Nashville Predators Have Opportunity to Turn Season Around
The Nashville Predators have a schedule in front of them that may help to spark a season turn around.
The Nashville Predators are glad to see October behind them. Exiting the month with a 2-5-1 record was certainly not part of the franchise’s gameplan entering the season- especially considering that their 5-point total has not necessarily been the most disappointing thing for fans to witness thus far.
But that’s all history now. November is here, leaving October and it’s brutal opening eight-game stretch behind. The Nashville Predators finally have the opportunity to find some momentum by sinking their fangs into teams who did not qualify for the postseason last year.
The next four games will pit Nashville against the Colorado Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, and Ottawa Senators. And while no game in the NHL is an easy one to win, the Predators should be happy to have a shot at earning some points against somewhat less-esteemed squads.
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Things kick off tonight against the Colorado Avalanche in an important divisional tilt. Though the Avalanche sit with a favorable 4-3-0, they are 25th in the league at generating shots, an opportunity for a Nashville defense that gives up the 4th most shots per game to improve.
Thursday night the Predators will take on the only team in the league that currently has fewer points than them, the Arizona Coyotes. At 2-6-0, the Coyotes are a nice launching pad into a weekend game against the 2-4-2 Carolina Hurricanes, whose 6 points place them just above Nashville into 28th place in the NHL.
With the level of talent and expectation surrounding the Nashville Predators, this late week schedule should be the perfect opportunity to improve chemistry, find momentum, and most importantly, gather points. Squaring off against the league’s bottom two teams (Nashville omitted for sentimental purposes) should yield no less than 4 points.
Following the Carolina game, the Preds will take on the Ottawa Senators. An impressive 5-3-0, the Sens have been a hotbed of offensive production lately, sitting 7th in goals per game and 4th in shots generated.
The matchup should provide a good look at what the Nashville Predators were able or not able to improve upon over the previous week’s action. Though all in all, the Preds should gain nothing short of 6 points over the 4 games for it to be considered a successful turnaround in play.
Points are points, no matter when nor how you get them. The Nashville Predators haven’t looked good eight games in, but it’s important to recognize the competition they’ve been up against. There are still 74 games ahead which the Preds can use to make Smashville forget all about how un-fun the beginning of this campaign has been. The Pittsburgh Penguins did it last year.
No matter who the opponent is, however, Nashville has to play better hockey. Keeping the team’s toughness in mind, the Preds will scratch forward Kevin Fiala in favor of the gritty Cody Bass tonight in Colorado. Rough for the young winger who has two goals, but something has to be done to turn things around.