Oilers at Predators preview

OILERS (18-22-3) at PREDATORS (24-11-6)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN1, SNE, SNO, TVA Sports NHL.TV

The Oilers, playing the third game of a five-game road trip, are 1-5-1 in their past seven games. They haven't defeated the Predators since March 18, 2014.
Nashville has gone 2-1-1 without forward Filip Forsberg, who is expected to miss four to six weeks with an upper-body injury.

Players to watch

Oilers forward Connor McDavid has two points (two assists) in his past six games after scoring 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in his previous 12 games.
Predators defenseman P.K. Subban has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past five games and 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

"Having the day off yesterday, it's easy to kind of bury the last two [games]. You watch a few review clips to just review your game and where it's at, but you're coming into this one pretty fresh and ready for a good opponent." -- Oilers forward Mark Letestu
"To me, any time a team hasn't found the win column like they want to find it, it creates a lot of meetings and a lot of intensity in the opposition's room. They're going to win at some point. Our job is to make sure it's not tonight. We've got to prepare ourselves for what might be the toughest game we've seen in a while." -- Predators coach Peter Laviolette on the Oilers

Oilers projected lineup

Pat Maroon -- Connor McDavid -- Leon Draisaitl
Milan Lucic -- Ryan Nugent-Hopkins --
Jesse Puljujarvi
Jujhar Khaira -- Ryan Strome -- Michael Cammalleri
Drake Caggiula -- Mark Letestu -- Zack Kassian
Andrej Sekera -- Kris Russell
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Oscar Klefbom -- Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Al Montoya
Scratched:Yohann Auvitu, Brandon Davidson, Anton Slepyshev
Injured:None

Predators projected lineup

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

Status report

Caggiula, who didn't play in a 4-1 loss to Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, will be back in the lineup alongside Letestu and Kassian. Sekera was paired with Russell at the morning skate. … The Predators held an optional morning skate.

Stat pack

Lucic has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in 15 career games against the Predators. … Rinne is 18-6-1 with a 2.37 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage in 28 career games against the Oilers.