What a way to start the NHL season off for the Wild as they are going to face the Predators in this game here. However, the major battle is going to build up from the one that the teams had between each other last year. The Wild on the preseason did not look as nearly as good as what they could have. The preseason, which thankfully was not the regular season showed the Wild go 2-3 in their last 5 games.
Devan Dubnyk is coming back to play in the goal for the Wild in this game. He played really well last year, but did have some struggles in the games as well when the defensive players did not play well in front of him. What else did not help Dubnyk is he is not 33 years old, but he also does not have much in the way of offensive players to score.
With the Predators the team looked sharp in how they came into the season. However, the Predators are a team that was met with quite a few struggles that showed last year. Most of those struggles, though, came from the injury bug and that was definitely an issue. This year the Predators are starting the year off healthy and looking great on the year. The Predators in their last 5 games of the preseason ended up getting a 4-1 record on the year.
Pekka Rinne is coming back for the Predators this season to man the goal position. However, if Rinne has any type of injuries on the year the backup goalies for the Predators are younger and do not really have a lot of NHL experience. So that may be an issue for the Predators as Rinne is 36 years old and that means he could start to lose a skate this year.
