Bruins-Predators Preview: Pekka Rinne Leads Much-Improved Nashville Squad

The Boston Bruins are hoping their next Western Conference road trip is more successful than the previous one.

The B’s went 1-3-0 against the three California teams and the Arizona Coyotes to begin December, and they’ve lost five of six games this month overall.

Boston begins a three-game road trip Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators, who have improved in several areas under new head coach Peter Laviolette. In addition to having more firepower up front, the Predators still have a deep, talented blue line featuring top-four defensemen such as Shea Weber, Seth Jones and Roman Josi. Pekka Rinne (more on him below) has been sharp in net and appears to have put last season’s injury concerns to rest.

Here’s a quick preview of Tuesday’s game.

TV, Radio Information: NESN and 98.5 The Sports Hub

Season Series: First meeting

Record: Boston (15-13-2, 6th in Atlantic), Nashville (19-8-2, 3rd in Central)

Bruins Player To Watch: Loui Eriksson has to provide more scoring and to his credit, he’s increased his production over the last three games with two goals and 10 shots. That said, Eriksson is averaging less than two shots on goal per game this season, which is too low for a player with his offensive talent and four career 25-plus goal campaigns.

“I think for me personally I can put some more shots on net,” Eriksson said after Saturday’s loss to the Ottawa Senators. “When I get those chances to put it on net I have to take those. I think that goes as a whole team, everyone. The more shots we get on net, the more things can happen. If we do that, we can get some more goals.”

Predators Player To Watch: Pekka Rinne is among the leading Vezina Trophy candidates and has returned to an elite level after missing most of last season because of an injury. He’s 19-6-1 with a league-leading .947 save percentage at even strength (.937 in all situations) and a 1.75 goals against average. Rinne has given up two goals or fewer in 20 of his 26 games played, including three shutouts.

He compares quite favorably to the other goaltenders with 1000 or more minutes played this season.

rinne

Key Stat For Bruins: Boston has scored two or fewer goals in 11 of their last 14 games. The Bruins offense must be aggressive in putting pucks on net and establishing a net-front presence against a Predators team that leads the league with a 1.90 goals against average.

Key Stat For Predators: Nashville has an .833 win percentage (10-1-1) when scoring first, the third-highest in the league. This isn’t a surprise because chasing the game against a goaltender of Rinne’s caliber is a very difficult challenge. Boston has fallen behind first in 16 of its 30 games.