Colorado Avalanche at Nashville Predators
The big news in tonight’s game is that goaltender Devan Dubnyk will be making his debut for the Predators. The presumption is that Nashville should be a big step up for Dubnyk after playing behind the Edmonton defense and while that’s true to some extent, I’m not as bullish on him and them as others – the Predators have given up just 11 fewer shots on goal this year than the defensively challenged Winnipeg Jets and their penalty kill is just middle-of-the-pack.
Colorado has been quietly one of the hottest teams in the NHL for a few weeks now as they’ve gone 7-2-2 since the Christmas break and have won three in a row overall. After a little lull, Semyon Varlamov has only allowed 17 goals against in his last eight games, going 7-0-1 in those games. One reason for the surge has been the play of their defense; besides Tyson Barrie’s two goal game, the D-corps has been more effective at limiting the opposition’s chances (for the most part, they did get kind of shelled against Chicago).
These two teams have met twice this year and the result has been 14 goals scored, all of them at even strength. This is important because for most of the year, the Predators have been offensively inept at five on five (they have as many goals as New Jersey in this regard) so if they can’t convert on their power play chances, I don’t like their team’s chances tonight.
This game worries me enough that I’ll stay away from both goalies but there are certainly some nice plays on both sides.
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Top RW Value |
Top LW Value |
Top C Value |
Top D Value |
Bargain Bin |
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Nathan MacKinnon $10,050 |
Jamie McGinn $7300 |
Craig Smith $7750 |
(COL) $6850 |
Max Talbot (COL) $5800 |
