After winning three of four games on their homestand, the Nashville Predators begin a two-game road trip tonight when they face the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena at 8 p.m. CT. Tonight’s contest is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the division rivals; the Preds beat the Avs in a shootout last month but have dropped the other two contests.
The Predators finished off their four-game homestand on Tuesday with a 4-3 overtime victory against Edmonton thanks to a pair of goals from Roman Josi. Now, they’ll turn their attention to a pair of meetings against two of the best in the NHL - and the challenge begins tonight in Denver.
“Well, it's going to be a tough one,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said Thursday of facing the Avalanche. “I mean, they haven't played since Monday, so they'll be licking their chops and ready to go. Their record at home speaks for itself, so it’s going to be a challenge for us. I think we've played them pretty straight up a lot of the games we've played them, so we should feel confident about that, but we understand that building with the players they have, it's going to be a similar night to the other night in Edmonton. We’re just going to have to make sure we get in front of them and try to slow them down and do what we do best. If we do that, we'll give ourselves a chance.”
The Predators practiced on Thursday in Nashville before departing for Denver and were joined by forwards Ozzy Wiesblatt (IR) and Jonathan Marchessault (IR). Wiesblatt’s appearance marked his first full practice since suffering an upper-body injury in December. Defenseman Nic Hague also returned to practice after missing Tuesday’s game due to illness.
Preds defenseman Adam Wilsby did not practice on Thursday and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
