Game Day: Preds at Hurricanes Preview

The Nashville Predators (16-14-6) will begin a five-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents with a visit to the Carolina Hurricanes (25-7-6) Thursday at PNC Arena.
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 Tuesday's game vs. Montreal:
Forsberg - Parssinen - Sissons
Jankowski - Johansen - Duchene
Niederreiter - Glass - Granlund
Trenin - Novak - Jeannot
McDonagh - Josi
Ekholm - Carrier
Lauzon - McKeown
Saros

The Good Guys

• With his second of three goals on Saturday at Vegas, Filip Forsberg became the third player in franchise history to record 500 points, joining Roman Josi (570) and David Legwand (566). He became the quickest player in Predators history to reach the 500-point mark, doing so in his 601st career game. Forsberg was named the NHL's First Star of the Week for the week ending Jan. 1. Forsberg led the NHL in goals (5) and points (7) during the week and posted back-to-back three-point outings on Friday at Anaheim (1g-2a) and Saturday at Vegas (3g). Forsberg has 29 points (12g-17a) in his last 29 games dating back to Oct. 22 vs. Philadelphia. He is now tied with Legwand for the second-most multi-point games in Predators history (120).
• Josi recorded his 566th and 567th career points on Dec. 21 at Chicago to pass David Legwand (566) for the most in Predators history. Josi became the second defenseman to lead an active NHL franchise in points, joining Boston's Ray Bourque. His 567 career points were the 27th-most by a defenseman through his first 791 career games in NHL history. He has 26 points (8g-18a) in his last 27 games after recording two points (1g-1a) on Tuesday vs. Montreal. His goal on Dec. 21 at Chicago was the 27th game-winner of his career, moving him past Martin Erat for sole possession of third place on Nashville's all-time list. Since Oct. 27, Josi is tied for second among NHL defensemen in goals (9); fifth in points (29); and tied for ninth in assists (20).
• Matt Duchene has seven points (5g-2a) in his last eight 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).
• Tommy Novak has six points (3g-3a) in seven games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19.

The Other Guys

The Hurricanes are coming off a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday, which ended Carolina's historic win streak at 11 games. Martin Necas leads the Hurricanes with 37 points (17g-20a), and his 17 goals are second only to Andrei Svechnikov's 19.
Goaltender Antti Raanta was named the NHL's Third Star of the week ending Jan. 1 after he went 3-0-0 with a 1.30 goals-against average, .944 save percentage and two shutouts to backstop the Hurricanes (25-6-6, 56 points) to a perfect week as they extended their winning streak to 11 games and point streak to 17 contests (15-0-2) - both franchise records.

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 17-19-(1)-4 all-time against the Hurricanes, including a 6-11-(1)-3 record on the road. This is the first of two matchups between Nashville and Carolina in 2022-23 and the first and only at PNC Arena.
Nashville went 0-2-0 against Carolina last season, including a 5-3 defeat away from home on Feb. 18. The Predators are 2-3-0 in their last five games against the Hurricanes and 0-4-1 in their last five on the road.

Notables vs. Carolina

• Ryan McDonagh has 19 career points (6g-13a) against Carolina, the most among current Predators skaters.
• Ryan Johansen has 17 career points (6g-11a) vs. the Hurricanes, including three points (1g-2a) in two games last season.
• Roman Josi tallied three assists in Nashville's last game against Carolina on Feb. 18, 2022.
• Forsberg owns six goals and 11 points in 19 career meetings with Carolina.
• Tanner Jeannot made his NHL debut vs. Carolina on March 2, 2021; he recorded his first career multi-point outing and shorthanded goal on May 10, 2021 against the Hurricanes (1g-1a).
• Nino Niederreiter played in parts of four seasons with Carolina from 2019-22, tallying 137 points (69g-68a).
• Roland McKeown skated in his first 10 career NHL games with the Hurricanes in 2017-18.

Last Time Out

Nashville moved to 9-6-3 at home in 2022-23 with Tuesday's win over Montreal. The Predators matched their season high in goals with six for the second time in their last three games. They also scored two power-play goals for the fourth time this season and first time since Dec. 2 at NY Islanders.
Niederreiter recorded his second career three-assist game and first since Nov. 3, 2013. He was one of five Predators players to have multiple points, joined by Mattias Ekholm (1g-1a), Mikael Granlund (2a), Josi (1g-1a) and Novak (1g-1a). Forsberg assisted on Colton Sissons' goal to push his point streak to four games (5g-3a), and Sissons' goal gave him four points (2g-2a) in his last three games.

Watch & Listen

Coverage for Thursday'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.
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.