On Tuesday night, the Nashville Predators will take on the Minnesota Wild at Bridgestone arena. The teams have split two games in St Paul, with Minnesota winning 5-2 on November 26, and Nashville winning 4-1 on December 31. While streaks seem to be the name of the game for both teams as of late, I believe Nashville will come in with a "one game at a time" mentality. The race is on, and we need a win.
Nashville has swept California, and has done many other great things this season, but the name of the game is going to be what the team is going to do, and what they are going to continue to do. Inconsistency will send the mediocre fans streaming out the door, so staying hot is going to be what it takes to compete. The penalty killing team for Nashville has done well lately, but being on the kill is dangerous against Minnesota. With a power play percentage of 21.2, the Wild score, on average, just over one out of every five chances. Even with a good kill, Nashville needs to stay out of the box.
For Minnesota, I'm going to be keeping an eye on Cal Clutterbuck. Cal has three goals and four points in his last five games, and has 19 points for the season thus far. The 23 year old winger has drastically higher numbers than last season, and with a little help, could be on pace to double last year's points.
Nashville's Sergi Kostitsyn is hot, and ready to continue his goal streak. Sergi has five goals and eight points in his last five games, and has five more points than he did last season, with ten less games played. The Kostitsyn line really seems to click, as I have said time and time again. This group in particular knows the meaning of the word "team" and the numbers prove it.
The puck drops at 7:00PM Central Time in Nashville. The game will be televised on KSTC Minnesota, which means the Nashville area can only see it on the NHL Network. Since this is what most of us call a radio only game, grab a ticket, pack a milk sandwich, and treat yourself to a night of Predators hockey.
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