Golden Knights at Predators
The Nashville Predators emerged as the best team in the West a year ago by advancing to the Stanley Cup Final, but they will try to avert a season sweep against the top team in the conference when they return from their league-mandated break. The expansion Golden Knights look to beat the Predators for the third straight time when they visit Nashville on Tuesday night.
Vegas, the feel-good story of the NHL in its inaugural campaign, returned from its own bye week with a 2-1 overtime home loss to Edmonton on Saturday night. "We weren't sharp. We didn't play our typical game," coach Gerard Gallant said, attributing the team's third setback in 17 games (14-1-2) to the layoff. "The first game is tough to come back, but it will be good for us down the road." Nashville had lost six of eight (2-4-2) before winning its final two before the break, closing out a six-game road trip with a 4-3 win at Los Angeles and edging Edmonton 2-1. The Predators, who dropped a 4-3 decision in a shootout at home to the Golden Knights on Dec. 8 and were blanked at Vegas 3-0 on Jan. 2, have a potential major injury concern when forward Viktor Arvidsson had to be assisted off the ice at Monday's practice.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, AT&T SportsNet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas), FS Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (29-10-3): Vegas has converted on only 1 of 23 chances on the power play over the past nine games, but it has killed off 23 straight short-handed situations since yielding a pair of man-advantage tallies on Dec. 19. “When your PK is good, it starts with goaltending,” Gallant said. “We talk about special teams a lot. They can win you a lot of hockey games.” James Neal, left unprotected by the Predators in the expansion draft, has 18 goals and tallied at Nashville on Dec. 8.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (25-11-6): Leading scorer Filip Forsberg, expected to be sidelined four to six weeks after suffering a reported fractured hand on Dec. 29, resumed skating on his own Monday. However, that news was overshadowed after Arvidsson, the third-leading scorer, exited Monday's practice and appeared unable to put weight on one leg. Arvidsson, who had a breakout season with 31 goals in 2016-17, has 13 goals and 27 points in 41 games, including a goal and an assist in the loss to the Golden Knights last month.
OVERTIME
1. Vegas F William Karlsson has scored eight of his team-high 23 goals in the past nine games, including one in each of the past three.
2. The Predators recalled backup G Juuse Saros, who allowed three goals in three starts at their American Hockey League affiliate in Milwaukee.
3. Golden Knights G Marc-Andre Fleury is 9-4-1 lifetime against Nashville, including the shutout earlier this month.