Red Wings at Predators
The Detroit Red Wings wrap up a six-game Western Conference road trip with a visit to the Nashville Predators on Saturday. The Red Wings are 3-1-1 on the trek and 15-3-3 against Western Conference opponents. Detroit is also 17-10-4 on the road, but Nashville owns a league-best 26-4-1 home record.
The Predators are coming off a rare regulation home loss with a 4-2 setback to Minnesota on Thursday, but they have yet to lose consecutive games in regulation this season. Nashville still owns a comfortable lead in the Central Division despite winning two of its last five games (2-2-1). The Predators visited Detroit on Jan. 17 and lost 5-2, providing the Red Wings with an opportunity to sweep their former division foe.
TV: 3 p.m. ET, Sportsnet, Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Tennessee
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (34-15-11): Captain Henrik Zetterberg is expected to miss a fourth game with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Kyle Quincey has missed four games due to bone chips in his ankle but will hold off on surgery until the end of the season. Goaltender Jimmy Howard has a .902 save percentage in seven appearances since returning from injury.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (41-14-7): Defenseman Anton Volchenkov has resumed skating with teammates after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. Craig Smith has six goals and eight points in his last seven games and is four tallies shy of matching his career high of 24. Defenseman Ryan Ellis returned Thursday after missing 21 games with a lower-body injury and logged 11:29 of ice time.
OVERTIME
1. Nashville G Pekka Rinne is 6-3-1 in February with a 2.29 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
2. Detroit F Pavel Datsyuk has 71 points in 64 career meetings with the Predators.
3. The Red Wings only played in 11 games in February, while Nashville will compete in its 15th on Saturday.