The Predators finally make it home, where they’ll face the Arizona Coyotes tonight, after a long and disappointing road trip that saw them sink to the bottom of the Central Division standings. The Coyotes, meanwhile, hover around the middle of the division.
Lucky playmaking from Nick Schmaltz and Matias Maccelli, among others, has contributed to the Coyotes’ scoring by committee. Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse are their goalscoring leaders with five each, but the team as a whole has played pretty low-event hockey, struggling to get to dangerous areas of the ice but also defending the slot well. They’ve showed the same pattern on the power play and penalty kill, which has worked out for them on the PP but not particularly on the PK.
A few players have been notably underperforming–Barrett Hayton in particular has been getting great looks but not getting the bounces. However, by and large, the Coyotes don’t seem like they have too many surprises waiting, just more of the things they’ve already been doing, with more success than the Preds have.
Former Pred Connor Ingram has been doing well in goal, putting up a .919 sv% in his six starts this season, while former Nashville draft pick Karel Vejmelka has had a slightly worse time in his eight starts, with a .908.
The game airs at 7PM Central (at last!) on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game. If you’re in Arizona, you may need to party like it’s 1999 and get a TV antenna to watch.