Predators at Stars
Conventional wisdom suggests that teams want to be playing their best as they head into the postseason, and the Nashville Predators are running out of time in that regard. The Predators will try to end a five-game slide when they finish out the regular season at the Dallas Stars on Saturday.
Nashville was locked into second place in the Central Division when Chicago lost in St. Louis on Thursday, but its first-round opponent in the postseason has yet to be determined. The Predators’ latest losing streak is just an extension of a slide that began in late February, and the team is 4-11-3 over its last 18 games. “It’s not good enough,” Captain Shea Weber told the team’s website. “We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and realize what it’s going to take to win, especially going forward here. Maybe it’s a good wakeup call so we can realize we’re not playing good enough hockey going into the playoffs.” The Stars are sitting out the postseason but have won three straight, starting with a 4-3 overtime win at Nashville last Saturday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Tennessee (Nashville), KTXA (Dallas)
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (47-24-10): Nashville had a two-goal lead over Minnesota on Thursday before surrendering two goals in 31 seconds in the second period en route to a 4-2 loss. “We can’t lose battles, we can’t lose assignments, we have to have more pop to what we do on the ice,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette told reporters. “We can’t rely on a two-goal lead in the first (11 minutes) and we can’t hope to pull something out in the third period. It’s not good enough.” The problems are on the defensive end, where Nashville has surrendered a total of 21 goals in the last five games.
ABOUT THE STARS (40-31-10): Dallas can score with any team in the NHL and has totaled 18 goals in four games this month. The only drama left for the Stars is if captain Jamie Benn can outlast New York Islanders center John Tavares and Pittsburgh superstar Sidney Crosby for the scoring title, and Benn is focused on giving the fans one more good show. “We’ll approach it the same way you approach it every other game,” Benn told reporters. “You come ready to play. You come ready to win a hockey game. You put everything you’ve got into winning that game. We are going to prepare, and we are going to be ready to go and give our fans one more win.”
OVERTIME
1. Nashville C Mike Fisher (lower body) is day-to-day.
2. Dallas D Alex Goligoski (undisclosed) was held out of practice Friday and is day-to-day.
3. The last three meetings have been decided by one goal, with the last two going to overtime.