^{A battle for the pre-historic ages.}

Tonight, the Mammoth are in Tennessee to take on the Nashville Predators. In an eerily similar game to ours, Nashville won 2-1 on Thursday. Nashville jumped out to a first period lead, gave up a second period goal to a pressing Blue Jackets attack, and scored the eventual game winner off a power play early in the third.

Worryingly, good goaltending was also the factor in the game, as Juuse Saros made 38 saves to secure the victory. Let’s not make this a trend.

While Nashville doesn’t have quite the lethality of MacKinnon and company, but O’Reilly, Marchessault, and Forsberg still need to be contained with that same defensive intensity we showed on Thursday’s final 40 minutes.

Key points to secure a victory tonight:
– Special teams play needs to remain strong. Nashville was 1 for 4 on the PP on Thursday, and was 1 for 1 on the PK. Not tested hard, but we need to capitalize on our opportunities.
– Faceoffs need to be a priority. We lost almost 70% of the faceoffs against Colorado. You’re fighting uphill if you’re chasing the puck from the drop.
– Offense needs to step up. Wedgewood was strong against us, and Saros is one of the best active goalies in the league, a top Vezina contender almost yearly since 2020, except for last year.

No injury updates of note. Veggie expected to start in net again tonight.

Expected Lineup:

Game time 6PM local.

TUSKS UP!