Game Day: Preds at Maple Leafs Preview

The Nashville Predators (19-14-6) will make their penultimate stop on a five-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents with a visit to the Toronto Maple Leafs (25-9-7) Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena.
The puck drops at 6:30 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on TNT, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio. Here's everything you need to know:

Line 'Em Up

Below are Nashville's lines from Monday's game at Ottawa:
Forsberg - Parssinen - Sissons
Jankowski - Johansen - Duchene
Niederreiter - Glass - Granlund
Trenin - Novak - Jeannot
McDonagh - Josi
Ekholm - Carrier
Lauzon - Fabbro
Saros

The Good Guys

• Goaltender Juuse Saros was named to the Central Division's squad for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game last week. It is Saros' second career nod to the event, after he represented Nashville at the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas. He is the third goaltender in Predators history to represent the club at an NHL All-Star Game alongside Pekka Rinne (2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019) and Tomas Vokoun (2004). Saros made a franchise-record 64 saves on Thursday at Carolina. It was tied for the third-most saves in a regular-season game in NHL history, and was tied for the second-most in a regulation regular-season contest. (The NHL began tracking saves officially in 1955-56.) His 67 shots against were also the most in a game in Predators history. Saros also recorded his first shutout of the season in Monday's 3-0 win at Ottawa.
• Filip Forsberg has 32 points (14g-18a) in his last 32 games dating back to Oct. 22 vs. Philadelphia. He became the quickest player in Predators history to reach the 500-point mark, doing so in his 601st career game Dec. 31 at Vegas.
• Since Oct. 27, Roman Josi is tied for first among NHL defensemen in goals (10); fifth in points (31); and tied for ninth in assists (21).
• Tommy Novak has eight points (4g-4a) in 10 games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19.
• Colton Sissons is tied for first in the NHL in shorthanded faceoffs won (81).
• Matt Duchene has nine points (5g-4a) in his last 11 games. He scored in four straight contests from Dec. 17-23 (4g) and had a five-game point streak from Dec. 15-23 (4g-1a).
• Juuso Parssinen, who made his NHL debut on Nov. 12 vs. the Rangers, has 13 points (3g-10a) in his first 25 career NHL games. He tallied two assists on Dec. 21 at Chicago, Dec. 30 at Anaheim and Thursday at Carolina. His 13 points since Nov. 12 are tied for the third-most among NHL rookies in that time span.

The Other Guys

The Maple Leafs enter Wednesday's game in second place in the Atlantic Division and are coming off back-to-back wins over the Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers.
Mitch Marner leads the Leafs with 49 points (15g-34a), while William Nylander has a team-high 22 goals in 2022-23. Ilya Samsonov ranks fourth among all NHL goaltenders with a goals-against average of 2.29.

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 14-11-(1)-2 all-time against the Maple Leafs, including an 8-6-(1)-1 record on the road. This is the first of two matchups between Nashville and Toronto in 2022-23 and the first and only at Scotiabank Arena. The two teams meet again on March 26 at Bridgestone Arena.
Nashville went 1-1-0 against Toronto last season, dropping a 3-0 decision on the road on Nov. 16, 2021. The Predators then picked up a 6-3 win at home over the Maple Leafs on March 19, 2022. Overall, the Predators have earned at least a point in nine of their last 14 games (7-5-2) against the Maple Leafs.

Notables vs. Toronto

• Forsberg broke David Legwand's record for most goals in Predators history by scoring his 211th on March 19, 2022 against Toronto. He owns seven goals and 12 points in 12 career games vs. the Maple Leafs.
• Ryan Johansen has tallied 14 points (6g-8a) in 18 career games against Toronto.
• Haliburton, Ont., native Matt Duchene owns 14 points (5g-9a) in 19 career meetings with the Maple Leafs. He has points in four of his last five games against Toronto (2g-3a).
• Predators prospect Luke Evangelista is a native of Toronto.
• Maple Leafs forward Calle Jarnkrok skated in 508 games for Nashville from 2013-21, tallying 211 points (94g-117a).
• Toronto forward Wayne Simmonds posted three points (1g-2a) in 17 games for the Predators in the 2018-19 season.

Last Time Out

Nashville improved to 10-8-3 on the road in 2022-23 with Monday's 3-0 shutout of the Ottawa Senators. The Predators closed out their two-game regular-season series against the Senators with a 1-1-0 record. Nashville killed off all 10 minutes of Ottawa's power-play time, and Saros made 38 saves for his first shutout of the season.
Nashville pushed its road point streak to a season-long six games (5-0-1) and extended its overall point streak to six games (5-0-1), its longest of the season. The Predators have now scored at least three goals in each of their last six games.

Watch & Listen

Wednesday's game will be televised nationally on TNT. Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk will have the call in the booth, with Keith Jones at ice level. The studio panel will consist of Liam McHugh, Paul Bissonnette, Anson Carter and Henrik Lundqvist.
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.