2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Minnesota Wild host the Nashville Predators
Minnesota Wild will be hosting the first of four matches scheduled to take place between the Nashville Predators and the Minnesota Wild. Last season both the teams met four times as well which saw both the teams come up with 2 wins each. The Nashville Predators won the first and the fourth while the Minnesota Wild pulled off wins in the second and the third matches. The last match played on 18th March 2010 saw the Predators win with a dominating performance with the score on 5-0.
The Minnesota Wild has seen ups and downs during the course of this month. Minnesota has come up with wins which have resulted in a three-game winning streak but then they failed to continue and lost the next two matches. This has happened twice already. Their counterparts on the other hand haven’t had the best of forms either as they lost their last two games.
The Nashville Predators have found it hard to score in the later stages of the match. Four of the matches they have played so far in the season have gone into shootout. Although they won the first three of them but it is alarming as this would create problems for them as the season progresses.
The last match against the Columbus Blue Jackets also went into a shootout but unlike the previous matches it wasn’t their day this time and lost. Andy McDonald scored in the 9th second of the match to put Predators into the lead but they couldn’t maintain the lead and lost the match 2-1 at the end of the shootout.
The Predators have had troubles scoring recently and the main source of goals Jarred Smithson, who scored in the 22nd second of the second period of the match, said, "For the most part we knew they were a tight checking team and we weren't going to get a lot of goals," Smithson said. "They have great goaltending; great defense and they play tight. We have to work for all of our chances. Give them a lot of credit; they played well."
The Philadelphia Flyers have faced one of the worse forms ever as they were defeated by the New York Rangers 5-2 and 6-1 by the Philadelphia Flyers in their last 2 games. The Minnesota Wild is not only suffering from consistency problems but also the lack of power in the offence.
The standings currently show the teams level on points with 22 points each. Both teams have played 20 games each with the Nashville Predators winning 13 games while the Minnesota Wild has won 12 games.
The Nashville Predators will be pleased to learn the fact that their goal keeper Pekka Rinne has only allowed four goals in the last four games he has played. The Minnesota Wild on the other side have potential game winner but at the moment they fail to combine with each other.
The results of the Minnesota Wild are by no means what they are capable of and they can do much better. Though the Minnesota Wild might be the stronger team on paper but the Nashville Predators will be more confident heading into the match.
Nashville Coach Barry Trotz talking about the recent failure to capitalize from power plays said, "We have a plan and it's just working the plan and executing it. We're just misfiring.
"A lot of it comes to execution," Trotz added. "We're doing a lot of the same things that a lot of the other teams do, but pucks (are) bouncing off people's sticks and all that."
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