Flames vs Predators Preview

That's not to say Nashville is a great team, and they'll certainly be on the outside looking in come playoff time, so relative to most games, this one is actually pretty winnable for the good guys.

Who's Who

Calgary's recent struggles are well documented with a record over the last ten of 3-6-1. Nashville is a much more interesting 5-4-1.

They’ve lost some winnable games against Carolina, Minnesota, and Colorado, but beat the Sharks 3-2 and the Canucks 2-1 recently, which makes them a strange team. Whereas Calgary has holes and issues everywhere, Nashville is pretty deep on defense and struggling on offense. The top line is David Legwand, Craig Smith, and Nick Spaling, which would be a decent second line on most teams, but struggles to perform at a top line level. And that said, Nashville still has better offense than Calgary, having scored 127 goals this season to Calgary’s 114.

Of course, the biggest issue for Nashville, by far, is goaltending. Pekka Rinne has played nine games this season and the Preds have been relying on the terrible duo of Carter Hutton and Marek Mazanec. They recently traded for Devan Dubnyk, who’ll likely be a lot better over the rest of the season.

What'll It Take To Win

Honestly, Nashville is Calgary with an elite player (Weber). If they can make Shea Weber irrelevant, they have a good chance of pulling off the win. But Weber is incredibly dynamic, and that makes it a big if.

Questions To Be Answered

Can Calgary keep up with a team that's really not much better?

When can we read some of Brian McGrattan's sad poetry?

Why does only Nashville have awesome barbecue at their arena?

When will the Saddledome get some?

How awesome is Gnash, the Nashville mascot?

Why can't Gnash and Harvey play together during intermission?

by Arik Knapp