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The Nashville Predators start off their western road swing tonight in Phoenix (9:00 p.m. Central on FS-TN). The Coyotes are holding on to 7th place in the Western Conference, but have a number of teams nipping at their heels, so the Preds can expect a determined effort tonight from their hosts.
Follow after the jump for the breakdown!
Tale Of The Tape
| Nashville (40-21-7) at Phoenix (34-25-10) | |||||||
| NSH Offense vs. PHX Defense | PHX Offense vs. NSH Defense | ||||||
| 5-on-5 | |||||||
| GF/60 | SF/60 | Shoot % | GA/60 | SA/60 | Save % | ||
| NSH Offense | 2.5 (9th) | 26.7 (28th) | 9.2 (3rd) | 2.3 (9th) | 30.8 (26th) | 926 (4th) | NSH Defense |
| PHX Defense | 2.2 (6th) | 30.4 (24th) | 927 (3rd) | 2.4 (13th) | 29.9 (10th) | 8.1 (17th) | PHX Offense |
| GA/60 | SA/60 | Save % | GF/60 | SF/60 | Shoot % | ||
| Special Teams | |||||||
| NSH PP vs. PHX PK | PHX PP vs. NSH PK | ||||||
| GF/60 | SF/60 | Shoot % | GA/60 | SA/60 | Save % | ||
| NSH 5-on-4 | 7.5 (1st) | 47.7 (19th) | 15.7 (2nd) | 6.5 (20th) | 53.9 (25th) | 880 (14th) | NSH 4-on-5 |
| PHX 4-on-5 | 5.1 (7th) | 55.3 (29th) | 908 (4th) | 4.1 (30th) | 39.5 (30th) | 10.4 (24th) | PHX 5-on-4 |
| GA/60 | SA/60 | Save % | GF/60 | SF/60 | Shoot % | ||
The major opportunity for Nashville here is on special teams - their power play has been one of the NHL's most productive, while Phoenix has struggled all season with the man advantage (they haven't scored a PP goal in their last 5 games, either).
So far this season, Nashville is 1-2-0 against the Coyotes, but the lone win came in a 3-0 game at Phoenix back in November, so the cavernous void that is Jobing.com Arena doesn't seem to intimidate the Predators.
Phoenix Coyotes
The Coyotes have gone streaking lately, posting an 11-0-1 stretch followed up with a 5-game losing streak, which ended Saturday night with a 3-0 win over San Jose. Their formula for success is not unlike Nashville's; a scoring-by-committee approach in front of some stingy goaltending, organized under the watchful eye of one of the NHL's most respected head coaches in Dave Tippett.
The man leading the way? He's just your typical 39-year-old enjoying a rejuvenation in his offensive numbers:
For the opposing perspective on this matchup, head over to Five For Howling.
Nashville Predators
The Preds seem to be firmly on track for the #4 or #5 seed in the Western Conference, and right now SportsClubStats gives a 79.9% chance that they'll face Detroit in the first round. Even though it's growing increasingly unlikely that the Predators would face a team like Phoenix in the playoffs, they'll want to get into that playoff mentality with strong, focused efforts. Certainly for the number of guys who are in danger of being scratched from game to game, there's increased pressure to impress the coaching staff each and every night.
As for how the lineup gets shuffled tonight, we'll stay tuned for news coming out of the morning skate. There's been no indication that Kevin Klein's ready to return, so there will be one other defenseman scratched, while the competition at forward is a little more wide-open.
Despite not playing much against Phoenix over the years due to his playing in the Eastern Conference, Mike Fisher has enjoyed some great success against the Coyotes, with 12 points (5G, 7A) in 11 career games against them:
Make sure to join us for a relatively late-night game thread; it'll serve as your warm-up for the really late games coming up!