The Nashville Predators wrap up their western road trip tonight in Seattle, where they’ll face a Kraken team that’s had a good recent stretch on the standings board and will look to rebound from getting shut out against the Rangers on Sunday. Both teams are rested, and both in a way have something to prove — the Preds a win to build on, the Kraken a loss to recover from.
The Seattle Kraken
Jared McCann is the Kraken’s standout production leader and their best on-ice play driver, with 21 points on the season (9G/12A). Jordan Eberle, who missed Sunday’s game with a lower-body injury, is second in goals with six and points with 11, which is a pretty dramatic drop-off. Chandler Stephenson has nine assists, and André Burakovsky and young defender Ryker Evans both have eight.
They’ve made the most of the chances they’ve gotten, with a weak power play still converting not far below league average rates, and an offense that has had trouble getting to the front of the net scoring well when they do make it there. We’re likely to see a good bit of the Kraken’s power play tonight, as the Preds take quite a few more penalties than they do.
Joey D’accord has been their best player on the penalty kill, taking a really pretty atrocious shorthanded defense and making the key saves more often than he should have had to. He’s been rewarded with a .918 sv% on the season, while Philipp Grubauer has struggled in the net both shorthanded and at even strength.
How to Watch
The game airs at 9PM Central on TNT, TruTV, and Max, or you can listen to the radio call on 102.5 The Game. It’s the last late night for a while, folks — hang in there.