Game Day: Preds at Rangers Preview

The Nashville Predators (34-25-8) will kick off a two-game road swing with a visit to the New York Rangers (40-19-10) Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
The puck drops at 6 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. Winnipeg:
Tomasino - Glass - Duchene
Sherwood - Novak - Evangelista
Trenin - Sissons - Smith
Afanasyev - Jankowski - McCarron
Josi - Fabbro
Lauzon - Barrie
Gravel - Foote
Saros

Last Time Out

Nashville moved to 17-12-4 at home in 2022-23 with Saturday's overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets. The Predators are now 1-1-1 against the Jets this season and 9-8 in overtime/shootouts (5-6 in OT; 4-2 in shootout).
Cody Glass opened the scoring at 5:26 of the first period, and Luke Evangelista scored his third career NHL goal at 6:51 of the third period to give the Predators a 2-1 lead just 34 seconds after Winnipeg tied it at 1-1. Cal Foote assisted on Glass' goal and recorded a fighting major, and Jeremy Lauzon logged a career-high 25:47 of ice time.

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 15-15-(1)-2 all-time against the Rangers, including a 9-7-(1)-0 record on the road. This is the second and final matchup between Nashville and New York in 2022-23 and the first and only at Madison Square Garden.
Nashville is 1-0-0 against New York this season, claiming a 2-1 victory at home on Nov. 12. Since that win, the Predators have recorded a 29-17-7 record and their points percentage of .613 is the 12th-best in the NHL.

Notables vs. NY Rangers

• Juuse Saros owns a 1.89 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and one shutout in eight career games against the Rangers.
• Roman Josi has 13 points (4g-9a) in 18 career games vs. the Rangers, including three multi-point efforts. He notched three points (2g-1a) against the Rangers on Dec. 16, 2019.
• Colton Sissons has four points (2g-2a) in his last seven games vs. the Rangers.
• Ryan McDonagh served as captain of the Rangers for parts of four seasons from 2014-18; he helped lead New York to the 2014 Stanley Cup Final.
• Philip Tomasino scored his first career NHL goal on Oct. 21, 2021 vs. the Rangers (Igor Shesterkin).

The Good Guys

• Josi owns the Predators team lead in points with 57 (18g-39a). He has 53 points (17g-36a) in his last 57 games after scoring on Thursday vs. Chicago. Since Oct. 27, Josi leads NHL blueliners in goals (18); he is tied for third in points (58) and ninth in assists (40).
• Tommy Novak has 30 points (13g-17a) in 36 games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19. In a 15-game span since Feb. 18, Novak has posted 19 points (9g-10a) - tied for the 10th-most among NHL skaters - including five multi-point efforts.
• Matt Duchene has 30 points (13g-17a) in his last 39 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 10 of his last 22 games (8g-9a), tallying multiple points in five of those outings.
• Evangelista has five points (3g-2a) in his first nine career NHL games. He scored his first two career NHL goals on March 6 at Vancouver.
• Kiefer Sherwood has points in four of his last eight games (2g-3a).
• Sissons tallied an assist on Tuesday vs. Detroit to give him 14 points (5g-9a) in his last 26 outings. Sitting at 27 points (11g-16a), he is three from matching his career high of 30, set in 2018-19 (15g-15a).
• Since making his season debut on Feb. 13 vs. Arizona, Tomasino has recorded 11 points (3g-8a) in 16 games. He has five points (1g-4a) in his last four games.

The Other Guys

New York will also be playing the second half of a back-to-back set after a 6-0 rout of the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday at Madison Square Garden. Ten different Rangers found the scoresheet in the win, with six players recording multi-point games.
Artemi Panarin tallied two goals in the win to extend his team lead in points to 77 (22g-55a). Mika Zibanejad recorded three points of his own (1g-2a) and has a team-high 37 goals.

Watch & Listen

Coverage for Saturday's game begins at 5:30 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.
Pete Weber and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network, with pregame, postgame and intermission coverage by Max Herz. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM.