Game Day: Preds vs. Flyers Preview

It's Saturday Night in Smashville!
The Predators will look to get back in the win column - and earn their 900th victory in franchise history - as they host the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday at Bridgestone Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South.

Nashville enters Saturday with a 2-3-1 record after falling 5-3 to Columbus on Thursday. Philadelphia is 3-1-0, coming off a 4-3 loss to Florida on Wednesday.
Saturday's contest will also mark General Manager/Director of Hockey Operations David Poile's 3,000th game as GM; he is the first GM in NHL history to reach the milestone.

Line 'Em Up

Below are Nashville's lines from Thursday's game at Columbus:
Niederreiter - Johansen - Tolvanen
Forsberg - Granlund - Duchene
Trenin - Sissons - Jeannot
Smith - Glass - Sherwood
Josi - Fabbro
McDonagh - Ekholm
Borowiecki - Carrier
Lankinen

The Good Guys

Mikael Granlund has opened 2022-23 with five assists in his first six games. On Tuesday vs. Los Angeles, he became the first Preds player to post a multi-assist performance this season (2a). As of games played through Oct. 20, he is tied for eighth in the NHL in assists.
Granlund and Nino Niederreiter (4g-1a) lead the Preds with five points each through six games. Niederreiter, who signed as a free agent with Nashville in July, has four goals in his first six games with the Predators to begin 2022-23. He recorded his first assist with the team Thursday at Columbus.
Tanner Jeannot has three points (2g-1a) in his last two games after scoring his first goal of the season on Tuesday vs. Los Angeles. Jeannot, playing in his 102nd career NHL game, recorded his 50th career NHL point with his goal. Among players to debut with the Predators, only four required fewer games to reach the mark: Filip Forsberg (67 GP), Marek Zidlicky (76 GP), Alexander Radulov (82 GP) and Patric Hornqvist (98 GP).

The Other Guys

The Flyers enter Saturday's game with a 3-1-0 record, coming off their first loss of the 2022-23 season Wednesday against Florida.
Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes lead the Flyers with six points apiece, while Tony DeAngelo and Ivan Provorov are tied with a team-high four goals.

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 13-11-(3)-3 all-time against the Flyers, including a 7-4-(2)-1 record at Bridgestone Arena. This is the first of two matchups between Nashville and Philadelphia in 2022-23; it is the first and only at home.
Nashville went 1-1-0 vs. Philadelphia last season; both games finished with a score of 5-4, with the Predators earning a victory at home on March 27.

Notables vs. Philadelphia

• Ryan Johansen set a single-game career high in points (4) and assists (4) at Philadelphia on Nov. 14, 2014.
• Jeannot recorded his first career three-point game (1g-2a) as part of a "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" on March 27, 2022 vs. Philadelphia.
• Yakov Trenin notched his first career regular-season multi-goal game (2g) on March 27, 2022 against the Flyers.
• Matt Duchene owns 15 points (8g-7a) in 18 career games vs. Philadelphia.
• Mattias Ekholm has four points (4a) in his last eight games against the Flyers.
• Flyers defenseman Ryan Ellis was selected by the Predators in the first round (11th overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft and went on to play in 562 games for the franchise from 2011-21. He posted 270 points (75g-195a) with the Predators and added 38 points (7g-31a) in 74 postseason contests.

Last Time Out

Nashville moved to 1-2-0 on the road in 2022-23 with Thursday's loss in Columbus. The Predators held a 3-1 lead entering the third period but gave up four goals to the Blue Jackets in the final frame. Jeannot scored his second goal in as many games, and all three members of the "Herd Line" (Jeannot, Trenin, Sissons) recorded two points apiece.
Niederreiter earned his first assist with the Predators on Johansen's first-period goal; Johansen has points in four of Nashville's six games to begin the season.

Watch & Listen

Bally Sports South is partnering with the Preds for a third season of Saturday Night in Smashville in 2022-23. Coverage for Saturday's game begins at 6 p.m. CT with an expanded one-hour edition of Predators LIVE. Host Lyndsay Rowley and analyst Hal Gill will be at the desk located on the main plaza at the corner of 5th Avenue and Broadway in front of Bridgestone Arena.
Country music singer and songwriter Jon Pardi, the 2017 Academy of Country Music New Male Vocalist of the Year, will be the spokesperson for Saturday Night in Smashville and will be featured in the show open.
The network will welcome Poile and his wife Elizabeth as special guests during the pregame show to celebrate Poile's 3,000th game as general manager. Additionally, Rowley will showcase the team's 2022-23 reverse retro jersey before showing player reactions to the new look.
Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic, analyst Chris Mason and rinkside reporter Kara Hammerwill call the game. Saturday's telecast will be the first of 12 Saturday Night in Smashville telecasts throughout the 2022-23 season.
Pete Weber and Jay More 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.