The last home stand of January begins tonight in Smashville as the Predators welcome the Washington Capitals to town. The defending Stanley Cup champs hit town after a bad 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues last night at Capital One Arena, their second straight loss after a Saturday night overtime loss to Columbus. The Capitals have just gone to work this season with no real signs of a “Stanley Cup Hangover”… especially considering how hard this team partied after the win.
Tonight completes the season series, following the Predators surprising 6-3 win on New Year’s Eve in DC. The Caps will probably arrive in ill-humor after two straight losses. ON the offensive side, it’s Ovie, Ovie, Ovie. Alex Ovechkin has been amazing this season. Currently standing with 33 goals and 18 assists for 51 points in 45 games. All the other scoring is secondary, Nik Backstrom with 11 goals, Tom Wilson and TJ Oshie have 13 each and Jakub Vrana has 15 goals.
Nashville comes in off a good… but a little strange road trip that featured sub-standard performances in Detroit and Carolina sandwiched around stellar performances in Montreal, Toronto and Chicago and a decent comeback in Columbus. Look… 8 out of 12 possible points is a performance I will take in every 6 game stretch.
The goaltending matchup should be a good one as two of the Children of the Korn go back to back. Both Pekka Rinne and Braden Holtby have benefited from goalie whisperer Mitch Korn’s influence. While Korn is now doing what he always does on the Island right now, his influence will be all over tonight’s match-up.
Offensively for Nashville… it’s all about the JoFA line right now. Filip Forsberg’s return has reunited one of the best lines in hockey and they seem to be feeling it. Forsberg has two multi goal games since his return from injury and has four goals in the last three games. Now that the team is getting healthier, the lines are beginning to return to design. The waiving of Phillip Di Guiseppe may indicate the return of another forward from IR and if he clears, he will be a nice add for the Admirals.
Tonight will be a good one… game time is 7pm with a 7:08 puck drop. Coverage begins with pregame on 102.5 the Game at 6pm. TV pregame starts at 6:30pm on Fox Sports Tennessee. Very limited tickets remain.
See you at the Bridge!
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The
Where We Stand section
As play begins today, Nashville is in the second slot in the Central Division, two points behind the Winnipeg Jets, Winnipeg holds two games in hand over Nashville. The Preds lead Dallas and Colorado by eight points.
Nashville currently holds the 5 seed in the Western Conference playoff race and has a 99.1% chance of making the playoffs according to SportsClubStats.com
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Random Notes
- Milwaukee Update –The Admirals lost their third consecutive game last night, dropping a 3-2 decision in overtime to Manitoba. They are back in action tomorrow night in Manitoba.
- Milestone - Pekka Rinne played in his 600th career game last Thursday night. He only the third Finnish born goaltender to achieve that mark.
- Beast Mode - Mattias Ekholm has been playing well all season, however, in the last few games he has been unbelievable, including four consecutive multi-point games.
- Trade – The Predators executed a minor trade yesterday, sending Connor Brickley to the New York Rangers for Cole Schenider.
- The Capitals have a better road record than home record.
- Milestone – If TJ Oshie plays tonight, it will be his 700th NHL game. Last night was Brooks Orpik’s 1000th NHL game.
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