Game Day: Stars vs. Preds Preview

One night after falling to Tampa Bay, the Nashville Predators have turned their attention to the Dallas Stars, with another crucial contest tonight at Bridgestone Arena. Tonight marks the seventh of eight meetings between the two clubs with Nashville holding a 3-3-0 record thus far.
Despite a 3-0 loss to the Lightning on Saturday night, the Preds received some good news, as Associate Captain Ryan Ellis returned to the lineup after missing 20 games due to injury. Ellis witnessed a rejuvenated Predators team in person for the first time in over a month, and just as they've done over the past few weeks, Nashville played to their identity that has made them successful.
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\[Read More: Preds Projected Lineup vs. Dallas\]

"I felt better than expected, and the team as a whole, it's like night and day," Ellis said. "When I got hurt, every night was a battle, and we were working, but nothing was happening for us. Tonight, I mean, it felt like years past where we were just buzzing in the O-zone, making good plays, getting chances, and obviously we didn't connect on any… but it felt, one, good to be back, but two, I think the way the team played, it was definitely not the result, but the identity was there."
"The most important thing is when you're in these situations, you can't get too high, you can't get too low," Hynes said. "We played a pretty good game, obviously, wasn't good enough to find a way to win it, but you really have to turn the page. Our focus now is not to sit and dwell on this when we've got a big game tomorrow. We've got a tough team coming in here to play, and we've got to make sure that we're ready for Dallas."
Despite the return of Ellis, the Predators are still without nine skaters due to injury, including forwards Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene and Eeli Tolvanen. Nashville will not hold a morning skate today on the second half of the back-to-back weekend.
Update: The Preds have recalled forward Tanner Jeannot from Chicago (AHL). Forward Mathieu Olivier (lower-body) has been placed on injured reserve.

The Good Guys:
Pekka Rinne made 30 saves on Saturday night, as he started for the first time in six games. Although they registered 36 shots, Nashville was shut out for the fourth time this season.
Preds Captain Roman Josi is the team's active leader in scoring with 24 points (4g-20a), followed by Viktor Arvidsson with 21 points (8g-13a) and Calle Jarnkrok with 20 points (11g-9a). Mikael Granlund has reached the double-digit mark with 10 goals on the season, and both he (10g-7a) and Mattias Ekholm (5g-12a) have 17 points apiece. Juuse Saros is 13-7-0 on the season, while Rinne has a 9-12-1 record.

The Opposition:
The Stars have won their last two outings, including a 4-1 victory over the Panthers on Saturday. Dallas also won the previous meeting in Nashville by a 4-1 count back on April 1. The Stars have three games in hand and are just five points back of the Preds for the fourth spot in the Central Division.
Joe Pavelski leads the Stars with 15 goals and 37 points, followed by Roope Hintz with 30 points (12g-18a) and Jason Robertson with 27 points (11g-16a). Anton Khudobin got the win for Dallas on Saturday; he's 9-9-4 on the season, while Jake Oettinger is 6-5-6.
All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 43-45-(1)-5 all-time against the Stars, including a 27-17-(1)-2 record at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville has won three of its last four over Dallas - all coming in either overtime or a shootout - after dropping its first two meetings this season.
The Preds have earned at least a point in 14 of their last 21 games versus Dallas (13-7-1), and Nashville has scored at least four goals (including the shootout winner) in 10 of its last 15 victories over Dallas.

Notables Versus Dallas:
Juuse Saros is 7-3-1 in his career versus Dallas, posting two shutouts, a 2.51 goals-against average and .920 save percentage in 11 career games against the Stars. Mikael Granlund has 27 points (9g-18a) in 34 career contests vs. Dallas; he recorded an individual 12-game point streak (3g-14a) against the Stars from Oct. 29, 2016 to Feb. 1, 2019.
Viktor Arvidsson has five points (5a) in his last eight games versus the Stars; he has 19 points (6g-13a) in 28 career games against Dallas. Roman Josi owns 30 career points (11g-19a) versus the Stars, his second-most against a single opponent in his NHL career.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for this evening's 7 p.m. CT puck drop from Nashville begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators Live! pregame show on Bally Sports South hosted by Lyndsay Rowley and Terry Crisp. Willy Daunic, Chris Mason and Kara Hammer have the call on the television side, while Pete Weber and Hal Gill will broadcast on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. Pregame coverage on the radio begins at 6 p.m. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
.
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All of Bally Sports South's channel locations and programming remains the same
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Streaming Info:
Listen to a Live Radio Feed
(only active during the game broadcast window).
Watch a Live Stream of the game
on the Fox Sports Go App or
Watch on NHL.TV
\As we transition to Bally Sports, one of our primary goals was to ensure that local fans and subscribers everywhere still get their teams whenever and wherever they want. The FOX Sports GO app will remain functional until the transition is complete. Once the Bally Sports app becomes widely available, the FOX Sports GO app will update to the all-new Bally Sports app. If a fan has updates enabled, the app will transition automatically; if not, they will need to manually update the app.