The need to knows
- Time: 7:00 PM PT
- Where: Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle
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What’s going on with the Predators?
Did you hear about that stunner of a game between Nashville and Minnesota on 2/10? Minnesota did the unthinkable and pulled their goalie during overtime, a high-risk maneuver that, had they lost, would have cost them a point for an overtime loss. However, during the 4-on-3, the Wild defeated the Predators.
A loss like that doesn’t say too much about Nashville’s game play, but if you want to know recent Predators history, it’s worth looking up those highlights.
The stats
Beginning on 2/17, they had an 8-game winning streak in their games against St. Louis, Las Vegas, San Jose, Anaheim, Ottawa, Minnesota, and Colorado. They’ve won 11 of their last 13 games with a loss against Montreal and the aforementioned stunner against Minnesota.
Seattle and Nashville played two games against each other this season, a loss in October 0 to 3, and a win in November, 4 to 2. The Kraken are on a three-game losing streak and looking to bounce back after some bad luck and several hard-fought battles.
Injuries
The Predators are currently down two players: Spencer Stastney is out day-to-day with an undisclosed injury and Dante Fabbro is out with an upper-body injury.
The Kraken may be without both Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn, both with upper body injuries.
Key players
Roman Josi is one to watch for Nashville as he’s been beastly at assists this season. And in my favorite obscure factoid of the week, Filip Forsberg has the third-most hat tricks by an NHL player from Sweden.
Jeremy Lauzon, former Kraken, is proving to be a tough defenseman in his time with the Predators. He set Nashville’s franchise record for hits in a single season during their March 13 game against Winnipeg with 321. The NHL all-time record is 382 in a single season, set by Matt Martin of the Islanders in the 2014-2015 season.
Not surprising, then, that Jeremy is the beneficiary of the second-most penalty minutes for Nashville.
The goaltending matchup looks advantageous for Seattle.
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