A return home to Tennessee wasn’t the only welcomed sight for the Predators following their excursion to Sweden.
Captain Roman Josi, who remains on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury, joined his teammates for Wednesday’s on-ice practice at Centennial Sportsplex, the first skate for the Preds since arriving back from Stockholm early Monday morning.
Josi has missed the last 12 games due to injury, and while Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said he doesn’t yet know if there’s a chance Josi could return Saturday when Nashville hosts Colorado, having No. 59 on the ice is undoubtedly a good sign.
“It was great to see him out there,” Brunette said of Josi. “We miss him in our lineup, it’s pretty obvious…so hopefully he’s getting closer to a return.”
Regardless of who dresses for Nashville against the Avalanche this weekend, the Predators will simply be looking to bounce back following a 4-0 loss to Pittsburgh in Stockholm on Sunday after starting the Sweden trip with a 2-1 overtime victory last Friday.
Following a tremendously compact schedule leading up to the NHL Global Series that saw the Preds play 12 games in just 21 days, Nashville will now, potentially, have three days of practice before another grueling stretch arrives.
“I think [the goal is to] reset a little bit,” Brunette said. “Obviously, we went through a little bit of the ringer there…and then the games overseas, travel there and travel back, so I think we just wanted to make sure we rest up and kind of reset our mindset a little bit here going forward.”
The Predators have just one victory in their last seven outings, and while they’re far from satisfied with that result, the chance to take a few days to regroup is enticing. And as Brunette believes, there’s still something present with this season’s iteration of the Preds that remains promising as Nashville looks to reverse their current trend.
“The vibe in the room and throughout the games are much better than I felt last year,” Brunette said. “I feel the group is really tight. I know we haven’t gotten the result we wanted, but if I look at the whole body of how we play, how we manage games, I thought last year we were very loose. We didn’t help [goaltender Juuse Saros] out much. I know this year at times, we didn’t play our best, but it’s hard when you play 12 in 20 and etcetera through this year to always have your best game. But I feel there’s more of a connectivity and more of a will from our group. The results aren’t where we want to go or where we want them to be every night, but I feel the process has been pretty good.”
Another stretch of eight games in 15 days begins Saturday against Colorado on Hockey Fights Cancer Night before the Preds host the defending two-time Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Monday.
