Nashville has been the best team in the NHL for quite some time now.
The Predators, who were expected to be sellers at the trade deadline only six weeks ago, are 15-0-2 with a +40 goal differential in their last 17 contests and are now on pace for 101 points.
Often when a surprising team goes on this sort of run, we try to poke holes in it and attribute the success to good fortune. But there’s really nothing flukey going on here. The Predators have been as dominant as their record shows.
Nashville’s goaltending is red-hot, the top line of Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist has been dominant and the team’s defensive form has improved as the season has gone on.
While the Predators are dialed in, things have not come as easy for the Golden Knights.
A 5-2-0 stretch helped to calm the waters a bit, but a stop-start second half and a hot streak from the charging Blues set up a four-point game in Missouri on Monday night.
That could lead to a bit of a letdown in Tennessee on Tuesday.
To make matters worse, Vegas is dealing with an injury to goaltender Adin Hill, meaning we’ll either see Logan Thompson start two nights in a row or third-string goaltender Jiri Patera get the nod.
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Either way, it’s not an ideal situation for the Golden Knights, who still are trying to get settled after a very busy deadline.
The time will come to sell high on this Predators team, but this schedule spot is too good to pass up.
THE PLAY: Predators -1.5 goals (+168, FanDuel)