According to Josh Cooper of The Tennessean, the Nashville Predators have done some line shuffling.
In preparation for their game against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night, Head Coach Barry Trotz went with the following line combinations at practice today:
Colin Wilson – Mike Fisher – Martin Erat
Brandon Yip – David Legwand – Gabriel Bourque
Nick Spaling – Craig Smith – Sergei Kostitsyn
Matt Halischuk – Paul Gaustad – Richard Clune
The Predators are in desperate need of goals. They are tied with the Florida Panthers for 30th (out of 30) in the league in scoring (1.67 goals per game) and — if that wasn’t bad enough — they’re dead last in shots per game (23.2). Nashville is trying whatever they can in order to generate some offense.
Yesterday, Trotz even floated the possibility of calling up a few players from the Milwaukee Admirals, again, per Josh Cooper. If things don’t change, is he really willing to call up some prospects or is he making a threat to get more out of his players?
Guess we’ll find out Friday morning.
Nashville is just 1-2-3 on the young season and it’s not getting any easier. Their next three games are all on the road and all against quality opponents. The Kings tomorrow night, the undefeated San Jose Sharks on Saturday and then the high-flying St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. In a compacted and shortened schedule, there’s very little room for error.
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PHOTO CREDIT: Sarah Fuqua (used with permission)