Maple Leafs at Predators preview

MAPLE LEAFS (43-23-7) at PREDATORS (48-14-10)
8 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNO, FS-TN, NHL.TV

The Maple Leafs are third in the Atlantic Division, seven points behind the second-place Boston Bruins. They're 4-1-0 in their past five games and 13-4-2 in their past 19.
The Predators lead the NHL with 106 points, two ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning and four in front of the Bruins. They're 14-0-1 in their past 15 games and 25-4-5 since defenseman Ryan Ellis returned to the lineup Jan. 2.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner has eight points (two goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak.
Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson has 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his past 15 games.

They said it

"You're pretty excited to play, obviously, when you're gone for a bit. It's the same thing for me tonight, I'm excited to get back in the lineup and do my thing to help the team win." -- Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews
"Our strength in our team is our depth. When we have our full team, we're very, very hard to beat when we're rolling four lines and definitely on defense. Defense is so important. Obviously, we know his importance to our team, and you can see that. You can see that every night when he plays." -- Predators defenseman P.K. Subban on Ryan Ellis

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Mitchell Marner
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown
Andreas Johnsson -- Tomas Plekanec -- Kasperi Kapanen
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Nikita Zaitsev -- Jake Gardiner
Travis Dermott -- Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Josh Leivo, Dominic Moore, Matt Martin, Connor Carrick
Injured: Leo Komarov (lower body)

Predators projected lineup

Filip Forsberg -- Ryan Johansen -- Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala -- Kyle Turris -- Craig Smith
Colton Sissons -- Nick Bonino -- Ryan Hartman
Scott Hartnell -- Mike Fisher -- Austin Watson
Roman Josi -- Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm -- P.K. Subban
Alexei Emelin -- Matt Irwin
Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros
Scratched:Miikka Salomaki, Anthony Bitetto, Yannick Weber
Injured:Calle Jarnkrok (upper body)

Status report

Zaitsev returns after missing five games with an illness.

Stat pack

Marleau has 51 points (21 goals, 30 assists) in 66 games against the Predators. … Subban has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in 32 games against the Maple Leafs. Rinne is 11-0-0 with a 1.64 goals-against average, .950 save percentage and three shutouts in his past 11 starts. Turris will play his 600th NHL game.