It’s game night in the Mile High City as the Nashville Predators take on the Colorado Avalanche to get November started and before we get to tonight’s game, let’s take a look at the upcoming month. The month has seven at home and seven on the road including seven of these games against the Central Division.
After tonight’s game in Colorado, the Preds finish this early season west coast roadie Thursday in Arizona, another team that is off to a bad start to the season. Then the team comes home to Smashville for four consecutive games, Carolina, Ottawa, St. Louis, and Anaheim. A critical opportunity to make some hay and gain ground in the division. Another three game road trip takes Nashville to Toronto, Ottawa and St. Louis before returning home to Music City for the holiday week.
US Thanksgiving week has the Preds taking on Tampa, Dallas and the beginning of a home and home with Winnipeg, then finishes the month where they began it… Colorado.
The Avalanche are off to a 4-3-0 start under new head coach Jared Bednar, featuring wins over Dallas, Pittsburgh, Tampa and Arizona… it does appear that Bednar has this team going in the right direction. The Av’s are led in scoring by Matt Duchene (5g, 2a) and Nathan MacKinnon (1g, 5a) … this has never been the issue for Colorado. Their offense has been solid… it’s the defense that has caused their issues. This problem seems to be mitigated, if not solved. The blueline is better but still has no real depth. The best thing for Colorado is that a lot of blueline brakdowns get covered by Semyon Varlamov.
Nashville has defensive issues of its’ own as the defense corps is trying to achieve the chemistry needed for success. Five on five offense is also a big issue. So… how does this team finish this roadie with a desperately needed flourish?
A team that faces adversity early has two choices… Wallow in the negativity or stay positive and get to work. It appears, looking at quotes from yesterday’s practice, that the team has chosen the latter. They seem to understand that the bounces will even out and that hard work helps a team get those bounces.
Expect a Varlamov vs. Pekka Rinne match up in net for tonight’s showdown and the key for both teams has to do with locking things down defensively. Game time is 8pm Central and coverage Fox Sports Tennessee and the Predators Radio Network.
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Random Notes
- Finishing the road trip with two wins will give the team a .500 record for the trip.
- The Dallas Stars announced that Ales Hemsky will be out for 5-6 months after his hip surgery marking the third forward from the August roster injured.
- The eyes of the NHL will be on the next “Ovi vs. Sid… as Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid face each other for the first time tonight.
- Injuries are really impacting the Minnesota Wild with salary cap issues.
- Twelve games in the NHL tonight – All times Central – 6pm – STL @ NYR, DAL @ CBJ. 6:30pm – BOS @ FLA, CAR @ OTT, TBL @ NYI, EDM @ TOR. 7pm – BUF @ MIN, WSH @ WPG. 7:30pm – CGY @ CHI. 8pm – NSH @ COL. 9pm – SJS @ ARI. 9:30pm – ANA @ LAK.
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