The Predators host the Flyers tonight at Bridgestone Arena. Both teams will be fighting for position in their respective conferences. The Flyers will be looking to gain ground on the Wild Card position while the Predators try to create a little bit of breathing room between them, the Blues, and the Jets.
This will also be the first game against the Flyers for Laviolette. I think he would like to show them that letting him go was the worst decision possible.
The Philadelphia Flyers
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More from our team sites
The Flyers are in the midst of a Western Conference road trip. Earlier this week, they took on our Central division foes, Winnipeg and Minnesota, winning both. Nashville boasts one of the best home records in the league, though, so they’ll have their hands full tonight.
They definitely have the talent to come out of Nashville with two points. Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux have been on a tear this season. Voracek leads the league in points (14G, 32A, 46P) and Giroux isn’t too far behind him (fourth in the league with 11G, 30A, and 41P). Not to mention, they are both one and two in assists as well. Wayne Simmonds has benefited from playing alongside these two. He leads the team in goals with fifteen. Their offense has been OK so far, but if they ever start to find secondary scoring, they will be a scary team on that side of the puck.
The defensive side of the puck is where the concern is for the Flyers. If they can play a solid defensive game, with minimal mistakes, they can possibly win this game tonight. And not to mention give the Predators their first back to back loss of the season.
The Nashville Predators
The Preds are coming off a loss against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. The Predators were able to give Pekka Rinne a little break, but still have yet to find a way to win a game with Carter Hutton in net. Hutton hasn’t played bad, but the team just seems to struggle when he is in between the pipes.
One bright spot from the Boston game though was Colin Wilson. He’s played at a high level latey, and looks to continue that tonight. His possession stats continue to stay high, and he’s finding the back of the net now. That could only mean good things for Nashville.
I have to assume the Preds are going to want to win this one for Laviolette. He may downplay that this game doesn’t mean anything, but anytime you face your former team, you want to be the guy with the last laugh.
Reasons To Watch
As I mentioned before, the Preds have yet to lose back to back games this season. So I am expecting an urgent team to come out and play tonight. Also, the whole Lavi coaching against Philly thing as well.
Drink Choice For Game Time
I’m keeping it local again for this one. Yazoo Dos Perros. It goes down silky smooth.
Sights And Sounds
If you aren’t going to catch the game at the arena, you can catch it on FS-TN locally, or listen to it on 102.5 The Game. Puck drops at 7:00 pm CST.