We wondered this morning who might be the odd man out as Nick Spaling returns to the Nashville Predators’ lineup tonight, and it turns out that Gabriel Bourque is your healthy scratch for tonight.
Bourque has zero points and only two shots on goal through three games, and his puck-possession stats look pretty stinky, too (although it’s early to make too much out of those numbers).
Preds-Killer Bernier In Net For Toronto
Meanwhile for the visitors, Jonathan Bernier will indeed get the start, looking to build upon his 7-1 record against Nashville while playing with the L.A. Kings. So far this season Bernier is 2-1 with a .963 save percentage in three games for Toronto, so Hockey Night in Canada “analyst” Glenn Healy nearly pulls a hammy jumping on the Bernier bandwagon, proclaiming him “king of the Leafs’ net” over James Reimer.
Of course, Healy is the guy who looked at this and thought the Oilers had won the stats battle on Saturday night.
Game Time is 7:00 p.m. on Fox Sports TN if you won’t be joining us at Bridgestone Arena. Stay tuned for the Game Thread to go live at 6:30 (hopefully only one this time!)…
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