Entering a new year the Nashville Predators came out of 2023 with the NHL’s 12th-best regular season record going 47-34-3. They missed the playoffs for the first time in eight seasons and saw significant shifts in the franchise.
All that matters now is what’s in front of this team one game at a time as head coach Andrew Brunette is 37 games into his tenure in Nashville.
The first year coach in Nashville voiced a little concern with how his team has played at home lately.
Since Nov. 25 Nashville has been 5-5-0 at home and 6-1-1 on the road. Playing well at home has been a theme of conversation between Brunette and the players since the season started.
“Our home record here in the last little while has been bothersome for our group,” Brunette said. “Tomorrow hopefully we understand that and it would be great to start the new year with a big home win.”
The Chicago Blackhawks come into Nashville with a 2-7-1 record in their last 10 games as the renowned rookie Connor Bedard also has 15 points in as many games.
Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov stands in front of Yaroslav Askarov after he fired a shot on net that led to a stoppage.
Chicago hasn’t won a road game since Nov. 9 when they took down the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3.
While Brunette said he doesn’t have a personal resolution to start the near year at home he does have one for the group.
“I would like for us to continue the growth that we’ve had and the mindset of getting better, so I think that’s a resolution and without losing the joy in the process,” Brunette said.
“It’s going to be challenging. We had some challenges early in the year and we’re going to have another challenging period. Hopefully the growth and understanding, the joy makes the puck spin. We can’t lose that regardless of the different circumstances we’re going to face at any time.”
Additionally, something he would like to see tighten up is seeing his team executing in key moments.
“It’s something we continuously keep talking about, try to get our mindset in the right place at the right time during pivotal parts of games,” Brunette said. “I don’t think we’re understanding some of the game management stuff. Getting way better than earlier in the year but still could be better.”
The final win of 2023 did come with a twist to it as goaltender Yaroslav Askarov became the 13th netminder to win his first career game with Nashville. He did so via a 3-2 shootout win after stopping Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alexander Ovechkin in the first two rounds.
All Nashville needed was back-to-back goals from Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O’Reilly in the shootout to seal Askarov’s first NHL win. Nashville is now 2-0 in shootouts this season with their lone overtime loss of the campaign coming on Dec. 29 in Detriot.
“I thought Askarov was really solid, really happy for him,” Brunette said of Askarov’s first win. “Obviously going against probably some of his childhood idols in Kuznetsov and stopping Ovechkin has got to be a pretty special moment for him.
“I thought he was rock solid and in my first real viewing of him – besides that one third period – for me, that was good personally just to see him and see what he can do.”
Yaroslav Askarov is the 2nd youngest goalie to pick up his 1st career NHL win at 21 years & 197 days old. #Preds
— Nick Kieser 🏒 (@KieserNick) December 31, 2023
At the first practice of 2024, the Predators had goaltender Kevin Lankinen back on the ice with defenseman Tyson Barrie (day-to-day) still out of the mix with an upper-body injury. Askarov was sent back to American Hockey League affiliate Milwaukee Admirals on New Year’s Eve.
Nashville will play six of their 14 games this month at home with this week being the lone instance of playing back-to-back home games.
Their longest stretch of consecutive home games comes from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15 when the Predators play four in a row in Bridgestone Arena. They’ll play five in a row in Nashville from Feb. 27 to March 7 with the trade deadline falling on March 8 at 2 p.m. CT.
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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