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Monday Night Game Night

October 15, 2018, 8:43 AM ET [1 Comments]
Paul McCann
Nashville Predators Blogger •Predators Radio Network • RSSArchiveCONTACT
After the egg laid on Opening Night in Smashville… the Nashville Predators have certainly righted the ship with two solid victories. Saturday’s win over the Islanders had a great start and a great finish, the second period… well… you knew a Barry Trotz coached team wasn’t going to roll over.

That brings us to tonight’s divisional match up with the Minnesota Wild. The Wild are off to a 1-1-2 start but coming to Nashville has sometimes been a tonic for this franchise as they have gained at least a point in 10 of their last 15 games in Smashville, but the Predators have won the past two games inside the friendly confines.

The Wild and Preds share some similarities… high expectations, a tough road in the Central Division and an underperforming power play. The Predators finally got their first power play goal on Saturday night as Kyle Turris converted for his first goal of the season and frankly… they came within .5 of a second of getting their second as Filip Forsberg got an empty net goal right as an Islanders penalty expired.

The JoFA line has been scorching hot, posting 14 points in the first five games of the season and Ryan Hartman seems to making the best of his “prove it” contract thus far with a goal and three assists. Hartman has been a real sparkplug for this team. You know another sparkplug…

Zac Rinaldo.

Rinaldo drove quite a few Winnipeg Jets to distractions on Thursday night and did it again on Saturday night. Rinaldo has been highly successful in drawing penalties and has maintained a level head so far this season. It’s a small sample, but the early results are positive.

This is the first of a rather difficult back-to-back for the Wild, they fly to Arizona for the second half of it right after the game. I expect to see Devan Dubnyk tonight between the pipes against Pekka Rinne, who is coming off a shutout over the Jets. Dubnyk is 1-1-2, getting all of the Wild’s decisions so far, posting a 2.62 GAA and a .934 save percentage.

Rinne is off to another great start to the season, posting a .946 save percentage in his three starts. The big Finn is closing in on the record for victories by a Finnish-born goaltender in the NHL. A record held by Rinne’s idol as a youngster, Miikka Kiprosoff. Rinne needs seven more wins to eclipse Kirosoff.

Game time is 7pm for the rare Monday night home game in Smashville, very limited tickets are available for this Central Division showdown. Pre game coverage begins at 6pm on 102,5 the Game, 6:30pm on Fox Sports Tennessee. Game coverage starts at 7pm on all media.

See you tonight at the Bridge!

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A huge thank you to everyone who came out on Friday night for the Best Buddies event “Five for Murder” … We had a great time and raised quite a bit of money for Best Buddies.

Thank you to our sponsors, Jackelope Brewery, Bucca di Beppo, The Barn at Chavis, SlapShot Radio, The Murder Mystery Company and everyone who worked so hard to put it together.

Thanks!

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Random Notes

- Dan Hamhuis got his first point in his second stint with the Preds on Saturday night.

- Nashville’s 4-1-0 start is the fifth time in franchise history the team has had that record after five games. The last time was the 2015-16 season.

- I think we can safely say that Viktor Arvidsson is finally adjusting to the face shield over the last two games.

- Minnesota’s GM is Paul Fenton who spent 11 seasons as Preds assistant GM under David Poile.

- The NHL is tracking coaches challenges by team, there have been 14 overall coaches challenges so far this season, only 5 overturned. The Predators have not attempted a challenge yet this season.

- Fascinating to watch the Pacific Division so far… I know it is early… but seeing San Jose, Vegas and Edmonton in the bottom four is a tad surprising.

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