Game Day: Preds at Blackhawks Preview

The Nashville Predators (30-23-6) will look for their fourth straight road win as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks (21-35-5) in a Central Division showdown Saturday night at United Center.
The puck drops at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio. Here's everything you need to know:

Line 'Em Up

Below are Nashville's lines from Thursday at Florida:
Leonard - Glass - Duchene
Sherwood - Novak - Tomasino
Trenin - Sissons - Smith
Sanford - Jankowski - Evangelista
Josi - Carrier
McDonagh - Barrie
Lauzon - Fabbro
Lankinen

Last Time Out

Nashville improved to 14-12-3 on the road in 2022-23 with Thursday's 2-1 win over Florida. The Predators closed out their two-game, regular-season series against the Panthers with a 2-0-0 record.
Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves, including 15 in the second period, to pick up his seventh win of the season. Tyson Barrie skated 21:58 in his Predators debut while John Leonard, who was also making his Predators debut, scored his first career game-winning goal.
Luke Evangelista recorded his first career NHL point with an assist on Matt Duchene's power-play goal. Duchene moved into a tie with Filip Forsberg for the most goals on the team (19), and Roman Josi tallied two assists.

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 64-50-(4)-12 all-time against the Blackhawks, including a 28-28-(1)-9 record on the road. This is the second of three matchups between Nashville and Chicago in 2022-23 and the second and final at United Center. Nashville is 1-0-0 against Chicago this season, securing a 4-2 win on the road on Dec. 21 in a game that saw Josi pass David Legwand for the most points in franchise history.
The Predators have earned at least a point in 22 of their last 25 games against the Blackhawks (18-3-4), holding Chicago to two-or-fewer goals 21 times in that span. Nashville is currently on a 15-game point streak against Chicago (12-0-3), its longest active point streak against a single opponent.
This will be the 131st time the Predators and Blackhawks clash in the regular season, Nashville's most games played against a single opponent.

Notables vs. Chicago

• Juuse Saros is 9-2-2 with a 2.13 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and one shutout in 14 career appearances vs. the Blackhawks.
• Lankinen played the first 69 games of his NHL career with Chicago from 2020-22. He went 25-29-11 and posted a 3.23 goals-against average and .901 save percentage for the Blackhawks.
• Dante Fabbro scored his first career NHL goal on April 6, 2019 vs. Chicago (Cam Ward).
• Predators prospect Ryan Ufko won the USHL's Clark Cup with the Chicago Steel in 2020-21.
• Predators prospect Spencer Stastney is a product of the Chicago Mission youth hockey program.
• Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones was drafted fourth overall by the Predators in 2013; he skated in 199 games for Nashville from 2013-16, tallying 63 points (15g-48a).
• Chicago forward Colin Blackwell made his NHL debut with Nashville in 2018-19 and skated in 33 total games with the Predators, recording 10 points (3g-7a).
• Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi played in 35 games with the Predators from 2019-21.

The Good Guys

• Saros is 20-11-4 with a 2.61 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in his last 35 games dating back to Nov. 12. His 20 wins in that time frame are tied for the third-most in the NHL. He's made at least 30 saves in 20 of his last 34 games; he's faced at least 30 shots in 25 of those outings.
• Josi owns the Predators team lead in points with 56 (17g-39a). He has 52 points (16g-36a) in his last 50 games after recording two assists on Thursday at Florida, and he has recorded at least one point in 21 of his last 26 contests.
• Duchene has 29 points (13g-16a) in his last 31 games, including two consecutive three-point efforts on Feb. 23 at San Jose (3a) and Feb. 26 at Arizona (1g-2a). He's recorded points in nine of his last 14 games (8g-8a), tallying multiple points in five of those outings.
• Tommy Novak has 22 points (9g-13a) in 28 games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19. He recorded his first career multi-goal game on Feb. 18 vs. Florida (2g), followed it up with a season-high three points on Feb. 19 at Minnesota (1g-2a) and tallied another three-point effort on Sunday at Arizona (1g-2a).

The Other Guys

The Blackhawks currently sit in last place in the Western Conference with 47 points. They enter Saturday's contest on a three-game losing streak, their last win coming in a shootout vs. Dallas on Feb. 18. Jones leads all active Blackhawks skaters with 28 points (7g-21a).

Watch & Listen

Coverage for Saturday's game begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on Bally Sports South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.
Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM.