Three Things to Watch in Sports on Thursday
1: The Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins will try to slow the momentum of the tenacious Nashville Predators in a critical home game at PPG Paints Arena. With the series tied at 2-2, the Predators come off of two games in which they were dominant and stole the momentum away from the defending NHL Champs. Starting off 0-2, the Predators may be only the sixth team ever to win the Stanley Cup after coming back from such a deficit.
The game starts at 8 PM ET on NBC with the puck dropping shortly after the opening hoopla.
2: The NFL’s New York Jets continue their housecleaning after a 5-11 fiasco in 2016. The next head to roll could be wide receiver Eric Decker who despite his successful career with the Denver Broncos hasn’t panned out in the Big Apple. Of course, there’s a big difference between having passes thrown to you by Peyton Manning instead of scrubs the likes of Geno Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
The Jets will reportedly try to trade Decker but will likely end up cutting him. It could be Decker’s big day considering that New York’s top quarterback this year is journeyman Josh McCown and an assortment of inexperienced schmucks who will likely be out of the league within two years.
Some suggest that the Jets may be tanking the season to get a shot at USC quarterback Sam Darnold in next year’s draft. It would hard to argue based on their offseason moves.
3: Can Boston Red Sox pitcher David Price continue his strong comeback from injury? The American League’s Boston Red Sox have spent big to compete for another World Series title in the annual financial arms race with the New York Yankees.
While the Beantown Bombers have added former Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale this year, a lot of their hopes rest on the Cy Young award-winning journeyman Price being able to retain his form and then get his act together in the postseason.
The southpaw had been sidelined by an elbow injury but just returned in a strong outing against the White Sox last week.
He gets another shot tonight against the arch-rival Yankees in the Bronx at 7 pm ET in a game that will be televised on ESPN.
