The Nashville Predators return home after a successful road trip to host the Ottawa Senators. The teams last met a month ago, where the Preds got out to a 3-0 lead before losing in overtime, and hostilities almost broke out when Alex Carrier was injured. The Preds are likely to be looking to light this one up.
Things have gone pretty well for the Senators since then, though their loss to the Washington Capitals last night can’t have put them in a good mood heading into tonight either.
Tim Stützle, Claude Giroux, and Brady Tkachuk remain the Sens’ primary producers. Tkachuk’s 26 goals lead the team by a considerable amount, while Stützle and Giroux both have north of 30 assists–34 for Giroux, 39 for Stützle. Tkachuk isn’t just a standout goalscorer; he’s a prodigious driver of 5v5 offense, and getting rewarded for it.
Defender Artem Zub–who missed yesterday’s game after an injury Saturday–has been quieter on the scoresheet, but is one of the Sens’ best defensive players, limiting opponents’ chances without shutting down his own team as well. It’s a valuable contribution to a team that’s struggled in goaltending. Joonas Korpisalo’s .887 sv% and Anton Forsberg’s .889 are not reflective of the defense they’re playing behind, but of the goalies’ struggles this season.
The skaters have made up for it as much as they can by scoring on a lot of their chances, but, while they’re racking up goals above the league average, they haven’t been able to consistently outscore their goaltending. Their special teams are similarly a point of pain, with a great PK defense still not getting them up to average penalty-kill success and their shooting luck falling down on an anemic power play.
This should be an exciting, high-scoring game–unless the teams read this preview and decide it’s time for a 1-0 shootout decision–and airs at 7PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.
Statistics from naturalstattrick.com. Additional background from hockeyviz.com.