Each home team will take the ice Tuesday night in two very different positions at this point of the 2017 NHL playoffs.The Nashville Predators look like a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, as they are controlling both ends of the ice thanks to an outstanding defense. On the other hand, the New York Rangers have yet to overcome inconsistent play throughout their lineup. Their season now hangs in the balance as a result.Let us take a look at the television and live-stream schedule for these two matchups. Continue for a preview of the night's contests.Ottawa at New YorkThe Rangers looked to be the favorite heading into this series due to their tremendous depth and personnel advantage. Yet, it is the Ottawa Senators who escaped with two consecutive one-goal wins.The simple reason for this is that New York has yet to play a complete game. In Game 1, the Rangers defense and Henrik Lundqvist were solid, but the team could not convert offensively in a 2-1 loss. The following game, the Rangers scored five times and outshot Ottawa 48-34, but sloppy transition defense and a subpar goaltending outing did New York in.Thanks to some fortunate bounces, the Senators are in control of the series. That can change if the Rangers take Game 3, as Lundqvist is optimistic can get done if they replicate the same offensive intensity from Game 2, per Andrew Gross ofThe Record:I think a lot of the things we did in the last game are things we need to continue doing. Of course there are always a couple of things you can adjust but we have to continue doing what we did in the last game. We had more jump and played some good hockey.We know how they play, there are no surprises. They try to shut it down in the middle but we still created a lot of good looks.Ottawa plays a conservative style that emphasizes safe plays in the neutral zone and a tight defensive structure, as Lundqvist referenced. This helps make up for a deficiencyin overall talent on the Senators roster to create close games where a strong moment or two from a player like Jean-Gabriel Pageau or Erik Karlsson can be the difference.As a result, all eight of Ottawa's games this postseason have been decided by one goal. Craig Anderson has been instrumental in the success of the Senators' strategy. Other than Game 2, he had owned the Rangers of late, per Sportsnet:Still, the Rangers were the first team to break down the Senators this postseason in Game 2. Ottawa allowed nine goals in six games against the Boston Bruins, but New York has the team speed and benefit of a full bench that Boston just could not match.The Rangers are the better hockey team, and that will have to shine through at some point. At 35 years old, this may be Lundqvist's last legitimate shot to return to the Stanley Cup final. New York should be able to replicate some of its scoring from last game, so expect him to be excellent on Tuesday and get New York back into this series.St. Louis at NashvilleThere is no team playing better hockey in the Western Conference this postseason than the Nashville Predators.Nashville is getting elite play from Pekka Rinne, who easily leads the league with a 1.38 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage, along with arguably the NHL's best top-four defensive group. Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi and P.K. Subban have combined for 19 points through seven games, and Mattias Ekholm's strong defensive presence has him at plus-six.As a group, no defensive group is as prolific this season, per Sportsnet:Unsurprisingly, St. Louis Blues head coach Mike Yeo is less than thrilled with his players. Nashville is outshooting the Blues 90-73 through three games, and the Predators played with intensity in Game 3 that overwhelmed St. Louis to the tune of an 18-4 shot advantage in the second period."We scored one goal tonight," said Yeo in his postgame press conference, per Yahoo Sports' Jen Neale, "[The] fact of the matter is, for a large part of the game we werent even competitive."St. Louis was so poor that Rinne joked after the game that he was bored at times in Game 3, via NHL.com's Arpon Basu:The Blues have impact players in Alex Pietrangelo and Vladimir Tarasenko, but other key contributors like Patrik Berglund, David Perron and Paul Stastny have yet to score in this series. St. Louis is also missing the helpful goals from depth checking players that Nashville received so far from guys like Vern Fiddler and Cody McLeod.The issue for St. Louis is that it cannot defend Nashville's puck movement and connecting play from the back end. It is tough enough to contain the series' best line in Viktor Arvidsson, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen, but with such skilled defenseman also joining the attack, the Predators are nearly unstoppable.Nashville just looks like a runaway train right now, and St. Louis does not appear equipped to stop it. The Predators have also won seven straight home playoff games, and that number should increase to eight on Tuesday night.Statistics are courtesy of NHL.com unless otherwise noted.
Click here to read full news..
