Fisher out for Predators against Canadiens

Saturday, 10.19.2013 / 7:13 PM

By Arpon Basu - Managing Editor LNH.com / 2013-2014 At the Rink Blog

E-mail

MONTREAL -- Center Mike Fisher did not dress for the Nashville Predators against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday with what the team called a lower-body injury.

Fisher is listed as day-to-day with the Predators to play Sunday at the Winnipeg Jets.

The Predators lose their leading scorer; Fisher was tied for the team scoring lead with five points in seven games and was one of two players who had scored as many as two goals this season prior to this game.

Nick Spaling, who had been scratched for three games in a row, took Fisher’s spot on a line with Eric Nystrom and rookie Filip Forsberg.

Pekka Rinne gets his eighth straight start in goal for Nashville, and Carey Price was in the Montreal net.

The Canadiens held an optional skate Saturday morning but there was a strong possibility that rookie defenseman Nathan Beaulieu draws in for fellow rookie Jarred Tinordi.

Montreal coach Michel Therrien, who did not speak to reporters Saturday, said before his team's 5-3 win Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets that he would like to see one of the rookie defensemen "step up" and grab the sixth spot on Montreal's blue line. Tinordi then played 10:29 in the game that night, and he and Beaulieu have alternated the last four games, so there is little reason to believe that will change.

Here are the projected lineups for the Predators and Canadiens assuming Fisher doesn't play. If Fisher does play, he would skate in Spaling's spot.

PREDATORS

Colin Wilson - David Legwand - Patric Hornqvist

Gabriel Bourque - Matt Cullen - Craig Smith

Eric Nystrom - Nick Spaling - Filip Forsberg

Viktor Stalberg - Paul Gaustad - Matt Hendricks

Seth Jones - Shea Weber

Mattias Ekholm - Kevin Klein

Victor Bartley - Ryan Ellis

Pekka Rinne

Carter Hutton

Scratched: Rich Clune