Edmonton Oilers vs Nashville Predators Prediction: Trusting Edmonton at Home
Edmonton Oilers vs Nashville Predators Prediction: Trusting Edmonton at Home
Tonight we go to Edmonton and see if Nashville can come into Edmonton and pull off a win, something they haven't done there since 2018 in Canada. This game will come down to who scores first and we will explain why. Score first and win is tonight's motto.
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Edmonton Oilers vs Nashville Predators Prediction
Nashville has a great record this year, they have won three games in a row with a nice little streak and they are in second behind the NHL's hottest and best team in the Avalanche. But, and there is always a but, let's delve further into this little streak. The Predators have beaten Seattle, Detroit, and Winnipeg, all of them are not in the playoffs and probably won't make it being under 500 on the year.
Before this little winning streak against bad teams, they had a four-game losing streak including losses to Vancouver and Buffalo who are two bad teams. So this little stretch does not impress us and we feel Nashville is a good team, with a great record but they don't impress us with their recent play.
What is impressive is Nashville has scored first 26 times this year and are 21-4-1 in those games and that is impressive. Juuse Saros will be in goal tonight and he has played in 82 percent of the games and has been good but when he plays good offensive teams he does start off slow and we feel he will do the same tonight.
The Oilers last month were the team everyone was asking what is wrong with this team and their star had a heated press conference but the NHL has its ups and downs and the Oilers sucked for a few weeks, but this team has won two in a row showed us a lot of heart in the process. They came back down 2-0 against a good Vancouver team (since they got a new coach that is) and they beat a good Calgary team. We mentioned how good Nashville is but Edmonton is 10-0 if they score first.
The sad part is they have only scored first 10 times this year but they have the best 1-2 combo in the league with 116 points already this year. They are second in the league still on power plays and no one has ever questioned how good this offense is. The captain of this team said it best
"That's not a recipe for success but we can't find a way to score the first goal," McDavid said. "So, if you can't score the first goal, you've got to be able to come back in games. We've done that two (games) in a row and the focus is on a good start on Thursday."
This team knows they have to score first and they have a lot of work to do to get back into the playoffs or heads will roll in the hockey-crazed Edmonton. The Oilers will probably have Mikko Koskinen in goal and he is coming off a great 25 out of 27 save game, his second game of a .930 save percentage or better.
This is a good situational spot for the Oilers. We feel they have turned the corner from their bad streak and the Predators just haven't been impressive to us recently even if they got the wins. This is a home team series (2018 was the last time Nashville won here) and the home team has won four out of five(Edmonton has actually won four in a row in the series).
With Edmonton playing a home and home against the awful eight-win Canadiens and Ottawa the Oilers can put a six-game winning streak together easily and be right in the playoff hunt again. It all STARTS with who SCORES first. Can the Oilers make it 11-0? We think so, take the Oilers to win tonight -105 at home as they kick the Predators out of their home.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Nashville Predators Line Movement
Edmonton Oilers vs. Nashville Predators Pick
- Oilers ML -105 (Bet $105 to win $100)