Predators at Coyotes
THE STORY: The Nashville Predators continue their season-high five-game road trip Thursday when they take on the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena. The Predators began their trek Monday with a 5-4 overtime loss in Chicago as Viktor Stalberg scored 2:18 into the extra session. Despite the setback, Nashville is 3-1-1 in its last five contests. The Coyotes are coming off their third straight victory, a 4-1 triumph in Colorado on Wednesday that pushed them to 4-0-1 in their last five games. Phoenix has won eight of its last 11 home meetings with Nashville and four of the last six overall matchups between the teams.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Tennessee (Nashville), FSN Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (5-4-2): Patric Hornqvist has given Nashville a lead less than 30 seconds into each of its last two games. The 24-year old scored 14 seconds into the first period of a 3-0 win over Anaheim on Saturday and tallied at the 26-second mark of Monday's OT loss in Chicago. Hornqvist joined Pavel Bure as the only players in NHL history to score in the first 30 seconds of consecutive contests. Mike Fisher and Sergei Kostitsyn both are likely to return to the lineup Thursday. Fisher suffered a concussion when he was the victim of a blindside hit by Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin on Saturday, while Kostitsyn has missed two games with a leg injury.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (6-3-2): After scoring just once in his first nine games, Radim Vrbata has tallied twice in each of his last two contests. Cal O'Reilly hopes to make his Coyotes debut after being acquired from Nashville on Friday for a fourth-round draft pick. O'Reilly, who recorded one assist in five games with the Predators, has not played since Oct. 17 due to a groin injury.
OVERTIME:
1. Phoenix captain Shane Doan recorded a goal and an assist in a 5-2 victory at Nashville on Oct. 13, the first of four meetings between the clubs this season.
2. Hornqvist enters with a three-game goal-scoring streak during which he has tallied four times. The Swede, who has scored 51 goals over his last two seasons, failed to tally in his first seven games of 2011-12.