The Nashville Predators have won four of their last five games, and tonight they hope to collect two more points against Tim Stützle and the scrappy Ottawa Senators.
The Nashville Predators take on the the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre tonight in their third game of a five game road trip. Nashville won their first two games of this road last week, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 5-3 and the Washington Capitals 3-2 in back to back contests. The Predators look to build on that momentum tonight against the Senators.
Ottawa made a handful of intriguing moves this offseason, acquiring veteran Claude Giroux from Seattle and adding Alex DeBrincat from Chicago. The Senators also traded young goaltender Filip Gustavsson to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for goalie Cam Talbot. These moves added to a roster of young talent with Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson, and Shane Pinto made the Sens an interesting team to keep an eye on this season.
Despite those offseason moves and promising youth, it hasn't been smooth sailing for Ottawa who currently sit at .500 and near the bottom of the Atlantic Division. An upper body injury kept Talbot out for the first month of the season, and the team has been streaky ever since. The Senators went 4-9-1 in November but bounced back with several impressive performances in December to finish that month 8-4-2, including a December 10 win over the Predators.
Tim Stützle leads the Sens with 18 goals and is coming off a hat trick performance in Saturday night's loss to the Seattle Kraken. The 20 year old winger has 10 points in his last five games, including seven goals in that stretch. Giroux and Brady Tkachuk have combined for 29 goals so far this season, and the line of DeBrincat, Pinto, and Drake Batherson are reliable offensively as well.
Special teams have been a strong suit for Ottawa this season. Their power play ranks 3rd in the league at 28.1% and they penalty kill is ranked nearly as high at 82.2%. The Sens have killed off all but 2 of their 29 penalties in the last ten games.
Nashville ranks 28th on the power play, but the Preds have turned things around of late on the man advantage. The Predators have scored 8 power play goals in their last ten games and while they are statistically near the bottom of the league after a terrible special teams start, they are executing near the top of the league in those last ten games on the power play.
Special teams isn't the only aspect of Nashville's game that has improved. The Preds are finally cashing in on quality chances offensively. They have scored 24 goals in their last five games while earning 9 of 10 possible points as well. Filip Forsberg has 8 points in his last five games, including 5 goals and a hat trick. After an early season struggle, Forsberg and the Predators are finally finding the back of the net.
Three Things to Watch
1. Goaltending - Whether it is Cam Talbot or Anton Forsberg or Juuse Saros or Kevin Lankinen, both teams will rely on solid goaltending to keep this game close. Forsberg and Talbot allowed 8 goals against in their last outing versus the Kraken, so whoever gets the start in net will be looking for a strong bounce back performance.
2. Let's get physical - The Senators rank second in the league for hits while the Predators are fifth. December's game between the Preds and Sens was very physical resulting in injuries to both Jeremy Lauzon and Alexandre Carrier. Look for this game to be a spicy match up as well.
3. Play on the edge, not over it - A physical game can lead to penalties, and tonight's game is one that could be decide by special teams. Disciplined checking and wisdom after the whistle will serve the Predators well as they look to keep play at five on five.
The Senators host the Predators tonight at Canadian Tire Centre. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 pm CST, and NHL Network will broadcast the game. 102.5 The Game will have the radio call locally.