With Nashville's 23-man roster due to be submitted in less than a week, the club has begun to make a number of changes to their lineup,
including 13 assignments made on Sunday
, and
another six player transactions on Monday
. Forwards Tommy Novak and Anthony Richard, defenseman David Farrance and goaltender Devin Cooley were assigned to Milwaukee (AHL); plus, defensemen Matt Donovan and Josh Healey were released from their tryout agreements and will report to Milwaukee.
\[Tonight's Preds Roster at Carolina\]
For the 33 who currently remain, opportunities to make those final impressions are dwindling, and Predators Head Coach John Hynes and his staff will be looking for the group to continue building off two-straight preseason wins over Tampa Bay.
"If we take both games [against the Lightning], I liked some of our offensive game, and one of the things we've talked with our team about is being a team that can create offense in different ways," Hynes said Sunday in regard to 6-2 and 6-1 victories against the Bolts. "The structure, the buying in offensively, the decision making has been a lot better, so those components over a game have been strong, and we've emphasized those in camp early. Defensively, we've done a good job. I give the players a lot of credit. Our play without the puck is ahead of where it was in the beginning of last year when we went through [camp], and there's really an understanding and a commitment to everyone to play a committed game and have a strong work ethic away from the puck and understand that when you're in backchecking situations, defensive-zone coverage, neutral-zone forecheck, whatever it is, when you don't have the puck, you have to do your job so your teammate can do his job.
"I see that coming to fruition throughout the lineup, so I think those things have been strong. We've gotten good work on special teams, and both [power play and penalty kill] have gotten a lot of work, which is really beneficial to evaluate players on those special teams, but also the strengths and weaknesses of what we're doing. Those are the biggest components that were takeaways from last night and the first few games."
Forward Egor Afanasyev, who did not play Saturday, continues to lead the Preds in the preseason with three goals and was tied for second in goal scoring across the League entering Monday's action. Filip Forsberg and Tanner Jeannot have each tallied twice in the preseason thus far. Goaltender Juuse Saros saw his first action of the preseason on Saturday night and allowed one goal to the Lightning in the 6-1 win.
Carolina has only played twice in the preseason and has split a pair of games against Tampa Bay, including an 8-5 loss to the Lightning on Friday.
Bally Sports South is the television home of both the Hurricanes and Predators, and for the preseason meetings against each other, Bally will present game telecasts that include a "talent swap" between analysts, giving fans a unique perspective with experts on both sides of the matchup.
Tuesday's game in Raleigh will feature Hurricanes play-by-play announcer Mike Maniscalco and analyst Tripp Tracy joined by Predators analyst Chris Mason in the booth. The Hurricanes' telecast will be televised across the entire Bally Sports South territory, including North Carolina and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi. The game can also be streamed on BallySports.com and the Bally Sports app (when authenticated through a pay-tv service).
Fans may also listen to the contest on ESPN 102.5 The Game with Pete Weber and Hal Gill on the call. The pregame show starts at 5:30 p.m. CT with Darren McFarland.
