Detroit Red Wings look to be the hunter rather than the hunted in Nashville
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings will try and end their three-game losing skid tonight on the road in Nashville. Things won’t come easy tonight as the Predators look for redemption after losing back to back games to the Blues over the weekend.
Things will be anything but a breeze tonight for the Detroit Red Wings. The Preds have stellar goaltending no matter who’s in net, a nice luxury to have. They’ve tried to limit the workload of Pekka Rinne who’s no spring chicken these days, but he’s having another solid season. They are expected to lean on him as they often do come playoff time.
The Preds have made a conscious effort to make sure Rinne will be fresh once the season is on the line. Juuse Saros has appeared in 24 games for Nashville up to this point of the season and has nearly carbon copy statistics as Rinne. Rinne is expected to get the nod tonight against the Wings, he’s started 38 games this season and owns a 2.49 goals against average/.914% save percentage to go with his 19-14-3 record.
The Nashville Predators are in a fight with the Winnipeg Jets for the top spot in the Central Division lead. The Western Conference is nothing like the Eastern Conference these days. Average teams out West have a legitimate opportunity to make the playoffs. The Anaheim Ducks, for example, lost double-digit games in a row and recently remained four points out of the playoffs.
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Forward Viktor Arvidsson is on absolute fire for the Predators. He leads the league in goal scoring since January 1, 2019, over the past month and just shy of two weeks he’s found twine 15 times for the Predators.
The Predators, in my opinion, are built from the net out. Yes, Rinne is not going to make you a contender by his lonesome like he once could, but he’s still effective. The Predators have accumulated a stable of defensemen to help the aging netminder.
Captain Roman Josi leads a group that just may be the best defense core in the entire league. Josi is having a career year with 45 points to date. Mattias Ekholm, a player who indeed flies under the radar, has achieved 40 points on the year.
We haven’t even mentioned P.K Subban or Ryan Ellis yet. See, this group is broad and come playoff time those four defenders will chew up the bulk of the minutes on the back end for the Nashville Predators.
The Detroit Red Wings will need to be hard and heavy on the forecheck and need to make a deliberate effort to wear down these Nashville defensemen. It’s not a “dump and chase” league anymore but in this game, I think it would be good if the Wings decided to throw it into the corner once and a while and hound the puck. If they can’t retrieve the puck at least the big bodies of Anthony Mantha, Justin Abdelkader, Jacob de La Rose, and Michael Rasmussen can all get their licks in on a Preds’ defender.
The Detroit Red Wings need to play more of a complete game. The coaching staff needs to have this group ready to play as soon as the puck is dropped. They will have no success tonight if they find themselves chasing and looking up on the scoreboard.
The Wings get Trevor Daley back tonight, and when someone returns that means someone sits. Dennis Cholowski will be the odd man out tonight for Detroit. I don’t particularly like the decision although I understand he and Ericsson have both struggled of late playing as the Wings third pairing.
I would rather see the soon to be 21-year-old play alongside Daley who is much more reliable than Ericsson, but this is the Detroit Red Wings, and when it comes down to a veteran or a rookie, the franchise all too often chooses the vet. Tyler Bertuzzi returned to practice for the Wings but is not quite ready to return to game action.
Key Stat: Although the Preds PK is ranked 11th in the league, their power-play has flat out stunk. They are ranked 31st in the NHL with a power-play operating at a mere 13% success rate. If the Detroit Red Wings can find a way to net a goal on the PP, they will have an opportunity to win the special teams battle tonight.
That could help the Wings skip town with a victory. Detroit’s PP is 24th at 16.3%, and their PK is 25th at 77.5%. The Detroit Red Wings did beat the Preds 4-3 in their previous matchup on Jan.4th/2019.
The Detroit Red Wings projected lineup:
Justin Abdelkader (A) – Dylan Larkin (A) – Gustav Nyquist
Thomas Vanek – Frans Nielsen (A) – Anthony Mantha
Andreas Athanasiou – Luke Glendening – Darren Helm
Christoffer Ehn – Jacob de La Rose – Michael Rasmussen
Niklas Kronwall (A) – Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson – Trevor Daley
Jimmy Howard 15-15-5, 2.78 GAA/0.913%SV
dark. Next. Holland talks trade deadline and Filip Zadina
Game Information:
Detroit Red Wings 21-28-7 vs. Nashville Predators 33-20-5
Time: 8:00 PM EST
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, FSTN, Fox Sports Go, NHL.TV, ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Oddshark Odds fav: Preds -245