After collecting four out of a possible six points on their three-game road trip, the Nashville Predators are back home tonight to host the St. Louis Blues for a 7 p.m. CT puck drop at Bridgestone Arena. This evening’s contest is the fourth and final meeting of the season between the division rivals; the Preds beat the Blues in two of three games in December.
Following a pair of overtime losses to start their trip, the Predators came back to beat the Islanders by a 4-3 final on Saturday night to “win the week” and keep pace in the Western Conference Wild Card race. Now, with just three games to go before the Olympic break, the Preds are focused on more of the same before the hiatus.
“Three big games - I think you want to put yourself in a really good position before the Olympic break,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said following Saturday’s win. “We talked about winning the week, and you won this week, and there's another week coming with some good teams. There’s going to be some big games, and we need some points.”
“Same thing - win the week,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of his team’s mindset. “This one got a little dicey early in the game…but we ended up winning the week. That's big. Now, we’ve got to turn the page and move on. It's a really big week for us. Heading into the break, we want to put ourselves in a position here to really get to where we want to go.”
Defenseman Nick Blankenburg did not play Saturday night and is day-to-day with an illness. Andreas Englund rejoined the Nashville lineup and skated alongside Justin Barron.
The Good Guys:
Josi’s 200th NHL goal proved to be the game-winner on Saturday night as the captain scored with just 1:14 to play in regulation time. Filip Forsberg tallied twice in the win, and Matthew Wood posted a goal and an assist as well.
Ryan O’Reilly (18g-33a) continues to lead the club with 51 points, followed by Forsberg (22g-21a) with 43 points and Steven Stamkos with 25 goals and 39 points. Luke Evangelista has 31 assists and 38 points; Josi has 10 goals and 33 points. Juuse Saros got the win on Saturday and is 21-17-4 on the season; Justus Annunen is 4-6-2.
The Opposition:
The Blues have dropped six of their last seven outings, including a 5-3 loss to Columbus on Saturday. Robert Thomas (11g-22a) leads the team with 33 points, followed by Pavel Buchnevich (9g-21a) with 30 points. Jordan Binnington is 8-16-6 in net; Joel Hofer is 12-10-3.
All-Time Meetings:
The Preds are 66-53-(4)-13 all-time against the Blues, including a 36-21-(3)-7 mark at home. Nashville is 5-5-0 in the last 10 outings versus St. Louis and 2-3-0 in the last five at Bridgestone Arena.
Nashville has won 19 of its last 34 games against St. Louis – including 17 of its last 31 – and has scored at least four goals in 15 of those wins, including two victories this season.
Nashville Notables:
The Predators enter tonight’s game with a 19-11-2 record (40 points) in their last 32 games dating back to Nov. 26. In that span, Nashville’s 19 wins are the third-most in the Western Conference.
Nashville’s special teams have ranked among the NHL’s best as of late – the Predators’ penalty kill on home ice is second in the League at 84.9 percent. Nashville has scored a power-play goal in seven of its last 10 games (9-for-32).
The Preds posted their 16th comeback win of the season on Saturday; Montreal is the only team with more (17).
Filip Forsberg notched his 51st career multi-goal game (2g) and moved within one of tying Markus Naslund (52) for the fifth-most by a Swedish player in NHL history. Mats Sundin leads the list with 81.
Roman Josi became the 24th defenseman in NHL history to reach the 200-goal milestone. Josi became the fifth defenseman born outside of North America with 200 career goals. The tally was also his 10th of the season, his 11th campaign finding the back of the net at least 10 times; the only active blueliner with more is Brent Burns (13). He tied Erik Karlsson and Brian Leetch (38) for the 10th-most game-winning goals in NHL history by a defenseman.
Milestone Watch:
Andreas Englund is one game from 200 in his NHL career.
Michael Bunting is two games from 400 in his NHL career.
Jonathan Marchessault is three assists from 300 in his NHL career.
Brady Skjei is four points from 300 in his NHL career.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for this evening’s contest begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley and Hal Gill. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic, analyst Chris Mason and rinkside reporter Kara Hammer will have the call on the television side.
Voice of the Predators Pete Weber and Jay More will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network, with pregame, postgame and intermission coverage by Max Herz beginning one hour before puck drop. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM. (El partido también se transmite en español por El Jefe en 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM y 810 AM.)
