Coyotes at Predators
The Nashville Predators are dealing with some injuries to pivotal players as they continue their five-game homestand against the league-worst Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night. Nashville turned in an impressive performance in its first game coming out of the league-mandated break, blanking Western Conference-leading Vegas 1-0 on Tuesday night.
The Predators appear to have avoided another costly injury when top-line center Ryan Johansen returned to practice Wednesday after taking a shoulder to the chin and sitting out the third period of Tuesday's win. Nashville has won three in a row since a 3-2 overtime setback at Arizona on Jan. 4 -- the seventh consecutive win by the home team in the series. While the Predators are trying to overtake Winnipeg for the top spot in the Central Division, Arizona is languishing at the bottom of the pack in the NHL, riding a four-game winless streak (0-1-3) after losing in overtime and a shootout to San Jose in a home-and-home set. "It's frustrating. You hate losing games, but it's one of those things where you've just got to keep punching away," coach Rick Tocchet said. "We have to play some younger guys here and you want to get them in certain situations. These are good learning experiences.”
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, FS Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (10-28-8): Arizona showed some moxie by erasing a two-goal deficit to force a shootout against San Jose. The fourth line produced four points as Brad Richardson scored one goal and set up another, Jordan Martinook also tallied and Nick Cousins picked up an assist. "They got on the puck, and we talked about how to play against San Jose and they did it to a T," Tocchet said. "They got pucks to the net and they gave us a nice shot of energy. When your fourth line gets two goals, that's big."
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (26-11-6): Nashville played the final period Tuesday without its entire No. 1 line. Leading scorer Filip Forsberg is sidelined with a reported fractured hand and Viktor Arvidsson was placed on injured reserve after getting hurt in Monday's practice. "It's what you have to do," Predators forward Austin Watson said. "We're confident. ... Whoever's playing, whoever gets the minutes, whoever dresses, we're confident in everybody in this room that we're going to get the job done."
OVERTIME
1. Predators D P.K. Subban has five goals and 10 assists over the last 14 games.
2. Coyotes G Antti Raanta is 2-2-0 with a 2.93 goals-against average versus the Predators.
3. Nashville recalled F Frederick Gaudreau from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League.