Nashville welcomes L.A. to town

After both the Predators and Kings were fairly active before the trade deadline, they’ll go head-to-head for the first time in Nashville this season. In their previous meeting back in November out west, the Preds won 3-1 behind great goaltending from Dan Ellis. It should be a great game as the 4th and 7th best teams in the Western Conference face-off.

In their return to action after the break, Nashville got by the Oilers 4-3 on Tuesday. The Preds played really well at times, but were just the opposite in other moments. Newly acquired Denis Grebeshkov had a goal and an assist, and rookie Colin Wilson had one of his better all-around performances. The defense had a few breakdowns, but overall, it was good just to get the much-needed 2 points when they didn’t have their best effort.

They’ll need to play much better tonight against a much better team like the Kings. Preds fans will finally see up-close just how good this team is. They have a lot of firepower on both ends, including defenseman Drew Doughty, who has really put himself on the map this year between his great play in L.A. and the Olympics. It’s no fluke that they are currently in position to have home-ice in the first round of the playoffs.

One player that doesn’t receive enough recognition (nationally) for the Kings is Jonathan Quick. He’s already gathered the most wins in a single-season (36), and has been great in clutch situations. He is Quick-ly becoming one of the better young goaltenders in the league.

The Kings made a couple moves to bolster their team before the deadline. They acquired Jeff Halpern from Tampa Bay, who should bring a nice veteran presence to the locker room, and should help their penalty kill. GM Dean Lombardi also grabbed Fredrik Modin from Columbus, who has his fair share of playoff experience. I’d expect both will be in the lineup tonight.

Like I said before, the Preds are going to have to bring their ‘A-game’ to win this one. Los Angeles is a great up-and-coming team, and has a 20-11-1 record on the road this year. This is a great chance, though, for the Preds to get a 5-point lead on the 8th-seeded Red Wings, who they play tomorrow night in Detroit.

For Nashville to come away victorious, they’ll have to come out of the gates on fire and win the special teams battle. Los Angeles has a pretty good power play… and understandably so. It should be a big crowd at Bridgestone Arena, so it’ll also be important for Jason Arnott and company to generate scoring chances early to keep the energy flowing in the building. This should be a really good game from start to finish, but I’m going with the Kings tonight. They always seem to have the Preds’ number late in the season here in Nashville.

Pick: Kings 3, Predators 2 (SO)

‘Smashville’ Tidbits:- Nashville was able to acquire Dustin Boyd from Calgary for a 4th round pick just before yesterday’s 2:00 CST deadline. Boyd will turn out to be a valuable depth player, in my opinion, as the stretch run continues. He’s a younger forward with potential, and never got a shot in Calgary.
- GM David Poile reassigned Cody Franson and Alexander Sulzer to Milwaukee yesterday. With Grebeshkov on board and Dan Hamhuis sticking around, they have a strong top six. IMO though, we haven’t seen the last of Franson this year.
- On Tuesday, Poile put Ryan Jones on waivers in what was a controversial move among Preds fans. Jones was claimed by Edmonton yesterday, and played last night in Chicago.