The Colorado Avalanche are facing the Nashville Predators on hostile ice, the Bridgestone Arena. However, the Avs hope to ride their hot streak to victory.
The Colorado Avalanche are going into a tough building, Bridgestone Arena, to face a tough Central Division foe, the Nashville Predators.
I don’t know about you guys, but, while I hate the Minnesota Wild more, I’m trepidatious about facing the Predators. According to these fancy charts, they’re on pace for 102 points and have a 97% chance of making the playoffs:
Playoff chances, West and East. pic.twitter.com/QOcaaUxS6q
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) November 26, 2018
I mean, the Colorado Avalanche also represent, being on pace for 95 points with an 80% chance of making the playoffs. However, the Preds are a formidable foe.
Historically, the Predators are one of the teams Colorado struggles with. They’ve gone 33-40-7-5 all time, which is a tough road when you consider the Predators were an expansion team in Colorado’s heyday — despite that discrepancy, the Avalanche didn’t dominate them even back then.
Last season, Colorado failed to win a single regular-season game against the Predators. They did take two playoff games but ultimately fell 4-2 in the series. (We’re proud of what they accomplished, though.) This season, the Predators skated to a 4-1 victory in Pepsi Center, a game that was rife with bad officiating but also some lackadaisical Avalanche hockey.
Nashville is coming off a commanding 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. They have four wins in their last five games. The Avs are coming off an exciting 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars. They have six wins in their last seven games, and that includes earning 13 of the available 14 points since they took the Washington Capitals to overtime.
So, without further adieu, let’s look at some keys to the game.
How to Enjoy the Game
Game time: November 27, 6:00 pm MT
TV Networks: Alt, FS-TN (Preds’ feed)
Radio: Altitude Radio (FM 92.5)
Hottest Line in the NHL
The Colorado Avalanche’s top line is the hottest in the NHL — that’s a fact. Mikko Rantanen leads the entire NHL in points with 38 (10 goals, 28 assists), and Nathan MacKinnon isn’t far behind with 34 points (15 goals, 20 assists). Captain Gabriel Landeskog isn’t exactly lolly-gagging around with his 26 points (14 goals, 12 assists).
That’s 99 points, for those of you keeping track.
By the way, Landeskog’s 26 points is five more than the Predators’ leading scorer, Filip “The Fake” Forsberg, who has 21 (14 goals, 7 assists.) (Looking at that, Rantanen would be all “21 points, oh, yeah, I remember October.”)
Let’s not get cocky here, though. Because we all know what the foundation of Nashville Predators hockey is.
Hot Nashville Defense
The Predators third leading scorer is Roman Josi, a defenseman. Moving down just a few slots we find their other golden blueliner, P.K. Subban. Tyson Barrie has more points than either of them, but… Josi and Subban are the kind of defensemen teams have nightmares about.
Josi has a 53.8 CorsiFor and a +3.0 relative Corsi. Subban is even better with 54.1 CorsiFor and 5.6 relative Corsi.
Stats-wise, Mattias Ekholm is better even than Josi with 54.0 and 4.5 respectively. Ryan Ellis (51.7) and Dan Hamhuis (51.8) are also in the positives for CorsiFor.
Yep, that’s not an easy defense to score against.
Then you add in fancy old Pekka “Vezina Winner” Rinne and… yeah.
Thank goodness for the Who’s Your Daddy Line.
Tight Hockey
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The Colorado Avalanche can defeat the Nashville Predators, but it won’t be easy. This won’t be a game like with the Ducks where both teams trade mistakes until one finally emerges victorious.
No, the Predators are an elite team, and one playing in their own, uh, Grand Ol’ Opry. They’ll make the Avs pay for any mistakes, just like the Washington Capitals did. So, they can’t make any — they have to play tight hockey.
Ok, it’s unreasonable to think any team can play an entire game without making mistakes. However, the Avalanche need to limit their mistakes. I’d say one of the biggest is the turnovers. Apple turnovers are great — Avalanche turnovers, not so much. Along with that goes crisp passing.
At the time of writing, the Avs hadn’t announced who would be in net. However, both goalies need to limit their rebounds. The Preds don’t score as much as the Avs do, but they’re a well-oiled machine nonetheless.
Finally, just get pucks on net. And I mean on net, not by the net or wide of the net. We want the Avs to shoot, but it would be nice if they were at least somewhat accurate.
Tonight’s game is the first of another back-to-back series. They’ll return home tomorrow to face another tough team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. After tonight, the Colorado Avalanche will play the Predators only two more times — on January 21 and on February 23.