News » The Predators are focused on this postseason

It’s only a couple weeks into the season http://www.sabresshoponline.com/authentic-johan-larsson-jersey , yet when the Vancouver Canucks meet the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, one of the main story lines for both clubs will revolve around injuries.The Penguins (2-1-1) lost one of their top two-way defensemen when Justin Schultz had surgery Sunday for a broken lower left leg. He was hurt Saturday when he apparently got his skate stuck in a rut on the ice while falling and is expected to miss four months.“It’s a huge loss for us, especially what he brings, the role he plays in tons of aspects of our team,” fellow Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang said Monday. “He stabilizes the whole (defensive) corps.”Article continues below ...The Penguins still appeared to be looking at potential defensive pairings beyond the top tandem of Letang and Brian Dumoulin.“We have capable NHL defensemen, so I’m confident that we can put guys in that I know can help us win games,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “(Schultz) is not an easy guy to replace. He’s a very good player and has been very good for us for a long time. So it’s a tough loss from our standpoint, but certainly we’ve got to be prepared with the guys that we have.”Schultz has four assists in four games this season. Last season, he had four goals, 27 points in 63 games.It seems likely that Juuso Riikola will find a regular spot on the Penguins defense for the foreseeable future.Pittsburgh’s other injury news is more positive for them. No. 1 goaltender Matt Murray, who got a concussion Oct. 8 in practice, could start against Vancouver. He served as Casey DeSmith’s backup Saturday in a 4-3 shootout against the Canadiens.“It’s hard to know with injuries like that, but it’s no fun to have those injuries, either, so I was happy with how quickly it resolved,” said Murray, who has had three concussions during his NHL career, two this calendar year.“We are excited that he is healthy Authentic Justin Bailey Jersey ,” Sullivan said. “It’s great for our team. It’s great for Matt. It’s certainly encouraging that it didn’t linger or last for a significant amount of time.”Vancouver (3-2), which practiced Monday in Pittsburgh, will be without promising rookie Elias Pettersson and veteran Jay Beagle.Pettersson has a concussion after taking a hit Saturday from Florida’s Mike Matheson, who was suspended for two games by the NHL department of player safety.“He’s doing better,” Canucks coach Travis Green said Monday. “Better yesterday. Better today again.”Pettersson has five goals, eight points, leading Vancouver in both categories. He is expected to miss at least the next two games.“It’s tough to see an injury like that … (to) a player like that, who’s if not our best player, one of the best players in the league right now in my opinion,” Canucks forward Bo Horvat told NHL.com.Beagle is expected to miss six weeks because of a broken forearm he sustained blocking a shot.Green noted that Beagle’s injury has been overshadowed by Pettersson’s injury and the Matheson hit. Beagle has one assist.“It got lost in this a little bit,” Green said. “He’s also a big part of the group.”Vancouver recalled forward Adam Gaudette from Utica of the American Hockey League.The Penguins recalled forward Derek Grant from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while returning goaltender Tristan Jarry, who had been on an emergency recall. Pittsburgh has not yet replaced Schultz on the roster. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Predators coach Peter Laviolette’s biggest challenge adding Finnish scoring whiz Eeli Tolvanen has been finding a spot for the teenager in his lineup.Yes, the Nashville Predators are that deep.It’s why the defending Western Conference champions have turned in their best season yet with their sights set on finishing what they couldn’t a year ago. Savvy drafting, surprising trades and a handful of salary-cap friendly contract extensions have the Predators on the verge of what could be a dominant run in the NHL.Boston, the Los Angeles Kings and the Chicago Blackhawks have run into salary cap issues or injuries that slammed the window shut on chasing the Stanley Cup. Dean Lombardi, who won two Stanley Cups with the Kings, said he thinks Nashville general manager David Poile has done the best job yet giving the Predators the chance to compete for the next five years.”He’s still got to win it http://www.sabresshoponline.com/authentic-kyle-okposo-jersey , but I think he’s certainly positioned for that,” Lombardi said. ”To put a team of this quality together, which is one heck of a team. They can beat you in so many ways. They don’t have a weakness, and to be flexible going forward, I think is a remarkable job.”The Predators not only are in the playoffs for an 11th time in the franchise’s 20 years, they head into the postseason having clinched their first Central Division title and Western Conference regular-season title with a 4-3 win at Washington on Thursday night. Then a few minutes later, Boston’s 3-2 loss at Florida handed Nashville its first Presidents’ Trophy for good measure.Veteran center Mike Fisher, who unexpectedly came out of retirement in February to rejoin the Predators, sees an even deeper roster than a season ago. Despite not having a single player among the NHL scoring leaders, eight Predators have at least 48 points apiece this season along with four different 20-goal scorers.”No question it’s stronger than last year for sure, as strong as I’ve been a part of,” Fisher said. ”You look at last year, you lose a couple key guys, and it made it tough. We were still real close. You just never know. Hopefully, we stay healthy. But you just never know. It’s always great to have that.”Poile didn’t stand pat with a team that lost the final to Pittsburgh in six games.With Fisher taking until August to announce his retirement , Poile signed center Nick Bonino as a free agent. Poile also signed center Ryan Johansen to the longest and richest contract the Predators have ever given out on their own, signing the then 24-year-old center to an eight-year, $64 million deal in July a couple days after signing Viktor Arvidsson to a seven-year deal.Those contracts Rasmus Ristolainen Jersey , combined with a six-year deal in July 2016 for Filip Forsberg, tied up Nashville’s top line through the 2021-22 season for a tidy sum of $18.25 million per year.Poile joined Ottawa and Colorado in a three-way trade in November, bringing center Kyle Turris to Nashville . Poile also signed Turris to a six-year, $36 million extension, keeping him under contract through 2023-24 like Johansen and Arvidsson. The Predators gave Fisher a one-year deal.Poile still had enough money to land forward Ryan Hartman at the trade deadline from Chicago, a seller that will finish last in the Central Division.One deal that could haunt Nashville depends on defenseman Shea Weber, the former captain traded to Montreal for defenseman P.K. Subban . That deal netted the Predators a younger and cheaper defenseman, but Nashville needs Weber to play until he’s 40 to finish the 14-year, $110 million deal first offered by Philadelphia or face a salary cap hit that would cost more in 2025-26 than the Predators’ current defense corps.The Predators are focused on this postseason with Laviolette taking advantage of his depth not to rush anyone back from injury.”Winning always solves a lot of problems, and we’ve been able to do that inside of this game plan,” Laviolette said.To some critics, adding Tolvanen at the risk of needlessly burning a year on the forward’s entry-level contract seemed almost like too much.Not to the Predators who remember forward Kevin Fiala breaking his leg in their second-round series with St. Louis last spring or Johansen needing emergency surgery for acute compartment syndrome suffered during the Western Conference finals against Anaheim. Johansen said depth matters most in the playoffs.”We feel like we’re in a great spot right now going into this postseason,” Johansen said. ”We got a lot of bodies that can not only play certain roles, but versatile players that can step up and be great players in any area of the game. So for us, our team feels really confident in what our capabilities are.”—