A hot start against the Edmonton Oilers was able to propel the Preds on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena. The Preds were led by the 1st star of the game, Filip Forsberg, who had one goal and one assist. Nashville scored three in the first period by Ribeiro (02:51), Cullen (09:21), and Forsberg (19:06). They look to continue on their winning ways as they head back to St. Louis for the second match-up of the season with the Blues.
The St. Louis Blues (10-4-1) last played on Tuesday night against the Buffalo Sabres. In this match-up, the Blues dominated and won 6-1 with a hat trick from Jori Lehtera. The ever-dangerous, Vladimir Tarasenko continued his hot streak with points in 6 straight games (10 points in these games). Tarasenko is still leading the team in points with 19 and goals with 9.
Keys to watch
Preds. Blues. The Rematch.
Six days ago, the Preds and Blues faced off in St. Louis for an early season battle of supremacy within the Central Division. The Preds were able to come out on top with a win in a 2-1 slugfest. In the last outing, Pekka Rinne was stellar in net stopping 28/29 shots and James Neal was able to get the winning goal. The Preds were without Anton Volchenkov, who was serving a 4-game suspension from the NHL’s Office of Player Safety. Look for these two teams to continue to battle throughout the season.
Blues 1st line. Dominant.
The first line for the Blues has been incredible as of recent games. Jaden Schwartz has points in four straight games, Tarasenko stretched his point streak to six games, and Jori Lehtera has points in five straight games. The Preds MUST keep an eye on their first line. It has been clicking on all cylinders and Taraseko was named the NHL #3 Star of the Month.
What’s going on with the Captain?
Captain Weber started off the season extremely hot. In the first 5 games, he had 3 goals and was looking to have a phenomenal year. Shea Weber has been nonexistent in recent games on the offensive end. In the last 5 games, Weber has 13 shots on net and only 1 point. Is there some underlying crisis? Predator fans expected him to thrive in this new system. Now, we all know that his brand of play is not just offensive in nature. Granted, Weber has been contributing defensively and logging considerable time-on-ice, yet he is not producing offensively, as expected.
The Nashville Predators look to remain on top of the Central Division. The Preds have a 1 point lead on the Blues in the Division and look to expand their advantage. The game is BACK ON TV!!!! You can catch the game on FS-TN or listen live on 102.5 The Game.
