The preseason finale has arrived, and the Nashville Predators will host the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2 p.m. CT puck drop today at Bridgestone Arena to conclude the exhibition schedule.
The Preds and Canes faced off on Thursday in Greensboro, and while Nashville had five different goal scorers on the night, they ultimately fell by a 6-5 final.
Now, with Opening Night less than one week away, the Predators will look to conclude training camp in the win column with one final tune-up before the real thing.
“It's going to probably be a little bit of some guys in there that we’ve got to take another look at,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said following Friday’s practice. “Ideally, you would like to be all set, and that speaks to everybody in camp that's pushed or hasn't pushed, and we have to make a decision on. So, I think you’ll get a little bit of both in the lineup tomorrow.”
That competition, Brunette says, has been prevalent throughout camp, and the decisions aren’t coming easy for the Nashville bench boss on either side of the coin.
“I think [the players] made it harder…in the sense that there's some guys that really are in those positions [to push for a spot]…and some other guys that maybe didn't play up to my expectation,” Brunette said. “So, those are hard decisions. It's been a really competitive camp… Can’t really wait for anybody right now, and some guys have really pushed. Some guys haven't, and your organization, to have that push from some guys, [puts us] in a good spot.”
