Pekka Rinne set to return after knee injury

The Predators will play the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday in a match-up of the Western Conference's top two teams. Everyone saw that coming at the start of the year.

And after 22 days injured with a knee problem, Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne will return for said game and is expected to start. He was supposed to miss 3-to-5 weeks. This would fall on the shorter end.

Per the team's website:

"I feel really good," Rinne said. "I feel 100 percent and feel ready to go. It's never a good time to be injured, but I'm feeling good."

Rinne still leads the NHL in wins wth 29, in spite of his injury, which occurred Jan. 13 against Vancouver. With Rinne out, backup Carter Hutton went 4-1-2, and will be lauded as a 'Save of the Year' possibility with this absurd stop Tuesday night against Toronto. That could be back-to-back honors for Hutton on this blog, but that's another story...

But did Hutton's success damage Rinne's Hart Trophy chances? He was our runaway leader at NHL's midway point. Nashville went 4-2-2 overall without Rinne, a stretch that included five road games. But he still has a 1.96 goals against average and .931 save percentage, so he's at least still the Vezina front-runner.

Either way, Rinne got his rest. Hutton got some work, and the Predators still have the best record in the NHL.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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