6.
- The Preds announced the signing of forward Tanner Jeannot yesterday. Jeannot has spent the last four seasons with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL.
- NBCSN has grabbed Thursday's Washington game away from Fox Sports Tennessee.
- Next one to be eliminated… with only two contending teams remaining outside of the playoff mix, the Florida Panthers appear to be falling short of their late season run to the playoffs, they are 5 points behind New Jersey and their tragic number is 4. The other team? The St. Louis Blues currently are a point behind Colorado, but they do have a game in hand, their tragic number is now down to 5.
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