Morning Skate: May 4

The Morning After:

Yesterday’s results:

Devils 4, Flyers 3 (OT)

Kings 4, Blues 2

RLD 3 stars of the night:

1. Alex Ponikarovsky, NJ (1 goal, 1 assist)

2. Ilya Kovalchuk, NJ (1 goal, 2 assists)

3. Drew Doughty, LA (1 goal, 2 assists)

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Tonight’s slate:

Coyotes @ Predators, 7:30 ET, Game 4

#3 Phoenix Coyotes @ #4 Nashville Predators

Game 4… 7:30 ET… TV: NBC Sports Network, TSN

Series: 2-1 Coyotes

Projected starting goaltenders:

PHX-   Mike Smith (Playoff stats: 6-3, 2.03 GAA)

NSH-   Pekka Rinne (Playoff stats: 5-3, 2.20 GAA)

Injury report:

PHX-   Boyd Gordon (undisclosed, probable), Lauri Korpikoski (undisclosed, questionable)

NSH-   None

Game thoughts:

With their backs against the wall and without Alex Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn, the Predators bounced back with a crucial 2-0 win in Game 3 to get back in the series.  But that was just one game.  A loss tonight would halt any momentum they were able to gain two nights ago.  The Coyotes know they can be better and saw the Predators capitalize on two mistakes.

It’ll be interesting to see how the Coyotes approach this game from an X’s and O’s standpoint.  Do they try to take more chances offensively, or do they sit back and try to clog up the Predators’ chances and take advantage of the few opportunities they do get?  This game has overtime written all over it.  One or two goals may be enough to win this game.  I like the Predators, no matter what they do with the lineup.

Prediction: Predators 2, Coyotes 1 (2OT)

Video of the day:

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