The Nashville Predators look to redeem themselves after a shutout loss to the Boston Bruins on Thursday, as well as their 6-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens in their prior meeting. The struggling Canadiens, meanwhile, are doubtless hoping for a win of their own.
The Nashville Predators
The team by and large didn’t cover themselves with glory on Thursday. Although some individuals played well, the team as a whole struggled with systems—unfortunately, a recurring complaint at this point when they’re playing most good teams. If you could pick your opponents the Predators would be in a much better position than they currently are.
Mikael Granlund, Matt Duchene, Filip Forsberg, and Roman Josi still lead the team in offensive production, while Ryan Johansen and Tanner Jeannot have also been major contributors. Juuse Saros is doing well, but he can’t win games by himself. The team is still helping their opponents out by taking too many penalties; it’d be nice to see them work on their discipline.
The Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens are 6-17-2 this season, and there isn’t really a salient good point to their game. They’ve managed some wins—including one against the Preds—but by and large, they’ve struggled offensively, defensively, on the power play, on the penalty kill, to score on their shots, and to make saves on their opponents’ shots.
Tyler Toffoli and Nick Suzuki lead the team with 15 points each, and Suzuki’s 11 assists lead the team in that category, while Josh Anderson is the goals leader with 7. Jake Allen’s .907 sv% leads the team, while backup Sam Moltembeault sports a .897.
How to Watch
The game starts at 6PM Central. You can watch it on Bally Sports South or listen on 102.5 The Game.
Statistics from naturalstattrick.com. Additional background from hockeyviz.com.