The Nashville Predators played a great game on Long Island yesterday, but got stopped cold by great goaltending. Tonight, they’ll look to redeem themselves and get that much closer to the postseason. If all works out, they could clinch a berth tonight–if they win and the Blues don’t, they’re in. The magic number is three.
The New Jersey Devils have fallen out of realistic contention. They haven’t been mathematically eliminated, but even in a chaotic Metro their chances are not good. Still, they have the ability to do damage; it’s goaltending that’s been their struggle. Five separate goalies have dressed for the Devils this season, and the two currently with the NHL club have played a combined 12 games for it.
Jake Allen, acquired at the deadline, has put up a .909 in eight games, while Kaapo Kähkönen, also acquired at the deadline (in a goalie swap), has won one of his four starts with the Devils: a shutout against the Islanders. It’s pretty much impossible at this point to say how either of them are fitting in with the team or performing behind the defensive structure.
The offense, on the other hand, has three clear outstanding contributors. Jesper Bratt, Jack Hughes, and Nico Hischier have been huge parts of the offense, with Bratt and Hischier tilting the ice whenever they’ve been on it and Hughes setting up or scoring a team-leading 75% of the goals he’s been on the ice for. (For reference, that’s a little better than Filip Forsberg has done for the Preds.)
Bratt’s 76 points and 51 assists lead the team in those categories, while Hughes (72 points) is just one goal ahead of Bratt, Hischier (62 points), and Timo Meier, with 26 scored to their 25. After the three of them, there’s a sharp drop in productivity–Meier, despite his goal-scoring, has been a lot less lucky with assists, and comes in fourth on the team in total points with 48.
The Devils as a whole have a strong offense, though; the fact that three of their players are clearly doing better than the rest doesn’t change the fact that the team as a whole gets to the front of the net and scores goals. They’re doing above league average in that respect, but they just haven’t been able to outscore their former goaltending.
This would be a great opportunity for the Preds to try to outscore yesterday’s frustrations. The game airs at 6PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.