Colorado Avalanche at Nashville Predators: Pre-Game Primer

TV-Radio...

7:00 CST - TV: No Local TV. Altitude Sports on NHL Center Ice and NHL Gamecenter. Preds Radio Network (102.5-FM The Game)

Stage Setter...

After a convincing 4-1 win over the Avalanche on Tuesday night in Denver, the Predators hope to duplicate the same effort and result at the Bridgestone Arena tonight in what should be another sell-out crowd on an always rowdy College Night.

Make the jump for everything else...

Western Conference Standings...

        Team        GP Pts
1. * Vancouver 44 57
2. * St. Louis      42 55
3. * San Jose  39 51
4. Chicago          43 55
5. Detroit            42 53
6. Nashville 42 50
7. Minnesota       43 50
8. Los Angeles    43 49
9. Dallas              41 47
10. Colorado       44 47
11. Phoenix          43 46
12. Calgary          44 45

Prior Meetings...

The Predators beat the Avs 4-1 on Tuesday in Denver in the squad's only meeting this year extending their win streak to six over the Avalanche. Predators won all four meetings last season. The Predators' all-time record against Colorado is  23-20-6 and are 12-9-3 in Nashville.

Last Time Out...

Nashville beat Colorado 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Top Scorers (G-A-Pts)...

Nashville - S. Weber (9-21-30), M. Erat (9-18-27), C.Smith (9-17-26), D. Legwand (10-15-25),  R. Suter (5-20-25) and C. Wilson (8-15-23)

Colorado - R. O'Reilly (11-19-30), M. Hejduk (11-14-25), M. Duchene (12-12-24),P. Stastny (11-12-23), G. Landeskog (8-13-21), and K. Quincey (4-16-20)

In Goal (W-L-O, GAA, save %)...

Nashville - P. Rinne (probable start) (21-11-4, 2.57, .919) and A. Lindback (2-4-0, 2.75, .893)

Colorado- J. Giguere (9-6-0, 2.08, .924) and S. Varlamov (Starter) (14-14-1, 2.90,.902)

Other Comparisons...

Teams	Predators	Avalanche
Record	23-15-4	23-20-1
Last 10	6-4-0	7-3-0
Home Record	12-7-3	13-11-0
Road Record	11-8-1	10-9-1
Power Play (rank)	22.2 (2)	18.8 (12)
Penalty Kill (rank)	81.5 (20)	81.1 (22)
Goals For (rank)	2.67 (15)	2.46 (25)
Goals Allowed (rank)	2.71 (13)	2.82 (14)
Shots For (rank)	27.4 (27)	30.7 (12)
Shots Allowed (rank)	31.1 (22)	29.2 (9)
Penalty Mins (rank)	10.5 (10)	12.2 (20)
Faceoff % (rank)	49.5 (20)	51.8 (5)

Injuries...

Nashville - Smithson (lower body)

Colorado - Injured Reserve: Matt Duchene (left knee),Peter Mueller (head). Erik Johnson (hand) and Shane O'Brien (knee) are out.

Notes...

• The Predators are 18-2-2 when scoring more than two goals.
• Rinne is (8-3-0, 2.36, .909) in his career against the Avalanche.
• The Predators are 12-0-1 when Nick Spaling scores.
• After going 0-16 in five games on the power play, they are 5 of 8 in the last two games.
• The Preds are 0-22 during the Goo-Goo minute.

Other Predator Previews...

Predators.com
The Tennessean
Ryan Porth  Preview
Amanda DiPaolo
Robby Stanley
Patten Fuqua
Paul McCann
Predatorial
Fang Finger

Colorado Media...

Avalanche.com
Adrian Dater
Aaron Musick
Mile High Hockey
The Avalanche Guild
Jibblescribbits
AvsHockeyPodcast

Game Notes from NHL Media Services

A Look Ahead for the Preds...

Tonight                    Colorado Avalanche 7 p.m.
Friday                      Practice (Bridgestone) 11 a.m.
Saturday                  Philadelphia Flyers 7 p.m.
Monday                  @ NY Islanders (noon start)
Tuesday                  @ NY Rangers 6:30 p.m.
Thursday (1-19)      @Columbus 6 p.m.
Saturday (1-21)      Chicago Blackhawks 7 p.m.
Monday (1-23)       Columbus Blue Jackets 7 p.m.
Tuesday (1-24)       @ Chicago Blackhawks
1-25 to 1-30           All-Star Break

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass