Nashville Predators vs. Carolina Hurricanes Preview 3/11/21: Free the Youth

Nashville Predators

Dante Fabbro was suspended two games on Wednesday as a result from his elbowing/bad hit in Tuesday’s game. Taking two points tonight would be huge, but I’m not crossing my fingers.

Expect to see the workhorse Pekka Rinne in net for Nashville. Juuse Saros is on this lengthy road trip but remains on IR, and Kasimir Kaskisuo seems to be stuck riding pine for the Predators. Devin Cooley is on the taxi squad.

Filip Forsberg is leading the charge for Nashville on the front end. It seems like he’s the most consistent Predator out there...there’s not really any other Pred to challenge that notion. It’s excellent to see Eeli Tolvanen getting time with Forsberg, especially on the power play. Nashville’s power play has been churning along lately thanks to the dual threats of Forsberg and Tolvanen on either circle.

You won’t be surprised to read that Nashville is 0-2-1 against the Hurricanes this season.

Ryan Johansen might be waking up from his...nap (or something):

Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes are effective on the rush and the Predators don’t seem to have an answer for that. The Canes should definitely take advantage of this young/injured/banged up Nashville squad. They’re on a six-game winning streak and it’ll probably be a seven-game winning streak at about 9:00 or so tonight.

Captain Jordan Staal scored twice on Tuesday and he will likely be looking for more. Expect the young Finn Sebastian Aho to be threatening all over the ice, too.

Defender Jaccob Slavin is playing in his 400th NHL game tonight.

Vincent Trocheck is out for the Canes tonight.

Rod Brind’Amour says Vincent Trocheck is out for the night and they will re-evaluate in the coming days.

He’s having a monster season for the Canes and leading them in goals.

“Tough blow”

— Sara Civ (@SaraCivian) March 11, 2021

Raise your hand if you knew that Carolina’s power play is the third-best in the NHL! Yeah, me neither...I just expect other teams to score on their power plays because Nashville’s penalty kill is so scattered and the lineup is so depleted.

Reasons to Watch

- Chippiness? Or...something else? Hopefully no injuries. Please.

- The youth movement is a HUGE reason to tune in tonight: Jérémy Davies, Rem Pitlick, Alex Carrier, and more. The last time the Preds played this many rookies was early 2016.

Tonight’s Theme Song

There’s never a bad time for Led Zeppelin.

How to Watch

Early puck drop! 6:00 Central. FS-TN has the broadcast and 102.5 The Game has the radio call.