The Nashville Predators continue their swing out west tonight in Edmonton when they face the Oilers for a 7 p.m. CT puck drop from Rogers Place. This evening’s contest is the third and final meeting between the two clubs this season; the Preds and Oilers have split a pair of games thus far.
After a comeback win in Seattle on Tuesday, the Predators collected a single point in the standings with Thursday’s shootout loss in Vancouver. Despite the result, Nashville was left disappointed after surrendering a pair of goals late in regulation before the Canucks prevailed.
Now, they’ll look to get back into the win column and remain in the thick of the playoff hunt with just 17 games to go in the regular season - and a pair of four-game weeks about to begin.
“There’s definitely positives we can take from tonight…and when we get to our identity, we're a really good team, and we know what that is in that locker room,” Preds forward Tyson Jost said following Thursday’s loss. “And we know when we're playing that way, it's tough to play against us. So, we’ve got to try and do that for a full 60 minutes… Like I said, this one stings, and you kind of take it, learn from it. But again, you’ve got to move on. We’ve got two huge games coming up, and we know the importance of these stretches of games down the road.”
Joakim Kemell was Nashville’s lone healthy scratch on Thursday in Vancouver. The Predators practiced in Edmonton on Saturday afternoon after a day off on Friday.
The Good Guys:
Tyson Jost scored twice on Thursday night in Vancouver to give him three goals in his last two games, and Matthew Wood also found the back of the net once more.
Ryan O’Reilly has 22 goals and leads the Preds with 61 points on the season, followed by Filip Forsberg (28g-25a) with 53 points and Steven Stamkos with 31 goals and 51 points. Luke Evangelista has 38 assists and 47 points; Roman Josi has 11 goals and 44 points. Juuse Saros, who took the shootout loss on Thursday, is 23-19-7 in net; Justus Annunen is 6-8-2.
The Opposition:
After beating Vegas and Colorado last week, the Oilers have dropped their last two outings to Dallas and St. Louis, including a 3-2 overtime loss to the Blues. Connor McDavid leads the entire NHL with 74 assists and 111 points on the season; Leon Draisaitl has 62 assists and 96 points for the Oilers. Evan Bouchard has 19 goals and 76 points from the backend. Tristan Jarry has gone 7-6-1 in net after being acquired from Pittsburgh earlier this season; former Preds goaltender Connor Ingram is 9-6-2.
All-Time Meetings:
The Preds are 47-36-(3)-5 all-time against the Oilers, including a 23-17-(0)-5 mark on the road. Nashville is 3-6-1 in the last meetings versus Edmonton and just 1-3-1 in the last five in Alberta.
Reid Schaefer was selected by Edmonton in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft.
The Preds acquired a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft from Edmonton last December for defenseman Spencer Stastney.
Nashville Notables:
Tyson Jost recorded his first multi-goal game since May 13, 2021 vs. Los Angeles as a member of Colorado. Matthew Wood is riding a four-game point streak (4g-1a).
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for this evening’s contest begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and 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.
