Ducks at Predators
THE STORY: The Nashville Predators still find themselves struggling on home ice, but a visit from the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday might go a long way toward fixing that problem. The Predators lost consecutive 3-2 home decisions to the Buffalo Sabres and Phoenix Coyotes over the past seven days to see their record in Tennessee drop to a mediocre 4-5-3. Nashville knows how vital home-ice success is; the club went 24-9-8 there last season to reach the playoffs by four points. Fortunately, Saturday's opponent hasn't had much luck against the Predators of late. Anaheim has lost eight of its last 11 regular-season games against Nashville, two of those coming in a 12-day span earlier this season. The Ducks haven't been beating many teams this season, coming into Saturday's tilt tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the fewest victories in the league.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, KDOC, Fox Sports Tennessee
ABOUT THE DUCKS (8-15-5): A 4-2 loss in St. Louis on Thursday night dropped the Ducks to 1-2-1 under new head coach Bruce Boudreau, who lamented the fact that his team had very little room for error against the surging Blues. "Every time we made a mistake, I thought it was in our net," he said after the game. Anaheim announced Friday that it was loaning teenage forward Devante Smith-Pelly to Team Canada for the upcoming world junior championships.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (13-11-4): If Nashville hopes to compete for a top-four seed in the West, it will need more production from its big guns – particularly forward Sergei Kostitsyn. A 23-goal scorer a season ago, Kostitsyn's goal in Thursday's 4-3 victory in Columbus was his first since Oct. 27 – a span of 13 games. Kostitsyn opened the campaign with eight points in nine games but has just five in 13 games since.
OVERTIME:
1. Anaheim has dropped a franchise-high eight straight road games and has just one win in its last 11 meetings with Central Division opponents.
2. Predators forward Jordin Tootoo will return to the lineup Saturday after serving a two-game suspension for running into Buffalo Sabres netminder Ryan Miller.