The Nashville Predators welcome John Tortorella and the Philadelphia Flyers to Bridgestone Arena tonight as the Predators try to win their fifth in six games. With a resurgent Juuse Saros and the return of Cody Glass and Tommy Novak, Nashville looks to continue their winning ways.
Philadelphia Flyers (15-10-2)
The Flyers visit Bridgestone coming off a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games. They stumbled at Thanksgiving, dropping four of five to the Islanders, Rangers, Hurricanes and Devils, but haven’t lost yet in the month December, getting consecutive shootout wins against Pittsburgh, picking up a 4-1 win against the surprising Arizona Coyotes, and handily defeated the Central Division’s Avalanche 5-2. They also get Ryan Poehling back in the lineup in a fourth-line role, who missed the last two games due to illness.
In net, it looks likely Nashville will face Carter Hart (9-6-1), coming off a great effort against the Avs. Offensively, nobody is hotter for the Flyers than Travis Konecny, who has posted 16 goals and 7 assists in 27 games this season, including consecutive two-goal games at Colorado and Arizona (where one was shorthanded).
Special teams will be key for the Predators, as Nashville’s 14th ranked power play (21.2%) faces the 5th-best penalty kill (86.2%). Conversely, the Preds’ struggling (but getting better) penalty kill is ranked 24th (76.6%) and faces the 27th ranked power play from the Flyers (12%).
Nashville Predators (15-13-0)
Although Nashville has not matched Philadelphia’s perfect December (so far), the Predators have shown a ton of progress since the beginning of the season, and have gone 4-2-0 this month, including an impressive 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay and a 2-1 win over Montreal on Sunday. Tonight’s matchup sits between two back-to-back series, as the Preds have matchups at Carolina and at home vs Washington on Friday and Saturday.
Juuse Saros has helped the team win 8 of his last 9 starts, the lone loss in the matchup to the Minnesota on November 30th. In that stretch, Saros has allowed 2 or less goals in six of nine and his play has greatly improved (as usual) after a very rocky start to the season.
Speaking of slow starts, after an October with just one goal, Filip Forsberg has exploded – picking up 13 goals and brought his point total to 31 in 28 games. He hasn’t posted a goal since the matchup with the Lightning, but is still averaging over a point per game.
How to Watch
Puck drop starts at 7 pm Central and you can follow along on Bally Sports South and 102.5.