Keys to Watch
Back at Home
The Nashville Predators will finally make it back to Bridgestone Arena tonight after game seven against Anaheim and the first two games of this series. After struggling against the Sharks in game one and two, the Preds will be glad to be back with the Loyal Legion of Preds’ faithful fans. Nashville needs to take advantage of the home-ice games for the next two contests in the Music City. The Predators have an uphill struggle to get back in the series. They are not out but will need to put together their best performances of the year this week against the San Jose Sharks. Going down 3-0 could be the beginning of the end for the Predators 2016 season.
Special Teams
One of the biggest issues plaguing the Predators this playoffs has been their special teams. The Nashville Predators have a power-play percentage of 6.5% during the playoffs this year. This has been the downfall, especially during this series, for Nashville. If the Preds could get to 20% of their opportunities on the power-play, and convert those chances, Nashville would be fairing better than down 2-0. On the penalty kill, Nashville has a 76.7% kill rate. The Predators need to improve their special teams play for the remainder of this series. This has been the majority of the problems so far against the Sharks.
Scoring
Pekka Rinne has been incredible during this series, thus far. The offense of the Preds has not played to their potential. Granted, the defense of the Sharks, including the play of Martin Jones, has been phenomenal. The Preds need to get more scoring from their top six forwards. For Nashville, Filip Forsberg needs to start finishing his looks like we were able to see during the regular season. The Predators also need some secondary scoring from their bottom six forwards. Nashville has to keep up with their defensive effort, but have got to start scoring against the Sharks. Another lackluster effort from the offense will put the Preds down 3-0 in the series.
The Nashville Predators will finally make it back to the ice of Bridgestone Arena tonight as they welcome in the San Jose Sharks. Be sure to catch all of the action on USA Network or you can listen live on 102.5 The Game. Puck drops at 8:00 pm!
