The Nashville Predators continue their five-game road trip on Thursday with a visit to the Edmonton Oilers, who hope to celebrate a milestone accomplishment.
Nashville’s trip started with a 3-2 overtime loss Monday to the Colorado Avalanche. While getting a point and earning three in their last two games (1-0-1), the Predators still sit at the bottom of the Central Division, a far cry from the start the team envisioned after making some high-profile additions to the roster over the summer for coach Andrew Brunette.
Despite having just five wins and 12 points through the first 16 games (5-9-2), there is not a lot of panic in the Predators’ locker room.
During an interview Wednesday morning on the Nashville-based “Chase and Big Joe Show” program on 102.5 The Game. Predators center Colton Sissons said it’s challenging to play with the speed Brunette wants from his players.
“It took us some time last year, obviously, to understand that and get acclimated to it, but I think it is coming along,” said Sissons, who scored his second goal of the season in Monday’s loss.
“I mean, it wasn’t just the new guys. A lot of us haven’t done it to the level that we needed to do it at, obviously, thus far, but it definitely is coming along, especially in the last two games.
“I think there’s some chemistry building in some of the lines here, which is good to see and, hopefully, we continue to build that up.”
Edmonton has won two straight, including a 4-3 overtime victory Tuesday over the visiting New York Islanders. The Oilers squandered a late 3-1 lead, but the team’s top performers secured the second point in the extra session.
Leon Draisaitl scored twice, putting him in a three-way tie with an NHL-best 12 goals this season. Defenseman Evan Bouchard added a goal and two assists, and superstar captain Connor McDavid scored once and assisted on the other three goals.
The four-point performance from the three-time Hart Memorial Trophy winner puts him at 999 points for his career in 658 games. With his next goal or assist, he’ll become the 99th player in NHL history to rack up 1,000 points. Unless McDavid, 27, fails to score a point in any of the next 22 games, he’ll become the fourth-fastest player to reach that milestone.
“Every player can have an outstanding game,” Oiler coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters Wednesday. “Some players do it once, some a handful of times. But if you’re going to be elite and one of the best, you’ve got to be bringing it almost every single night. And he does that. So, you don’t rise up the all-time points leader (category) in that many games unless you’re bringing it most nights, and he certainly is.”
The Oilers may be down a regular on Thursday after Viktor Arvidsson did not practice. Knoblauch called it a “maintenance day” for the 31-year-old Swede, adding that how the left winger feels on Thursday will dictate whether he plays.
Thursday may also mark the NHL debut of Nashville defenseman Adam Wilsby, 24, who was called up from the team’s American Hockey League affiliate in Milwaukee on Wednesday.
The Predators selected Wilsby in the fourth round of the 2020 NHL Draft. He’s scored 42 points in parts of three seasons with Milwaukee after playing professionally in his native Sweden.
