Nashville at Anaheim

Nashville opens the playoffs on the road, but has outstanding balance at #12 in goals scored, #10 on the power play and #14 in goals allowed. Nashville has a pair of 30-goal scorers in Filip Forsberg (33) and James Neal (31), while Predators captain Shea Weber scored 14 goals with the man advantage, tops among league defensemen. Nashville has a winning record on the road and is 12-4 playing on three or more days rest. Nashville swapped defenseman Seth Jones to Columbus for Ryan Johansen back in January, and Johansen scored eight goals and 26 assists in 42 games with the Predators. Nashville ranked #18 averaging 2.55 goals per game, but since the trade the team ranked #11, averaging 2.90 goals per game. Goalie Pekka Rinne is 12-5-4 lifetime versus Anaheim. They face an Anaheim team that is banged up, with forwards Rickard Rakell (appendix) and David Perron (shoulder), plus defenseman Kevin Bieksa (upper body) not 100%. Nashville won the season series outscoring Anaheim 10-8 and this shapes up as another close one. Play Nashville on the puckline.