The Toronto Maple Leafs lay their three-game win streak on the line when they ride into town to face the Nashville Predators on Saturday.
While the Maple Leafs (42-24-3, 87 points) are flying high, the down-and-out Predators (25-35-8, 58 points) have a four-game losing skid to their name.
The Maple Leafs followed up home wins over the Calgary Flames and the Colorado Avalanche with a 4-3 road victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
John Tavares became the eighth active NHL player to reach 1,100 career points (485 goals, 615 assists) after picking up two goals and an assist in the victory.
Jake McCabe added three assists, William Nylander picked up a pair of his own and Bobby McMann had a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs.
“Momentum is a nice thing to have in this league, and confidence,” McCabe said. “A couple weeks ago, we didn’t have that momentum, we didn’t have that confidence. We knew that tough stretch was going to make us better. Look ourselves in the mirror a little bit and ask for more from each and every one of us, and I think we’ve done that and responded well.”
The Maple Leafs currently sit tied atop the Atlantic Division standings with the Florida Panthers after their most recent stretch of success.
Captain Auston Matthews was held off the scoresheet in the win but will be looking to get back to his scoring ways against a Predators team that he has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in 13 career games against.
Lack of goal-scoring has cost the Predators during their current losing stretch, as they’ve combined for just three goals across the four contests.
“I don’t really know what to say,” Nashville forward Ryan O’Reilly admitted following a 4-1 home loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday. “I want to be mad, but I feel like I’m not good enough to get mad right now. As a group, I think we know we have to be better. We’re not really doing much out there. I know, for myself, I just feel like I’m skating and not accomplishing anything.”
Steven Stamkos tallied the Predators’ lone goal with a power-play marker in the first period, before the Ducks closed out the contest with four straight.
Stamkos’ goal was his 578th career tally, pushing him up to 22nd in the NHL’s all-time goal scoring ranks.
Nashville will try to play out their final 14 games with some semblance of pride as they currently sit 19 points back of the final Western Conference wild-card spot. The Predators appear destined to miss the playoffs for the second time over the past three seasons.
“It’s hard and I feel for the players,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said when speaking about his team’s lack of motivation following Thursday’s loss.
“It’s not a fun time of year to be playing when you have nothing to play for. You can kind of get up for a few games when you’re playing a team and you’re kind of motivated, but it’s really hard. Especially having done it for a while. In saying that, that’s not really an excuse not to find a little bit of energy.”
Toronto has bested Nashville in six of the previous eight meetings.
