Game Night in Smashville as the Nashville Predators finish their five game home stand with the season series finisher against the Anaheim Ducks. Both teams have held serve at home, Nashville winning 5-1 back on October 22nd, Anaheim winning 4-2 on November 1st.
Anaheim has had a very odd season so far. Long losing streaks, offensive issues, coaching controversy including a dreaded “vote of confidence.… A Stanley Cup favorite at the start of the season, the Ducks are 6-8-4 right now, good for 16 points and 5th in the Pacific division. As things look right now, the Pacific will send their top three, but I wouldn’t count on a Wild Card coming out of that division. The Ducks took down Carolina last night to snap a three game skid and the big news out of that game is that Ryan Getzlaf finally scored a goal… it was an empty-netter, but still…
The Preds are looking to put a win streak together… they haven’t won two in a row since winning 3 straight from Oct 17-22. They have posted points in three consecutive games. The offense certainly seems to be getting back on track, posting 7 goals in two of the last three games, but Anaheim is a tough defensive team and doesn’t give up a lot of chances.
On the injury front, Eric Nystrom returned to the ice yesterday, participating in practice, however no word on if he is being activated from IR as o9f this writing. Paul Gaustad did not skate, he has been out for a few games with a lower-body injury.
The expectation is for Pekka Rinne and Frederik Andersen to battle it out in net tonight. Andersen did a fine job of shutting down the Preds at Honda Center back on 11/1… the Predators could use another fast start to not allow him to gain any confidence from that performance. Anaheim will be looking to do the same thing they did in that 11/1 game score early, that game was the first one that the Preds had given up a first period goal in.
A win tonight gives the Pres a 3-1-1 record on the home stand and sends the team off on what could be one of the toughest stretches of the season with some momentum. Game time is 7pm, limited tickets remain and coverage will be on Fox Sports Tennessee and 102.5 the Game.
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Random Notes
- Nashville is the only team in the NHL so far this season to post two seven goal games.
- Seth Jones had his first three point game of his career on Saturday night. His game is rounding into form as he gets closer to the 200 game played mark (tonight is 176.) Defensemen always seem to struggle a bit in that second hundred games but Jones seems to be a little ahead of the curve.
- Monday’s practice took place at Ford Ice Center, a nice crowd came out to enjoy a little lunch and watch practice.
- The Winnipeg Jets dropped their sixth consecutive game last night to St. Louis. While they showed signs of life, especially in coming back in the second period to tie the game… this team is in free fall. They lost all four games of their road trip, all against divisional foes. They are back home for three before hitting the road again during Thanksgiving week.
- In the something’s gotta give department, The Jets get to play the struggling Vancouver Canucks who are mired in their own road struggles on Wednesday night…
- Good news for Wild fans as Zach Parise has begun skating while Minnesota is on the road. They haven’t lost a step since losing their star forward, going 3-0-1 since he went down in the Wild’s game against Nashville on 11/5. The Preds may see his return when they visit Xcel Energy Center on 11/21.
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