Bruins at Predators
Last season's Vezina Trophy winner is in line to test his mettle against this campaign's potential front-runner when the Boston Bruins visit the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Boston's Tuukka Rask is expected to be in net to face fellow Finn Pekka Rinne, who has rebounded from an injury-marred 2013-14 to lead the league with 19 wins while sporting a rail-thin 1.75 goals-against average. Rinne didn't receive any support in his last outing, however, as Nashville failed to record a sweep of its three-game road trip as it suffered a 2-0 setback to San Jose on Saturday.
While Rinne has enjoyed some rather smooth sailing, the emotional Rask let loose after the Bruins fell for the seventh time in nine contests (2-5-2) with a 3-2 shootout loss to Ottawa on Saturday afternoon. "The wake-up call should have been a few weeks ago," Rask told the team's website. "We've been talking about it enough, and it's not going to get any better if we keep talking about it. ... It's really frustrating when you look at these mistakes and stuff we're doing out there, night in and night out."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NESN (Boston), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE BRUINS (15-13-2): Although David Krejci continues to practice and accompanied the team to Music City to begin a three-game road trip, his availability remains a mystery. "I hope so," coach Claude Julien told ESPN Boston when asked if Krejci would return from a 10-game absence due to a lower-body injury. "I can't guarantee that though. I hope so." Krejci skated with the struggling Milan Lucic, Craig Cunningham and Chris Kelly during Monday's practice.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (19-8-2): Nashville has answered a loss with a victory on every occasion this season, and coach Peter Laviolette couldn't be prouder of his team's resiliency. "We’ve got a hard-working group here that understands the recipe for success," Laviolette said. "When you start removing an ingredient or two, the recipe isn’t as good, and (the players) know that." The Predators saw the returns to Monday's practice of a few key ingredients, namely faceoff specialist Paul Gaustad (lower body), Taylor Beck (concussion) and Viktor Stalberg (lower body).
OVERTIME
1. Both teams are struggling mightily on the power play as Nashville is mired in a 1-for-35 drought while Boston is in a 1-for-21 slump.
2. Boston LW Brad Marchand, who has recorded two goals and three assists in his last four games, scored the overtime winner in a 3-2 victory over Nashville on Jan. 2.
3. Predators C Craig Smith has notched just two assists in his last eight contests.