The Need to Knows
- The Time: 7pm PT
- The Place: Climate Pledge Arena in Beautiful Seattle, Washington
- Place to Watch: TNT, TruTV, MAX
- Place to Listen: Kraken Audio Network via KJR 93.3-FM
- An Opposing Viewpoint: On the Forecheck
Know Your Enemy
- The Predators are 6-10-3, which results in 15 points in the standings; that has them set for 2nd to last in the Central Division, and almost at the bottom of the Western Conference.
- Part of the reason the Preds are so bad is that their offense, which received massive upgrades this offseason, has completely fallen apart; only Anaheim and Chicago have scored less goals than Nashville has.
- If there’s a light in this inky black tunnel for the Preds, it’s that Filip Forsberg remains an exceptional player. He’s got 15 points in 19 games, and the team lead in goals with 8 in that timeframe.
- Steven Stamkos has come alive, however, and the Stammer has 5 power play goals to show for it, comprising all but one of his goals for the year so far. Keep those sticks to yourselves, squids.
- Juuse Saros is still Juuse Saros, nursing a .914 SV% in spite of it all. Beating him is the key to beating the Preds.
Game Preview
Well, it was nice to have that winning streak while it lasted, but it met it’s unfortunate end against the Rangers.
The good news, is that now they can start a brand new one! And what better way to get-right than to play the Preds of 2024-25?
Nobody told the Predators that life could be like this after going all out on several blockbuster trades for offense this offseason; in spite of largely controlling play for long stretches of the game, Nashville seems to struggle mightily with finish, have had trouble with and as a result, are now seriously considering selling off parts to try and finance a retool. In fairness, their November schedule is a living nightmare; playing playoff team after playoff team with only pockets of mediocrity interlaced, and it doesn’t get easier with or after visiting Seattle. If there was a month that could make a bad start look worse, you’d be hard-pressed to find one that was more tailor-made for an agonizing defeat quite like this one.
All that is to say, the Kraken are facing a team that is hard up for any kind of good news. But like any time the Kraken play a team like that, they cannot treat them like some kind of easy victory.
While they love sabotaging their own offense, the Preds are still a decent team when it comes to possession, have one of the most impressive Penalty kills in the league, and Juuse Saros is still a very very good goaltender. While he’s still in form, the Preds will always have a chance to win a game, even if they have to put in a herculean work to try and get ahead in most of the games they’re in.
Still! The Kraken should have a nice, fun game out of this. And of course, they’ll end up finding themselves ever closer to a spot in the wildcard.
LET’S GO KRAKEN, LET’S GO SQUIDS