Game Day: Stars vs. Preds Preview

Nashville's winning streak is at six games, and they'll try to extend it to seven when they host the Dallas Stars again tonight at Bridgestone Arena. The Predators began their three-game homestand on Tuesday by defeating Dallas in overtime - the third consecutive meeting between the two clubs that has seen the Preds prevail in either overtime or a shootout.
After being near the bottom of the Central Division for most of the season, the Predators have worked their way back up to the fourth and final playoff spot in the division, but the race will undoubtedly be tight as the final full month of the regular season begins.
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Therefore, the Preds are continuing to simply take things game by game with a focus on constant improvement inside of their own locker room - and what they're doing as of late just keeps on producing results.

"Every team has an identity, and it took us a little bit longer than maybe we would have liked to get to the identity that we want, but now we have it," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said following Tuesday's win. "What comes with that is pushback, not flinching, getting back to your game, understanding clearly what it is and believing in it. I think over the last three weeks we've gotten to that, and now we need to stay with it and continue to improve it."
The Predators did not practice on Wednesday, but they are scheduled to hold a morning skate today ahead of this evening's game in Nashville. However, Wednesday did bring about some injury updates with all six of Nashville's injured players: forwards Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene and Brad Richardson, as well as defensemen Ryan Ellis, Mark Borowiecki and Luca Sbisa are listed as week-to-week with their respective ailments.
Update: Preds forward Mathieu Olivier has been recalled from the taxi squad. Defenseman Tyler Lewington has been recalled to the taxi squad from Chicago (AHL), and defenseman Frederic Allard has been reassigned to Chicago (AHL).

The Good Guys:
Eeli Tolvanen's first overtime goal of his NHL career gave the Predators a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night, and the rookie winger finished with an assist as well to extend his point streak to six games (3g-6a), tied for the second longest such streak by a rookie in Preds history.
Roman Josi and Calle Jarnkrok also tallied in the victory, and although Juuse Saros's streak of seven-straight decisions of allowing one goal or fewer came to an end, he still earned his 10th win of the season.
With Forsberg remaining out due to an upper-body injury, Josi is Nashville's active leading scorer with 21 points (4g-17a), followed by Jarnkrok (11g-7a), Tolvanen (9g-9a) and Viktor Arvidsson (5g-13a) with 18 points apiece. Mikael Granlund (8g-7a) and Mattias Ekholm (5g-10a) both have 15 points to their name. Saros is 10-6-0 on the season; Pekka Rinne is 9-11-1 in net for Nashville.
The Opposition:
In addition to dropping their third-straight game to Nashville, the Stars also lost their third consecutive game overall with Tuesday's decision. Joe Pavelski continues to lead the Stars in points with 32 (15g-17a), followed by Roope Hintz (11g-12a) and John Klingberg (6g-17a) with 23 points each. Anton Khudobin took the loss on Tuesday and is 6-9-4 on the season; Jake Oettinger is 5-3-6.
All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 43-44-(1)-5 all-time against the Stars, including a 27-16-(1)-2 record at Bridgestone Arena. This is the sixth of eight games between the two teams in 2020-21, with Nashville going 3-2-0 in the first five contests.
The Preds have earned at least a point in 14 of their last 20 games versus Dallas (13-6-1), and Nashville has scored at least four goals (including the shootout winner) in 10 of its last 15 victories over Dallas.
Notables Versus Dallas:
Pekka Rinne has recorded a shutout four times in 34 games against Dallas, tied for his third-most against a single opponent in his NHL career. He is 18-13-2 in 36 career games against the Stars.
Juuse Saros improved to 7-2-1 in his career versus Dallas with Tuesday's victory. He has posted two shutouts and owns a 2.45 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in 10 career games against the Stars.
Mikael Granlund has 27 points (9g-18a) in 33 career contests versus Dallas; he recorded an individual 12-game point streak (3g-14a) against the Stars from Oct. 29, 2016 to Feb. 1, 2019. Viktor Arvidsson has five points (5a) in his last seven games versus the Stars; he has 19 points (6g-13a) in 27 career games against Dallas.
Eeli Tolvanen leads the Predators with seven points (3g-4a) in three games against Dallas this season, and Roman Josi owns 30 career points (11g-19a) versus the Stars, his second-most against a single opponent in his NHL career.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for tonight's 7 p.m. CT puck drop from Nashville begins with a new network name - Bally Sports South - at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators Live! pregame show hosted by Lyndsay Rowley and Terry Crisp. Willy Daunic, Chris Mason and Kara Hammer have the call on the television side, while Pete Weber and Hal Gill will broadcast on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. Pregame coverage on the radio begins at 6 p.m. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
.
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All of Bally Sports South's channel locations and programming remains the same
, just with a new network.
Streaming Info:
Listen to a Live Radio Feed
(only active during the game broadcast window).
Watch a Live Stream of the game
on the Fox Sports Go App or
Watch on NHL.TV
\As we transition to Bally Sports, one of our primary goals was to ensure that local fans and subscribers everywhere still get their teams whenever and wherever they want. The FOX Sports GO app will remain functional until the transition is complete. Once the Bally Sports app becomes widely available, the FOX Sports GO app will update to the all-new Bally Sports app. If a fan has updates enabled, the app will transition automatically; if not, they will need to manually update the app.