Colorado Avalanche Keys to Facing Predators in Nashville

The Colorado Avalanche will try to regain their winning ways against the Predators in Nashville.

The Colorado Avalanche have been in Nashville since Saturday night. This might not be a good thing, considering how many entertaining distractions there are in the city. However, it does give the team the chance to shake off the terrible two periods — that led to a 2-1 loss to Dallas — they had Saturday evening.

The lone scorer for the Avalanche was Matt Duchene.

The Nashville Predators are also coming off a loss, this one to the Chicago Blackhawks in overtime. That game also took place on Saturday, but in Nashville. The lone scorer for Nashville was Filip Forsberg.

The Avalanche are 4-2-0, while the Stars are 2-2-1.

The Colorado Avalanche have faced the Predators 74 times. This is the first team I’ve come across so far that the Avs don’t have a positive record against. They’ve gone 31-32-6-5(ties) since the Predators entered the NHL in 1998.

Last season the Nashville Predators swept the five-game series. The last game was February 23, in Nashville, a game the Avalanche dropped 4-2.

How to Enjoy the Game

Game time: October 17, 6:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Altitude TV (Avs feed), FS-TN (Predators feed), NHL TV Free Game
Radio: Altitude Radio (AM 950)

Hot Streaks

More from Mile High Sticking

The Colorado Avalanche had a three-game win streak that ended against the Stars. Nonetheless, that’s a better win streak than the team had all last season.

The Avs haven’t been shut out all season, managing at least one goal each game. They’ll want to keep that streak going.

The Duchene line is still at least a little toast, since Matt was the lone goal-scorer against the Stars.

Nashville forward Filip Forsberg has seven points (5 goals, 2 assists). He’s scored at least one goal in each of the last three games. Colorado will want to end that streak.

Smashville Connection

The Nashville Predators selected forward Colin Wilson seventh-overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. The Colorado Avalanche traded a fourth-round draft pick in 2019 to acquire him over the summer.

Prior to that, Wilson had played 502 games with Nashville over eight seasons. He recorded 95 goals and 142 assists in that time.

For Colorado right now, he has just one assist in six games. He’s been on a line with captain Gabriel Landeskog and rookie J.T. Compher. Wilson has averaged a little over 13 minutes of ice time per game.

Nashville winger Cody McLeod was an undrafted player who spent 10 seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and even served as their alternate captain. Colorado traded him last February for AHL forward Felix Girard.

McLeod got to go all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals last season. This year, he’s played four games for Nashville and earned just one assist.

Both players will want to play with a little extra step against their former teams. McLeod has already faced Colorado once, and even engaged in this memorable fight:

This will be Wilson’s first time facing his former team.

Keys for the Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche must score first. In their six games so far, whichever team scored first went on to win the game.

Colorado has to keep up their shot production. They also have to have the kind of game that they played in the third period against Dallas for an entire 60 minutes. They can’t let the other team control the action.

I also asked George at Predlines what special challenges Nashville presents. Here’s his response:

"“Well the biggest challenges is the first line of Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg, and Viktor Arvidsson. Forsberg has 5 goals and that whole line is hot. Otherwise PK Subban, Mattias Ekholm, and Sam Girard look really good together. This team is pretty hampered by injuries, though.”"

Colorado will definitely want to do everything they can to shut that line down.

Next: Anatomy of Matt Duchene's Goal

After tonight’s game, the Colorado Avalanche face the Nashville Predators three more times. They return to Nashville on November 18 and host the Predators on March 4 and then March 16.

Home/Editorials