Predators at Canadiens preview

PREDATORS (34-26-8) at CANADIENS (31-30-9)
7 p.m. ET; TSN2, RDS, FS-TN, NHL.TV

The Predators trail the Winnipeg Jets by two points and are one point behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card.
Goalie Juuse Saros will start for Nashville looking for his third consecutive shutout. He made a combined 70 saves in back-to-back wins against the Dallas Stars.
The Canadiens are eight points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card from the East and the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division. Montreal is 4-7-2 in its past 13 games.

Players to watch

Predators defenseman Roman Josi has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past six games.
Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber has scored two goals in four games against Nashville, where he played the first 11 seasons of his NHL career.

They said it

"He looks really comfortable. He's not letting a lot of rebounds up, some high danger chances that he's just swallowing up, and he's been excellent. Nothing but good things to say about how Juuse's been playing." -- Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis on goalie Juuse Saros
"Obviously we haven't been consistent enough and that's why we're not further up the standings. But there's a lot of room to grow and build and become that team we want to build, especially now, instead of waiting to get things started next year." -- Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber

Predators projected lineup

Filip Forsberg -- Matt Duchene -- Mikael Granlund
Colton Sissons -- Ryan Johansen -- Calle Jarnkrok
Yakov Trenin -- Kyle Turris -- Viktor Arvidsson
Rocco Grimaldi -- Nick Bonino -- Craig Smith
Roman Josi -- Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm -- Dante Fabbro
Jarred Tinordi -- Korbinian Holzer
Juuse Saros
Pekka Rinne
Scratched:Yannick Weber, Austin Watson, Colin Blackwell
Injured:Dan Hamhuis (lower body)

Canadiens projected lineup

Charles Hudon -- Max Domi -- Brendan Gallagher
Paul Byron -- Phillip Danault -- Joel Armia
Artturi Lehkonen -- Nick Suzuki -- Jordan Weal
Lukas Vejdemo -- Jake Evans -- Dale Weise
Ben Chiarot -- Shea Weber
Brett Kulak -- Jeff Petry
Xavier Ouellet -- Christian Folin
Carey Price
Charlie Lindgren
Scratched:Karl Alzner
Injured:Tomas Tatar (upper body), Jonathan Drouin (ankle), Victor Mete (broken foot)

Status report

Jarnkrok (undisclosed) is questionable, Predators coach John Hynes said. … Drouin practiced for a second straight day, but the forward has not received medical clearance to play. … Canadiens coach Claude Julien had no update on Tatar. The forward will miss his third straight game.

Stat pack

Nashville is 10-1-4 in its past 15 games against the Canadiens and has held them to two goals or fewer in 14 of them. … Montreal is 0-for-16 on the power play in its past eight games. … Weber leads active NHL defensemen and is tied with Sergei Gonchar for 10th in NHL history with 102 power-play goals. Brian Leetch (111) is ninth.