Predators at Avalanche
The red-hot Nashville Predators will put a pair of lengthy streaks on the line when they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon as they surge toward the top of the NHL. Nashville leads the Central Division by six points over Winnipeg and is three points behind Tampa Bay for the league lead after defeating Vancouver 4-3 in overtime Friday for its seventh straight victory - its longest run since November 2009.
The Predators, who have eight straight meetings with Colorado, got a boost Friday as Mike Fisher came out of retirement and scored while winning 11-of-13 faceoffs. "They say sometimes rest is a weapon. We'll see," Fisher told reporters. "I was trying to keep the shifts as short as possible, but it was easy fitting in with my linemates, the team, the way they have been playing and working. It was fun." Colorado has won three straight after routing Minnesota 7-1 on Friday and sits one point behind Anaheim for the second wild-card spot in the West behind the play of Nathan MacKinnon, who scored twice and had a career high-tying five points Friday, and boasts 11 (six goals) in his last four games. MacKinnon (team-high 76 points) has 31 goals - the most by an Avalanche player since Joe Sakic (36) and Milan Hejduk (35) in 2006-07 - and leads the NHL with 56 points at home.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, FS Tennessee (Nashville), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (41-14-9): Defenseman Roman Josi, who had a goal and 11 assists during a five-game point streak that ended in Thursday's 4-2 victory at Edmonton, did not play Friday as coach Peter Laviolette told reporters: "It wasn't necessarily resting, it's maintenance." Laviolette also held defenseman Yannick Weber, and forwards Craig Smith and Scott Hartnell out of the lineup Friday, and added "you are going to hear that word a lot from us down the stretch: maintenance." Pekka Rinne (34-9-4, 2.32 goals-against average, .927 save percentage) is expected to try for his sixth straight victory and 304th of his career Sunday after backup Juuse Saros recorded 24 saves Friday.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (35-24-5): The top line of MacKinnon (23 goals at home), Mikko Rantanen (21, 63) and captain Gabriel Landeskog (21, 47) is heating up again as Rantanen has two goals and five assists in his last three games and Landeskog a goal and two assists. Semyon Varlamov (18-13-3, 2.81, .914) is expected to make his eighth straight start in goal with backups Jonathan Bernier and Andrew Hammond out with concussions. Top defenseman Erik Johnson (upper-body injury, reportedly shoulder) skated with a red non-contact jersey at practice Friday before missing his sixth straight game that night.
OVERTIME
1. Nashville RW Viktor Arvidsson has scored six of his team-high 24 goals during the winning streak.
2. Colorado is 23-8-1 at home this season and has won 13 of its last 14 games at the Pepsi Center.
3. The Predators defeated the Avalanche 4-1 on Oct. 17 and 5-2 on Nov. 18 - both in Nashville - with Arvidsson and C Colton Sissons scoring two goals apiece, and Josi adding a goal and three assists in the season series.