Minnesota Wild vs Nashville Predators Preview
Tonight, the Minnesota Wild faceoff against the Nashville Predators, their first of five matchups this season.
The Wild are desperate for a win after dropping their last three games. The game against Boston was a game most say the Wild should have won, but they came up short losing to an unfortunate bounce to the Bruins in overtime. Zach Parise expressed his frustration after the game:
The schedule doesn’t get any easier as the Minnesota Wild take on the Predators who have won 8 of their last 10 games and currently sit 3rd in the Central Division. The Predators 19th in goals scored per game at 2.6 but are number one in the league in goals against average allowing an average of 1.9 goals per game. Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne is having a career year so far this year posting 1.76 GAA (2nd best in NHL), .937 save percentage (2nd in NHL), and leads the league with 20 wins.
On top of the brick wall the Predators have in net, rookie Filip Forsberg has been tearing it up this year. He leads the team in goals, assists, points, and plus/minus. They also have a guy named Shea Weber on defense who has one of, if not the, hardest slapshot in the NHL.
How do the Wild tame the Predators? First, the Wild need to be tighter on defense, and tonight is the perfect time to turn that around as Ryan Suter will be playing against the team that drafted him once again. The Wild will again be with their top 4 defensemen which is a huge boost and should make life a little easier for Darcy Kuemper and Nicklas Backstrom.
Even though the Wild lost to the Bruins, they were the better team throughout a majority of the game. They were put up against a hot goaltender and pesky crossbars that limited the Wild to just two goals; one of those being a wacky deflection off Jason Pominville’s skate. One of these days, Pominville will get a clean goal.
Dec 17, 2014; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise (11) passes during the second period against Boston Bruins at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
The Wild need to make some changes to their power play as well. This may seem obvious, but after the power play was starting to look strong, the PP unit looked awful against the Bruins by blowing a 5-3 man advantage.
Some final notes for tonight’s game. Rachel Blount, of the Star Tribune, reported that Matt Cooke will return to the lineup tonight after missing 21 games with an injury. Ryan Carter will also return to the lineup tonight and Darcy Kuemper appears to be the starter after missing the last two games with an illness. Justin Fontaine and Stu Bickel will be scratched. James Neal, of the Predators, is ill and did not travel with the team to St. Paul.
Here are my three bold predictions for tonight’s game.
1. Zach Parise will have a three-point game. It’s risky guessing a player to score three points in a game, especially against Nashville, but Parise is mad, and hungry, all are not good for the Predators. He will be everywhere, he will be shooting the puck from wherever he can, and he will score tonight. Expect him to be the number 1 star in tonight’s game.
2. Darcy Kuemper allows only 1 goal or less. He knows he needs to elevate his play and he has had time to rest from coming up with flu-like symptoms in Chicago. A big game at home can go a long way for his confidence and for his teammates. I think he will be great with his rebound control and he will make some big saves.
3. The Wild will score early and never look back. I think the Wild will score a quick goal and I don’t think the Wild will give up the lead. Like I mentioned, tonight is going to be a statement game and a game that will lead to many more wins. A lot of things will go right tonight and they need to start scoring the first goal of the game like they were doing early on in the season.