The Nashville Predators continue their road trip, and look to rebound from a walloping, this afternoon in the Mile High City. The Avalanche have an opportunity to clinch today, and they’ve been soaring recently.
Nathan MacKinnon has 123 points–not a typo, and one behind Nikita Kucherov of the Lightning for the league lead–in the form of 45 goals and 78 assists. He’s having an absolutely phenomenal season, and unfortunately will probably continue to do so tonight; he’s been more or less unstoppable this year.
The Avalanche also have a host of other weapons, including Mikko Rantanen, who’s pushing a hundred points himself; Cale Makar, who’s managed to combine another fantastic offensive season with above-average defense; and Valeri Nichushkin, who missed 25 games and is still the team’s fourth-best scorer. After those four, the Avalanche have gotten much of their work done by committee, but get it done they have.
Alexandar Georgiev is having a so-so season, though backup Justus Annunen has been great in his nine games. The Avalanche’s defense is okay, but they’ve gotten the bulk of their work done with a powerful offense, both at even strength and on the power play. Again, this is a game where it would benefit the Preds not to take penalties.
The game airs at 5PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.
Statistics from naturalstattrick.com. Additional background from hockeyviz.com.