Stars' Seguin to play; Hutton starts for Predators

Seguin left in the third period of a 4-3 win against the Washington Capitals on Saturday after being cut in the arm by a skate. Forward Cody Eakin also left the game with an undisclosed injury but took line rushes at the Stars' morning skate. 

"Eakin's is whether the muscle can loosen up or not for him to play," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "I think watching [Seguin] shoot, I think he's fine." 

Seguin's line with captain Jamie Benn and Patrick Eaves has been productive lately. Eaves has eight points in his past five games and has had instant chemistry with his new linemates. 

"He's a guy that goes to the net hard," Seguin said. "He always seems to be able to find those spots and he's got a great release so it's kind of given us that added scoring touch. He's done a good job." 

Goaltender Carter Hutton will start his second consecutive game for the Predators. He is coming off a 5-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Saturday and has allowed one goal in his past three appearances. 

"I thought I'm seeing the puck well," Hutton said. "Just trying to be aggressive, make plays. I thought our [defense] do a great job. They had some first shots, but other than that there wasn't too many chances. Just the same way I've approached these games like I approach every game, just try to play my style of play, compete and have fun." 

Hutton believes the Predators will have to be disruptive in the neutral zone to slow down a potent Stars offense. 

"I think just keep doing what we're doing," Hutton said. "Our [defense] is so solid and our forwards help out so much. I think we've done a good job all year. Just try to clog up the neutral zone a little bit and try to force them to dump pucks and hopefully be able to handle some pucks and make some breakouts. Just compete. They're going to get chances. They're a good team. It's just like any game in this League, teams get chances. I think for us, we've just got to keep to the script here." 

Here are the projected lineups: 

STARS 

Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Patrick Eaves 

Antoine Roussel - Cody Eakin - Patrick Sharp  

Valeri Nichushkin - Mattias Janmark - Ales Hemsky  

Vernon Fiddler - Radek Faksa - Colton Sceviour  

Alex Goligoski - John Klingberg  

Johnny Oduya - Jason Demers  

Patrik Nemeth - Jordie Benn  

Antti Niemi  

Kari Lehtonen  

Scratched: Curtis McKenzie, Jamie Oleksiak, Jyrki Jokipakka  

Injured: Jason Spezza (upper body), Travis Moen (lower body) 

PREDATORS 

Calle Jarnkrok - Ryan Johansen - James Neal  

Filip Forsberg - Mike Ribeiro - Craig Smith  

Colin Wilson - Mike Fisher - Viktor Arvidsson  

Miikka Salomaki - Paul Gaustad - Austin Watson  

Roman Josi - Shea Weber  

Mattias Ekholm - Ryan Ellis  

Anthony Bitetto - Barret Jackman  

Carter Hutton 

Pekka Rinne  

Scratched: Petter Granberg, Cody Bass  

Injured: Gabriel Bourque (upper body), Eric Nystrom (broken foot) 

Status report: Spezza skated in a non-contact jersey and Ruff said he could be back by the end of the week. … Niemi is expected to start for the Stars. … The Predators will go with the same lineup from Saturday. 

Who's hot: Neal has three goals and one assist in his past four games.