Game Day: Preds at Golden Knights Preview

After starting 2022 with a victory in Nashville on New Year's Day, the Predators are headed west, and their three-game road trip begins tonight against the Golden Knights in Vegas. Tonight's matchup is the second of three meetings between the two clubs this season; the Preds dropped a 5-2 decision to Vegas the day before Thanksgiving at Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators concluded 2021 with a pair of losses in a back-to-back set at Washington and Columbus, but they returned home to defeat Chicago by a 6-1 score on Saturday for their 20th win of the campaign.

Despite those results on both ends of the calendar flip, the Predators say perhaps they deserved a reversed fate on different occasions. A 4-3 shootout loss in Columbus saw the Preds control the play and beat the Blue Jackets in virtually every statistical category, and yet Saturday's five-goal win didn't see Nashville perform the way they'd like to from a gameplan standpoint, especially when it comes to the identity Preds Head Coach John Hynes wants to see from his club.
Following a day off Sunday, the Predators were back at practice on Monday before jetting off to Nevada, and they feel a slight reset has been completed ahead of tonight's game in Vegas.
"Hockey's funny sometimes," Preds forward Nick Cousins said Monday. "I feel like against Columbus, we probably outplayed them the majority of the game and then obviously didn't find a way to get the win in the shootout. And then against Chicago, it was kind of a different story. I feel like they kind of outplayed us and kind of took it to us for the majority of the game. We just got opportunistic scoring, and obviously the power play came through and special teams kind of won us that game. So, going out west, we're going to play three tough teams in three tough barns, so we went over some video this morning, had a good practice and we've got to be ready to go against those three teams."

"It's something we talked with the team about was just playing to the identity we want to play with," Hynes said following Monday's practice. "Certain components of our game; our offensive zone time or puck possession, our chances, our shot attempts for versus shot attempts against versus Columbus, those numbers were pretty good, but we didn't win the game. But the Chicago game we didn't really play the way that we wanted, but we got opportunistic scoring. So, today was about really understanding that regardless of the end result, how are we playing the game, and we've talked about some things we can do a little bit better today. We had a good practice, and we're going to try to make sure we get right back to the identity that gives us the best chance to win."
Defenseman Dante Fabbro was added to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list on Saturday and did not play against the Blackhawks. On Monday, the Predators recalled defenseman Matt Tennyson from Milwaukee to the taxi squad. Captain Roman Josi and forward Colton Sissons returned Saturday after missing two games due to COVID protocol; forward Tommy Novak has missed the last three games on the protocol list.

The Good Guys:

Tanner Jeannot tallied twice in Saturday's 6-1 victory over the Blackhawks, while Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, Nick Cousins and Roman Josi also found the back of the net. Goaltender Juuse Saros made 37 saves in net for his 16th victory of the season.
Josi (11g-19a) leads the team with 30 points, followed by Matt Duchene (13g-16a) and Mikael Granlund (5g-24a) with 29 points apiece. Johansen has 10 goals and 27 points on the season, Forsberg leads the team with 15 goals in 24 games, and Jeannot has 10 goals and 20 points - a goal total tied for the League lead among rookies. Saros is 16-9-1 in net with a .925 save percentage.

The Opposition:

The Golden Knights (22-12-1) dropped a 5-4 decision in overtime against Winnipeg on Sunday to start the new year. Prior to that, Vegas had won seven of eight games to finish out 2021. Chandler Stephenson (10g-24a) leads the team with 34 points, followed by Reilly Smith (11g-15a) with 26 points, and then Jonathan Marchessault (16g-8a) with Shea Theodore (6g-18a) with 24 points each. Goaltender Robin Lehner is 14-9-0 in net this season for Vegas; Laurent Brosoit is 8-3-1.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 4-4-2 all-time against the Golden Knights, including a 2-2-0 record on the road. Nashville has won four of its last eight games against Vegas, allowing one goal or fewer in three of those victories. The Preds are 2-2-0 in four regular-season games at T-Mobile Arena, winning two of their last three games at the venue.

Notables Versus Vegas:

Juuse Saros is 3-2-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average, .934 save percentage and one shutout vs. Vegas in his career. Saros made a then career-high 47 saves in Nashville's 2-1 victory at Vegas on Jan. 23, 2019. He also recorded a 43-save shutout against Vegas on Jan. 16, 2018, becoming the first Preds goaltender to record multiple 40-plus save shutouts in the same season.
Roman Josi (6a) and Matt Duchene (4g-2a) both have six career points against Vegas, the most among all current Nashville skaters. Josi has two career multi-point outings vs. Vegas, the most recent coming on Nov. 17, 2019 (2a). Mikael Granlund owns four points (2g-2a) in nine career meetings with the Golden Knights.
Nick Cousins skated in seven regular-season and 17 postseason games with Vegas in 2019-20, helping the Golden Knights reach the Western Conference Final.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for tonight's 9 p.m. CT puck drop from Vegas begins at 8:30 p.m. CT with the Predators Live! pregame show on Bally Sports South. Willy Daunic, Hal Gill and Lyndsay Rowley have the call on the television side, while Pete Weber will broadcast on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. Pregame coverage on the radio begins at 8 p.m. with Darren McFarland. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
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