Pre-Game Capsule: Coyotes vs. Predators

GAME 42:
Coyotes (9-27-5) vs. Predators (23-11-5)
Arizona will play its first game of 2018 and its first game of the second half of the season on Thursday night when it hosts Nashville in Glendale.

WHERE: Gila River Arena
WHEN: 7 p.m. (AZ time)
TV: FOX Sports Arizona
RADIO:ESPN 620 AM

KEY FACTS:
• The Coyotes have not played since New Year's Eve when they lost at Anaheim, 5-2, in a matinee. The team practiced Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at Gila River Arena.
"We didn't have much practice in the first couple months and I'm convinced some of those losses were because of it," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "There's pressure situations your team is put in during the last five minutes of a game … You have to simulate that in practice. You can't just sit and watch video of the play. Young guys need reps. Maybe with a veteran team you can get away with it, but we can't and that's why practice is so big with our team."
• The Coyotes are 5-1-1 vs. Nashville at home since the start of the 2012-13 season and outscored the Predators, 21-14, in those seven games. Nashville hasn't beaten Arizona in Glendale in regulation since Dec. 11, 2014.
• Antti Raanta will start in goal and make his fifth career appearance vs. Nashville. He has posted a 1-2-0 record and a 3.28 goals-against average in four games vs. the Preds to date.

• Clayton Keller will enter the game with a career-high eight-game point streak that includes three goals and six assists. The rookie forward's streak is the longest active point streak in the NHL and is tied for the fifth-longest among rookies in franchise history. Keller ranks second among NHL rookies in goals (14) and third in points (32).

• Brendan Perlini scored a goal in back-to-back games to close 2017. He has 10 on the season after scoring 14 last season in 57 games. The second-year forward is just the third player in Coyotes history to score 10 goals or more in his first two NHL seasons. Peter Mueller and Tobias Rieder are the others.
• Arizona will again play minus defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson (upper-body injury), and forwards Brad Richardson (upper-body injury) and Zac Rinaldo (suspension).
• The Predators, who are 8-4-2 in their past 14 games, last played on Tuesday and lost, 3-0, at Vegas. Nashville, which ranks fifth in the Western Conference with 51 points, will be without Filip Forsberg, who leads the team with 15 goals and 34 points. The team announced on Wednesday that Forsberg will miss the next four to six weeks because of an upper-body injury he suffered on Dec. 29. P.K. Subban leads the team with 20 assists. Kyle Turris has produced five goals and 13 assists in 24 games since being traded to Nashville from Ottawa earlier this season. Pekka Rinne has won 19 of his 30 starts this season and is tied for fourth in the NHL with three shutouts.

COYOTE BITES
• "We had three very good practices this week and were able to get back to focussing on the details of the game. All three practices had a very high pace. We've just got to carry that energy into the game with Nashville and perform the right way." -- Jason Demers
• "Facing another Finnish goalie always brings a little extra excitement to the game for me. You want to try to have some fun with it, but you also want to make sure you make the saves when you need to and win the game." -- Antti Raanta on tending goal vs. Nashville's Pekka Rinne (or Juuse Saros)
• "Their lines are deep, they've got a good goalie and they've got six good defensemen. The main thing we're going to have to do is outwork them every shift, every play and every one-on-one battle." -- Josh Archibald on Predators