The month of April has arrived - and with it comes the final roadtrip of the regular season for the Nashville Predators that begins tonight in Los Angeles with a 9:30 p.m. CT puck drop against the Kings at Crypto.com Arena.
This evening’s contest is the first of two matchups between the Preds and Kings on this trip, and they both figure to carry massive playoff implications.
Last night, the Kings defeated St. Louis in overtime to leapfrog the Predators into the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. San Jose also won last night to pull even with the Preds at 77 points apiece. However, a regulation win tonight for Nashville would put them right back into that Wild Card spot.
After winning five straight, the Predators have dropped each of their last three outings, and they’d certainly like to reverse that trend and begin the trip with a victory.
“You need to understand the importance of these games, but you can't look ahead,” Preds Alternate Captain Steven Stamkos said. “I mean, we’ve got a big one coming up here against the team that's right with us… We understand the magnitude of those games, but we’ll start with the one that's coming up here against LA and go from there. Obviously, they're a team that is playing just as important games as us. So, we're going to get their best, they’re going to get our best.”
“Have fun,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said Tuesday of his message to his team. “This is playoff hockey at springtime. You control your own destiny. We’re in a really good spot. Nobody expected us to be here. We put in a lot of work to get here, we should feel good about ourselves, and we should have a lot of energy. I mean, this is why you play.”
The Predators remain healthy, and they held a full practice on Tuesday before departing Nashville on Wednesday. Forward Ozzy Wiesblatt and defenseman Ryan Ufko were scratched on Sunday in Tampa.
The Good Guys:
Rookie winger Joakim Kemell scored his first NHL goal on Sunday, and Filip Forsberg also found the back of the net in Nashville’s 3-2 loss to the Lightning.
Forsberg, who has 34 goals on the season, now leads the Preds with 67 points, followed by Ryan O’Reilly (24g-42a) with 66 points and Stamkos with 36 goals and 58 points. Luke Evangelista has 40 assists and 58 points, while Captain Roman Josi has 12 goals and 48 points from the backend. Juuse Saros is 26-20-7 in net for the Preds; Justus Annunen is 8-11-2.
