Coyotes at Predators preview

COYOTES (10-28-8) at PREDATORS (26-11-6)
8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-A, NHL.TV

Winnipeg is on its five-day break and does not play until Saturday.
The Predators are dealing with injuries to their forwards. Filip Forsberg is out with an upper-body injury and Viktor Arvidsson missed a 1-0 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday with an undisclosed injury. Ryan Johansen left the game against the Golden Knights in the second period after being hit by Golden Knights forward William Carrier, but was able to practice Wednesday.
The Coyotes are 0-3-1 in their past four games and 3-10-4 in their past 17. However, they defeated the Predators 3-2 in overtime at Gila River Arena on Jan. 4.

Players to watch

Coyotes rookie forward Clayton Keller has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past 13 games.
Predators defenseman P.K. Subban has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in his past 14 games and has four assists in a three-game point streak.

They said it

"This is why we play hockey. It's always fun to come in here. It's always loud and a sold-out building. It's a good challenge for our team, and we've got to have fun with it." -- Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson
"They have a very fast and skilled team, even with the results. You want to get off to a good start and you want to control the puck. You want to control the play and don't let the game be dictated by their speed. It's a dangerous team like we saw in Arizona." -- Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne

Coyotes projected lineup

Brendan Perlini -- Derek Stepan -- Richard Panik
Tobias Rieder -- Max Domi -- Christian Fischer
Clayton Keller -- Christian Dvorak -- Josh Archibald
Zac Rinaldo -- Brad Richardson -- Jordan Martinook
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Alex Goligoski -- Luke Schenn
Antti Raanta
Scott Wedgewood
Scratched: Freddie Hamilton, Nick Cousins, Kevin Connauton
Injured: None

Predators projected lineup

Kevin Fiala -- Ryan Johansen -- Calle Jarnkrok
Scott Hartnell -- Kyle Turris -- Craig Smith
Miikka Salomaki -- Nick Bonino -- Colton Sissons
Pontus Aberg --
Frederick Gaudreau
-- Austin Watson
Roman Josi -- Ryan Ellis
Alexei Emelin -- P.K. Subban
Mattias Ekholm -- Matt Irwin
Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros
Scratched: Anthony Bitetto, Yannick Weber, Cody McLeod
Injured:Filip Forsberg (upper body), Viktor Arvidsson (undisclosed)

Status report

The Coyotes and Predators each held an optional morning skate. ... Forsberg and Arvidsson skated before practice Wednesday.

Stat pack

Ekman-Larsson has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 23 games against the Predators. … Smith has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 19 games against the Coyotes.