A date with the Chicago Blackhawks is an opportune spot for the Nashville Predators to make headway on their playoff push.
Following a 20-day break since their last outing, the Predators will host the Blackhawks on Thursday night, a divisional rival that they have gotten the best of in 20 out of the past 25 meetings (20-3-2).
Despite back-to-back losses in its final two games prior to the Olympic break, Nashville’s hopes of returning to the postseason still remain very much alive.
Predators coach Andrew Brunette didn’t waver in his faith in his team when speaking to the media following its most recent 4-2 road defeat to the Washington Capitals prior to the break.
“I want them to feel good about themselves,” Brunette said when asked about how his team should approach the lengthy recess from the regular season. “I want them to have belief, and I want them to rest and recharge their batteries and come back hungry and excited. I think this group has never been tighter. You can see from night in, night out how hard they compete for each other, how much they care about each other.”
Veteran sniper Steven Stamkos’ offensive resurgence has certainly given the Predators plenty to believe in.
The two-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner as the NHL’s top goalscorer has a combined six points (three goals, three assists) over his past four games and has dominated Thursday’s opponent throughout his career. Across 35 career clashes with Chicago, Stamkos has compiled 40 points (22 goals, 18 assists).
While the Blackhawks are a long shot to sneak into the postseason for the first time in the past six seasons, they are hoping to finish outside the bottom three spots in the Western Conference for the first time since the NHL returned to its usual dual-conference format following the 2020-21 season.
“If we wanna get in the (playoff) picture, we’ve gotta win a lot of games in a hurry,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill told the media over the break. “It’s been done in this league multiple times this year. It doesn’t mean that you have to win the first one, or you have to win the second one, or you’ve gotta put together a winning streak right away, but it means that at some point if we wanna get in the picture, we’ve gotta put together a heck of a winning streak.”
The Olympic break seemed to come at the perfect time for the Blackhawks after they lost six of their previous seven games (1-5-1), most recently being blanked 4-0 by the Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb. 4.
The road loss to the Blue Jackets also marked the end of superstar Connor Bedard’s four-game point streak (three goals, two assists).
The Blackhawks will look for their offense to take a step forward in their remaining 25 games, with goalscoring becoming a major issue of late. Chicago has mustered up more than two goals just four times over their past 14 games while posting a 4-8-2 record over that stretch.
