Maple Leafs at Predators
The Toronto Maple Leafs look to avoid matching the franchise record for consecutive losses when they visit the league-leading Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Toronto, which dropped 10 in a row from Jan. 15-Feb. 8, 1967, fell to 0-8-1 since defeating Columbus on Jan. 9 with a 1-0 defeat at Philadelphia on Saturday. It marked the fourth time during the slide that the Maple Leafs were shut out and the eighth occasion on which they were held under two goals.
Nashville pulled even in points with Anaheim (70) but moved percentage points ahead of the Pacific Division leader with a 4-0 victory at Pittsburgh on Sunday. Defenseman Roman Josi recorded a goal and an assist while Carter Hutton stopped 21 shots en route to his second career shutout. A total of 15 members of the Predators landed on the scoresheet and nine had multi-point performances, with Taylor Beck leading the way with two goals and an assist, as the Central Division leaders trounced the Maple Leafs 9-2 in Toronto on Nov. 18.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TSN4 (Toronto), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (22-25-4): Toronto, which has lost nine straight on the road, is thrilled to put January behind it as the club went 1-11-1 while scoring a total of 16 goals. Jonathan Bernier, who is expected to be in net Tuesday, has received just two goals of support in his last six starts but refused to fault his teammates. "You've got to find a way to win as a goalie," he told Leafs TV. "You can steal wins for your team, and I haven't done that lately, so I've got to be better."
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (32-11-6): Pekka Rinne worked out on the ice Sunday and could return against the Maple Leafs after missing seven games with a sprained knee. Nashville has gone 3-2-2 in the Finnish netminder's absence. All-Star Filip Forsberg leads the team with 17 goals and is two away from breaking Alexander Radulov's franchise rookie record.
OVERTIME
1. Toronto C Trevor Smith will miss Tuesday's game as he returned home to attend to a personal matter.
2. Predators C Mike Ribeiro's next point will be the 700th of his career.
3. Maple Leafs interim coach Peter Horachek served as an assistant with Nashville for nine seasons.