Game Day: Preds at Wild Preview

Fresh off a 7-3 home win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday, the Nashville Predators (26-21-6) hit the road for a matinee matchup against the Minnesota Wild (29-21-5) Sunday afternoon at Xcel Energy Center.
The puck drops at 1 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 Saturday vs. Florida:
Granlund - Johansen - Duchene
Niederreiter - Glass - Tomasino
Trenin - Sissons - Jeannot
Smith - Novak - Parssinen
McDonagh - Josi
Ekholm - Lauzon
Gravel - Fabbro
Lankinen

The Good Guys

• Goaltender Juuse Saros is 17-9-4 with a 2.58 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in his last 30 games dating back to Nov. 12. His 17 wins in that time frame are tied for the fourth-most in the NHL.
• Roman Josi owns the Predators team lead in points with 47 (14g-33a). He has 43 points (13g-30a) in his last 44 games after tallying three points (1g-2a) on Saturday vs. Florida. Josi has recorded at least one point in 16 of his last 20 contests, and he posted a season-high six-game point streak from Jan. 21-Feb. 13 (1g-7a).
• Matt Duchene has 22 points (11g-11a) in his last 25 games, including his first multi-goal game of the season on Jan. 24 vs. Los Angeles. He's recorded points in six of his last eight games (6g-3a), tallying multiple points in three of those outings.
• Tommy Novak has 13 points (6g-7a) in 22 games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19. He recorded his first career multi-goal game on Saturday vs. Florida (2g).

The Other Guys

Three of Minnesota's last four games have ended in a shootout, including Friday's 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars. The Wild have not won a game in regulation since Jan. 17 at Washington.
Kirill Kaprizov leads the Wild with 64 points (31g-33a), and his 31 goals are also a team high. Goaltender Filip Gustavsson ranks second in the NHL in both Goals Against Average (2.12) and Save Percentage (.928).

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 43-26-(5)-9 all-time against the Wild, including a 17-17-(3)-4 record on the road. This is the second of three matchups between Nashville and Minnesota in 2022-23 and the first and only at Xcel Energy Center.
Nashville is 1-0-0 against Minnesota this season, earning a 2-1 home win on Nov. 15. The Predators have won 11 of their last 13 games vs. the Wild, a stretch that included a seven-game win streak from March 27, 2018-Oct. 24, 2019. Nashville allowed two-or-fewer goals in six of those seven wins.

Notables vs. Minnesota

• Josi tallied 12 points (4g-8a) in four games against the Wild last season. Two of his four four-point efforts in 2021-22 came against Minnesota.
• Filip Forsberg scored his first career NHL goal on Oct. 8, 2013 vs. Minnesota. Forsberg's 16 goals against the Wild are tied for the most he's scored against a single opponent in his NHL career; he had 11 points (4g-7a) in four games against the Wild in 2021-22.
• Ryan Johansen has 28 points (11g-17a) in 33 career games vs. the Wild, including 18 points (9g-9a) in his last 16 meetings. He had six goals against Minnesota last season, including his first career hat trick on April 5, 2022.
• Duchene has recorded 35 points (10g-25a) in 51 career games against the Wild.
• Mikael Granlund was acquired from Minnesota in February 2019; he played parts of seven seasons for the Wild from 2012-19 and posted 93 goals and 317 points.
• Nino Niederreiter spent parts of six seasons with the Wild from 2013-19.
• Ryan McDonagh was named Minnesota's "Mr. Hockey" as the state's best high school player in 2006-07.
• Assistant Coach Todd Richards served as head coach of the Wild for two seasons from 2009-11.
• Wild Head Coach Dean Evason served as head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals - Nashville's AHL affiliate - from 2012-18.
• Minnesota forwards Frederick Gaudreau (2016-19) and Ryan Hartman (2018-19) were previous members of the Predators.

Last Time Out

Nashville improved to 15-10-3 at home in 2022-23 with Saturday's win over Florida. The Predators scored a season-high seven goals, including two on the power play. Nine different Predators skaters recorded a point, led by three each from Josi (1g-2a) and McDonagh (3a). It was McDonagh's first multi-point game as a member of the Predators.
Kevin Lankinen won his sixth game of the season and first since Jan. 17 vs. Columbus. Novak picked up his first career multi-goal game (2g), and Philip Tomasino recorded an assist for his first point of the season.

Watch & Listen

Coverage for Sunday's game begins at 12:30 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.