The NHL regular season is well underway with a fantastic lineup of games on Thursday night, with one of the more intriguing matchups featuring the Edmonton Oilers traveling south to take on the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena.
Edmonton will be playing without star center Connor McDavid after he suffered an ankle injury in their most recent game, so it will be interesting to see how the visitors respond without the three-time Hart Trophy winner.
Neither team has started the season in ideal fashion, as the Oilers are 4-5-1 and seventh in the Pacific Division while the new-look Preds are 3-5-1 and in seventh place in the Central Division.
The Oilers and Predators have already faced off once this season in Nashville, and Edmonton secured a 4-2 win in that game. However, losing Connor McDavid cannot be understated, and he will miss two to three weeks with an ankle injury.
The star center was injured in the first period against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night, and Edmonton didn’t know how to respond as they suffered a 6-1 defeat.
Meanwhile, the Predators started the season 0-5-0 but have gone 3-0-1 in their last four games, with their lone defeat coming in OT against the Tampa Bay Lightning by a 3-2 score.
The main problem for the Predators has been their inability to score, as they’re averaging just 2.56 goals per game (27th in the NHL). However, they are tied for seventh in the league in shots per game (35.9), so I have to think that goals will start trickling in for the hosts.
Additionally, the Oilers aren’t exactly slowing down the opposition this season, as they’re giving up 3.50 goals per game (26th in the NHL) and have allowed three or more goals in seven of their 10 games this year.
If Nashville can find the goal early, I don’t think Edmonton will know how to respond, so I’ll gladly back the Preds at -135 to continue their hot streak in front of their home crowd tonight.
The second of my Oilers-Predators picks is for tonight’s game to finish with Over 6.0 goals. The Preds initially struggled to score this season, but they’ve scored 3.5 goals per game in their last four games. Additionally, those games were against the Lightning, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks and Bruins, who all give up fewer goals per game than Edmonton.
On the flip side, Edmonton should be able to score, and in all likelihood on multiple occasions as the Predators have only held their opponents to fewer than three goals once this season.
Although Nashville has killed 14 out of 14 power plays during their four-game heater, that streak will be tough to continue against an Oilers power play that scored 22 times during last year’s postseason.
Yes, they’ve been slow out of the gates this season, but like the Preds offense, they should level out as the season progresses. The upshot: There looks to be goals on the cards.
The final prediction for tonight’s game is for Filip Forsberg to record Over 3.5 shots on goal, as the Predators winger has been a consistent threat in front of goal this season.
He currently is tied for fifth in the NHL in total shots on goal this season (42) and has recorded four or more shots on goal in six of Nashville’s nine games this season.
He only recorded one shot on goal when these teams met earlier this year, but that shot resulted in a goal. So, I expect Forsberg will make it a point to shoot early and often tonight, as he should clear this line for the seventh time in 11 games.
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Edmonton Oilers | +115 ML |
Nashville Predators | -135 ML |
Puck Line | NAS Predators -1.5 |
Total | O/U 6.0 |
Leon Draisaitl (EDM Oilters) | +120 |
Filip Forsberg (NAS Predators) | +120 |
Steven Stamkos (NAS Predators) | +160 |
Zach Hyman (EDM Oilters) | +170 |
Jonathan Marchessault (NAS Predators) | +200 |
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (EDM Oilters) | +240 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.