It seems early to be talking about "must win" games, but the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues both need tonight's two Central Division points.
The Nashville Predators travel to the Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis to take on the 22-20-3 Blues in a game that feels as "must win" for both teams as 60 minutes of hockey can in mid January. The Preds and Blues have had up and down stretches this season, stringing together impressive win streaks followed by losing skids that interrupted the climb to the postseason momentum. Part of that struggle for St. Louis has revolved around injuries. Tonight they will be without Ryan O'Rielly, Logan Brown, Torey Krug, and Vladimir Tarasenko. For Nashville, the issue isn't about injuries so much as it is about inconsistency. Putting together sixty minutes of consistent execution has been a challenge for the team.
In a game that could have consequences down the stretch, what do the Nashville Predators need to do to get a win tonight?
Keys to the Game
Finish offensively.
It's stating the obvious, but the Predators need to finish the quality chances they have been generating lately. Nashville is getting good looks with regards to high danger chances, but they haven't been converting those opportunities into goals. Part of that is having bodies in front of the net to clean up any rebounds and interrupt the goalie's sight line. The Preds have tried to get too fancy in their last few outings, and that hasn't resulted into goals on the scoreboard.
While the Preds have had outstanding goaltending from Juuse Saros, getting goals on the board early would take some pressure off the Vezina caliber net minder. With Nashville's last two games ending with 2-1 score, finishing on offense would go a long way to making tonight a team win.
Fix the power play.
The power play has been another inconsistency for the Predators this season. The team started the season with a terrible power play success rate, found a groove on the man advantage from mid December to early January, going 8/22 at one point.
That has not be the case in the last seven games in which the Predators have scored only once in 21 chances on the man advantage. After an especially poor power play outing against the Columbus Blue Jackets, head coach John Hynes listed the failures of the power play units.
St. Louis ranks 28th in the league on the penalty kill, so tonight could be a chance for Nashville to correct those mistakes and capitalize on the man advantage.
Secondary Scoring
The Preds need to finish offensively, but the offensive work needs to come from up and down the lineup. Keep an eye on players like Tanner Jeannot who hasn't scored a goal since the Predators faced the St. Louis Blues back on October 27, and perhaps even Cole Smith who is still waiting to score his first goal of the season for the Preds. St. Louis will put their top defensive players up against Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, and Roman Josi. Tonight may be a golden opportunity for those "snakebit" players further down the lineup to get going.
How to Watch
The Predators and Blues face off tonight at 7:00 pm CST. Bally Sports South will have the broadcast, and 102.5 The Game will have the radio call.
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