Playoff Preview: Assessing the Predators’ forward core

We finally know who the opponent will be and when they will play. It will be the Nashville Predators coming into town after blowing a four-goal lead to the Arizona Coyotes last night to send them down to the second wild-card spot.

While they were in control of their own destiny to end up in the first wild card spot against the Calgary Flames, it wouldn’t end up that way. The Yotes completed their third comeback to end the season and their final game at the Gila River Arena in a memorable fashion.

However, the forwards are not to blame for the loss as they had gone up 4-0 early on in that game. They took the foot off the gas and couldn’t get anything going at the end of that game. Their forwards are certainly their strong suit if they want to upset the Avs. Here’s who to look out for.

Matt Duchene

Duchene will be looking to get the best of his former side he had some playoff success with in the past. After the infamous trade with the Ottawa Senators and this Predators side, Duchene will want to pull off the upset for a team that he probably felt left him down during the Patrick Roy era.

Duchene has been on a tear this season, being the first 40-goal scorer in franchise history. He’s got 43 goals in total, along with 43 assists for 86 points. Everything perfectly balanced, as it should be in his case.

He’s found life nicely in Central Tennessee. This is the best year statistic-wise in his career and in his third year in Nashville has been phenomenal. After a short tenure with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Duchene has 62 goals and 89 assists in his three years. He will be a storyline against the Avs in hope of an upset.

Tanner Jeannot

Jeannot's second year in the league, both with the Predators has been a successful one. In his first full-season campaign, he’s got 24 goals and 17 assists for 41 points total. He’s been a solid contributor in the middle six for the Predators.

Against the Avs, he’s got two goals and one assist in the four games against them this season. He will be a threat and is an up-and-coming prominent forward for the Preds. Now in this series would be a great time to make some noise, something the Avs faithful will have to look out for.

Filip Forsberg

Avs fans know all about the skill and talent of Forsberg. It’s almost as if they’ve seen another forward who was better than the current one on the team now. Jokes aside, Forberg has been a thorn in the Avs’ side whenever he’s played them.

This season alone, he’s one goal short of Duchene with 42 goals, but he does have an even amount of assists with 42 as well. He’s got 84 points total and will look to tally up those point totals in the playoffs.

Against Colorado this season, he’s got two goals and three assists to his name. He will always look to pull out something fancy whenever he can and has been known to do so frequently. Regardless, he and the rest of the forwards outside of Jeannot and Duchene will look to match the Avs forwards and keep up with the high scoring and action.