The Nashville Predators face the 28-20-4 Ottawa Senators tonight. In a game where Andrew Brunette wants to see his team break a four game losing streak, there are line up questions the head coach is wrestling with.
First there are potential injuries that may keep a few players out.
“There’s a couple of guys banged up, kind of a game time decision,” Brunette said after Monday morning’s skate.
Luke Evangelista and Fedor Svechkov briefly left the game Saturday night in Pittsburgh but returned to the game. While both were on the ice for morning skate, Evangelista returned for just two games this weekend after being injured on January 7 in the game against Winnipeg.
At morning skate, the coaching staff didn’t run with the usual line combinations, which may or may not reflect what we’ll see tonight against the Senators. Injuries aside, Brunette was frank about the potential for line changes ahead of tonight’s game and shared both the positive and negative aspects of those decisions.
“I think you consider everything,” he said when asked about making any full scale lineup changes. “I think a little bit reminiscent of early in the year, where you’re still searching.”
“We had a great run with Stammer, Fil, and March. It’s kind of gotten a little dry here of late. The Novak, Svech line has been really good. Zach. You’re hard to break them up.”
“Yeah, you think of different things all the time, and you’re you could say you could be a little gun shy because you moved around so much early and it didn’t really stick. And then you finally had it stick.”
“When you push the button that you’re gonna run out of patience, and we’ll see going into tonight. It’s definitely something you think about all the time.”
Nashville also recalled defenseman Kevin Gravel from Milwaukee today. Gravel played three games for the Predators in mid December, and was most recently recalled on January 28 but did not see playing time.
The defense has been “a work in progress” according to Brunette.
“Probably a stretch of games gave up a little bit too much as shown by the scores, given up too many goals,” Brunette said Monday morning.
“A lot of our game kind of hinges on the consistency of the D zone and of the new guys playing back there,” Brunette explained. “When they seem to be on, it really helps our game transition.”
“Once we’re connected in the D zone, it helps us. Right now, we go through stretches where we are and then stretches where we’re way too loose and we end up defending for too long and putting our goalies at a real disadvantage.”
Brunette confirmed that Juuse Saros will get the start against Ottawa tonight. Saros is coming off of a strong performance in net against the Penguins in which he made 33/35 saves. Anton Forsberg is expected to get the start in net for the Senators.
Another area that must see improvement tonight is on the power play. Over the four game losing streak the Predators haven’t been able to convert once on ten man advantage opportunities.
When asked what he wants to see from the power play tonight, Brunette’s initial response was simple.
“I hope we get one.”
Pace on the power play has been a concern for the head coach as the two units have struggled to convert.
“The power play fits in with a lot of our game. It kind of comes and goes in waves and hasn’t really found that rhythm where it takes off for 20 games or something. It looks good for four or five games and then it drops off.”
“You can usually tell with my eyes when I watch them and there’s a lot of pace and things are happening fast,” Brunette said. “When that happens, it looks good.”
“When it gets a little lethargic and a little too cute, and then it gets a little disconnected, then we get a little individual. We’re all trying to do certain things, and it kind of breaks the power play.”
That inability to convert on the man advantage may have cost Nashville two games in this four game stretch.
“Especially the Vancouver and Buffalo games, we had opportunities to win hockey games off the power play, and it really was nonexistent. We’ve just got to get back to that pace.”
Nashville’s odds to make the postseason are now below 1%, but Brunette says the locker room is still ready to compete against a hot Ottawa team.
“I think there’s still belief,” Brunette said of the locker room. “The mindset is just trying to…attack the day. And today’s another day to attack. I don’t think you can look too far past the hand in front of your face in this league.”
The Predators host the Senators tonight at Bridgestone Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:30 pm CT.
