Tonight is the finish of a long stretch of home games for the Nashville Predators. The team has been home for 16 of the last 17 nights, the only night they were on the road is Thanksgiving night. Eight of their last nine games have been inside the friendly confines of Bridgestone Arena, and it’s shown in the last week… well, not on Saturday night. Saturday night the team came out with fire and steamrolled the Chicago Blackhawks. The 5-2 win featured a three goal flurry in the first five minutes of the game, a selfish reaction from a veteran defenseman for the Hawks, a sleepy second period and a solid close out.
Let’s talk about Duncan Keith. He takes a clean, legal check from Miikka Salomaki and loses his mind, lashing out at anyone he can find and selfishly leaves his team shorthanded for over two periods. Silly and decidedly not a veteran move.
Enough about Saturday, a win over a team two points from the bottom of the conference deserves no more attention… tonight, it’s the surprising Buffalo Sabres.
OK, I called this team to be much better and a potential playoff contender on SlapShot Radio’s prediction show (I had to get that in there as both Brent and Zack called me crazy on that one) but I didn’t see this coming. Buffalo is 17-7-3 with 37 points and are only two points out of the Eastern Conference lead! They ripped off a ten game win streak and are still 8-1-1 in their last ten played. No one saw this one coming.
For some reason… Buffalo seems to own the Predators at Bridgestone Arena with an overall record of 9-4-0 all time at 501 Broadway. The road team has won the last six games between these two teams. For the Predators to build on Saturday’s win, they need to come out on fire again. They may see a familiar face in net, former Nashville backup Carter Hutton has been solid in the starter’s role for Buffalo, posting a 2.63 GAA and a Save % of .917.
Nashville is learning to play without 50% of its top six on offense and without a Norris Trophy candidate on the blueline. One key to Saturday night over the two losses to Arizona and Colorado, details… better puck management and limiting the giveaways. They will need to continue this attention to detail over the next few weeks as they work through the injuries to Kyle Turris, PK Subban and especially Filip Forsberg and Viktor Arvidsson. Buffalo has some injuries as well, but not to their key talent.
They key to stopping the Sabres may lie in limiting Jeff Skinner. Skinner has been smoking hot all season long, 28 points in 27 games… 20 of those points coming from goals. Skinner had 15 goals in 15 November games and was a key reason for the Sabres 10 game win streak.
The start may be a leading indicator, Buffalo is 12-0-3 when scoring first and 10-0-2 when leading after the first period. Certainly indicates a team that knows how to close. The Predators are 14-1-0 when scoring first and 7-0-0 when leading after one… ditto.
Game time is 7pm at Bridgestone Arena, pregame coverage begins at 6pm on 102.5 the Game, 6:30 on Fox Sports Tennessee. Limited tickets remain for what could be a very good hockey game.
See you at the Bridge!
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Random Notes
- Milwaukee Update –The Admirals split their weekend, losing at home to the Texas Stars.4-1 on Friday night, then riding Tom McCollum’s 28 save shutout to beat Rockford 3-0 on the road. The Ad’s continue their roadie Wednesday and Friday night in Texas against the Stars, then Saturday night against San Antonio before coming home.
- It’s only one game, but Eeli Tolvanen looked so much more comfortable in Gold on Saturday night, posting his first NHL goal and first NHL multi-point game. Again, it’s only one game, but he looked like he belonged out there. Now let’s see if he can do it consistently. Keep in mind, Tolvanen is still just 19 years old.
- Tolvanen’s goal was set up by a defensive lapse and a great pass from Craig Smith, depositing a wicked backhand that goaltender Cam Ward is still looking for.
- 21 year old Anthony Richard was also solid in his NHL debut. He was called up on Saturday morning as both Nick Bonino and Rocco Grimaldi were ill.
- Countdown to return – Viktor Arvidsson, on IR since 11/12 – Stated out 4-6 weeks, earliest return would be next week. PK Subban, on IR sonce 11/15 – No timetable given for return. Kyle Turris, on IR since 11/25 - No timetable given for return. Filip Forsberg, on IR since 12/1 – Stated out 4-6 weeks, earliest return around New Year’s.
- The Blackhawks are a mess… they dropped the back half of their back-to-back last night at home against Calgary. Yup… the coaching was definitely the problem.
- With William Nylander’s signing at the last minute, the good got better. The Leaf’s signed the winger to a six year $45 million contract extension. The 22 year old is set to rejoin the team this week. I will be curious to see what impact this contract has on the rest of the team’s contracts as Auston Matthew and Mitch Marner are both RFA’s this upcoming season. With Nylander at an almost $7 million cap hit and Tavares at an $11 million cap hit, the Leafs could find themselves in cap jail pretty quickly.
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