After an extended break for the NHL All-Star game in Nashville, the Predators will welcome in the St. Louis Blues tonight. In the Preds last time out, they defeated the Calgary Flames 2-1 on Wednesday, extending their win streak to four games. During the first period, the Preds jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Mike Ribeiro received a beautiful pass from Craig Smith at 6:21.
During the second period, the Flames were having trouble staying out of the penalty box with three penalties in the final six minutes of the period. Dougie Hamilton was called for interference against Cody Bass to give the Preds an extra skater. The Predators took advantage of their opportunities with Shea Weber scoring at 17:37.
Calgary was able to get one goal in the third period, but Carter Hutton stood strong to give Nashville the 2-1 victory.
Keys to Watch
Keep it rolling!
Before the All-Star break, the Nashville Predators were on a roll. They were able to sweep their games in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, and Winnipeg. Eight points against those teams are nothing to sneeze at, from a struggling squad in the month of January. The shift will be to reignite the cohesive play that the Preds put together before their extended break. During those games, the Preds were playing excellent defensive hockey, and receiving timely scoring. Nashville needs to find “whatever it was” before the break and keep pressing toward the Western Conference playoffs.
Take Advantage
On Monday morning, the Nashville Predators announced that the club recalled forward Viktor Arvidsson from the Milwaukee Admirals. In 24 games with Nashville, Arvidsson has three goals, two assists, 29 penalty minutes, and 50 shots on net. The Skellefteå, Sweden native has played well in Milwaukee with eight goals, ten assists, +6 rating, and six penalty minutes in 17 games. The Predators need Arvidsson to take advantage of this opportunity. He has shown his ability to play well in the AHL, he needs to translate that over to the NHL. He needs production to stay in Nashville.
Blues’ Penalty Kill
One statistic that stands out for the St. Louis Blues is their ability to kill penalties. Currently, the Blues are 3rd in the NHL with a penalty kill percentage of 85.2%. On the road, the Blues have a penalty kill percentage of 83.3%. St. Louis has been short-handed this season 4th-most in the NHL with 169 minutes. Their players are skilled skaters that know how to take advantage of their opportunities and keep the opposing team away being down a man. The Preds will have struggles while on the power-play with a great defensive minded team. When Nashville gets a power-play, they must take advantage.
The Nashville Predators will look to keep the momentum rolling as they welcome in the St. Louis Blues as they begin a four-game homestand. Be sure to catch all of the action on Fox Sports-Tennessee or you can listen live on 102.5 The Game. Puck drops at 7:00 pm!
