The Nashville Predators headed north for the beginning of a slackened Canadian road trip (their planned Thursday game against the Ottawa Senators has been rescheduled due to COVID-19 concerns with the Sens’ roster). Tonight’s opponent was the Toronto Maple Leafs, on a similar hot streak; one of these teams was going to have to take a cold dose of reality.
Ryan Johansen and Philip Tomasino had a spectacular chance within the game’s first minute, but Tomasino’s shot went off the post. It was a great start, but the Preds didn’t get much momentum out of it; play was back and forth for the next several minutes, with the Leafs getting a great chance of their own around five minutes in.