Senators at Predators preview

SENATORS (21-30-12) at PREDATORS (30-23-8)
8 p.m. ET; RDS2, TSN5, FS-TN, NHL.TV

The Predators are 4-1-1 in their past six games and are two points behind the Calgary Flames and the Arizona Coyotes for the first wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. They traded defenseman Matt Irwin and a sixth-round draft pick in the 2022 NHL Draft for defenseman Korbinian Holzer on Monday.
Forward Anthony Duclair is not expected to play for Ottawa. He left a 4-3 overtime loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday with an undisclosed injury. Ottawa recalled forward Filip Chlapik from Belleville of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.
The Senators are 0-2-1 in their past three games and are 3-7-3 in their past 13.

Players to watch

Senators forward Brady Tkachuk has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games.
Predators forward Mikael Granlund has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"Our leadership is pretty good here. You've got [Ron Hainsey] in the room and that's great, but you've got [Thomas Chabot] and [Brady Tkachuk], they're taking over this team and these guys play hard every night. Both of them play a lot of minutes. When your best players play hard, everyone else is going to follow." -- Senators coach D.J. Smith
"Obviously we're chasing everybody with games in hand, and this is the time of year where you want to get hot going into the playoffs. We don't really have a choice other than to get hot to make the playoffs, so I think it works perfect for us. Get hot, you win the games to get in and then you just keep the momentum going through playoffs." -- Predators forward Kyle Turris

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Bobby Ryan -- Connor Brown
Artem Anisimov -- Chris Tierney -- Filip Chlapik
Nicholas Paul -- Colin White -- Matthew Peca
Rudolfs Balcers -- Mikkel Boedker -- Jayce Hawryluk
Thomas Chabot -- Ron Hainsey
Mike Reilly -- Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Englund -- Christian Jaros
Craig Anderson
Marcus Hogberg
Scratched:Scott Sabourin
Injured:Anders Nilsson (concussion), Mark Borowiecki (high ankle sprain), Anthony Duclair (undisclosed)

Predators projected lineup

Mikael Granlund -- Ryan Johansen -- Viktor Arvidsson
Filip Forsberg -- Matt Duchene -- Kyle Turris
Rocco Grimaldi -- Nick Bonino -- Craig Smith
Calle Jarnkrok -- Colton Sissons -- Colin Blackwell
Roman Josi -- Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm -- Dante Fabbro
Jarred Tinordi -- Yannick Weber
Juuse Saros
Pekka Rinne
Scratched:Korbinian Holzer, Austin Watson, Dan Hamhuis
Injured:None

Status report

The Senators did not hold a morning skate. … Predators coach John Hynes confirmed that Holzer will not play.

Stat pack

Anderson is 6-10-4 with a 3.23 goals-against average and a .898 save percentage in 23 games against the Predators. … Duchene has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in 14 career games against the Senators.