Tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET, the Nashville Predators (6-5-1, 13 points) and Phoenix Coyotes (8-3-2, 18 points) hit the ice for the first of three meetings this season live from Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix. The game can be live streamed here. Nashville fans can hear all the bone-crunching action by tuning into 104.5 The Zone while Phoenix fans can do the same on 92.3 KTAR FM.
The Predators enter the game in fifth place in the Central Division and are seven points behind the division-leading Colorado Avalanche while the Coyotes come into the contest in fourth place in the Pacific Division, four points behind the first place San Jose Sharks.
Phoenix is tied for fourth in the NHL with 3.31 goals-for per game while they have also allowed an average of three goals against them per game. The team enters play coming off of a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night where goalie Mike Smith stopped 41 of 42 shots for the win.
"There were lots of shots at the net, but I thought we just competed harder," coach Dave Tippett told NHL.com. "We were harder in front of our net; we got an 'A' game from Smitty and some timely scoring. It was a good two points."
Smith is 7-2-2 this season with a 2.97 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Pekka Rinne has played the majority of the games between the pipes for the Predators, while posting a 4-4-1 record with a 2.31 GAA and a .917 save percentage, but he will miss about a month after undergoing hip surgery.
Carter Hutton was in the crease for Nashville's overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets last Thursday, but he allowed five goals on 26 shots and was pulled when the team took on the St. Louis Blues Saturday.
"You never want to get pulled," Hutton said in The Tennessean. "That's the thing with being a goalie. You want to be in there and you want to win, but at the same time it's one game. Whether I gave up 12 or whatever, it's just one loss, life goes on, the sun is going to come up tomorrow."
Nashville's top scorers are Craig Smith and David Legwand, who each have seven points as Smith has netted two goals and five assists while Legwand has notched one tally and six helpers. Phoenix, meanwhile, is led by Radim Vrbata, who has a team-high 12 points off of five goals and seven assists while Martin Hanzal has lit the lamp five times and added six assists for 11 points and Oliver Ekman-Larsson has three tallies and seven helpers for 10 points.
The Coyotes will look to keep scoring while the Predators try to navigate life without their main goalie when these two teams take the ice tonight in Phoenix
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