Nashville vs Vancouver: The Predators to break 3-match losing streak

Nashville defeated Vancouver 3-2 in the first head-to-head meeting of the season. Will Bruce Boudreau's men be able to get revenge in the upcoming clash? We predict the Predators will once again be closer to success!

After the Stanley Cup finals, Nashville have drastically turned into the NHL middle class, so you could not expect them to solve serious problems for a long time, but they look very good in the current regular season. The Predators produce long winning streaks from time to time while avoiding prolonged crises. Nevertheless, they have been experiencing a bit of a slump lately. In mid-January, John Hynes' charges took turns losing to Buffalo 1-4, Boston 3-4 and the day before to St. Louis 3-5. That stretch was Nashville's worst of the season, which is why the Tennessee representatives were already relegated to third place in the Western Conference standings.

Vancouver got off to a very weak start this season, so they had an early change of head coach. Now Bruce Boudreau is in charge, who practically made serious progress with his wards from the very beginning. Before the Christmas break in the championship, the Blue and Green won in six games in a row, and even then, they scored in three games in a row, until in the middle of January, they went on a hard trip to the East. First, Vancouver lost to Florida 2-5, then to Tampa Bay 2-4 and then to Carolina 1-4. British Columbia defeated Washington 4-2 to move up to 13th place in the Western Conference standings only the day before.

From the middle of December, Nashville and Vancouver made good progress, but in January synchronized a little slack. The Predators had only losses in their last three games, and the Canucks lost three of their last four games. That being the case, it's more believable for the more stable and skilled team that resides in Tennessee. After all, their position in the standings is much better. They never suffered such a long losing streak before, while the Canadians frequently did. As a result, we have to bet on Nashville's victory for 2.10.

Matt Duchene is having his first strong season with Nashville. After being traded from Ottawa, the 31-year-old forward seemed to have forgotten how to play hockey and be a team leader, but he has now rediscovered himself. In 36 games, he has already scored 35 points (17 goals + 18 assists), making him the top scorer among forwards. Lately, he has been producing goals in nearly every game, so we expect Matt Duchene's Total Over 0.5 points for 2.62.

Nashville and Vancouver are not the kind of teams to go crazy on offense and forget about defense. Both teams want to play safe and minimize the risk of mistakes. Fortunately, they forget that in a flash when they come up against each other. In the last ten head-to-head encounters between the Predators and the Canucks there have been 73 goals against (7.30 goals per game average), which is respectable even by NHL standards. And now we should look at a bet on Total Over 5.5 pucks for 1.76.