Wild at Predators
The Nashville Predators attempt to halt their four-game slide and potentially climb into first place in the Central Division when the face off against the Minnesota Wild in their regular-season home finale Thursday. Nashville, which trails division-leading St. Louis by one point with two games remaining, fell to 0-2-2 in its last four contests with a 3-2 loss at Colorado on Tuesday.
The Predators, who are two points ahead of third-place Chicago in the Central, own the best home record in the Western Conference at 28-8-4. Minnesota clinched a postseason berth for the third consecutive campaign with a 2-1 triumph over the Blackhawks on Tuesday in the opener of its season-ending three-game road trip. The Wild, who are two points ahead of division-rival Winnipeg for the first wild-card spot in the West, can become the fourth team in the Central to reach the 100-point plateau with a victory over the Predators. The road team was victorious in each of the first four contests of the five-game season series, with the Predators winning the first two meetings and the Wild capturing the next two.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN North, FSN Wisconsin (Minnesota), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE WILD (45-27-8): Third place in the Central is still a possibility for Minnesota, as it trails Chicago by four points with two games remaining for each team and owns the first tiebreaker. Jason Zucker on Tuesday made a heroic return from a broken clavicle that cost him nearly two months, scoring the winning goal against Chicago. It was the 19th tally in 49 games this season for the 23-year-old California native, who totaled eight goals in 47 contests over parts of his previous three NHL campaigns.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (47-23-10): Pekka Rinne enters Thursday with 41 victories, one behind Montreal's Carey Price for the league lead and two away from matching his career high set in 2011-12. The 32-year-old Finn, who is 0-1-2 in his last three outings, ranks third in the NHL with a 2.17 goals-against average. Filip Forsberg shares the team lead with Mike Ribeiro at 61 points and is just one behind Calgary's Johnny Gaudreau in the race for the rookie scoring title.
OVERTIME
1. The Wild conclude their road trip - and regular season - at St. Louis while the Predators visit Dallas in their finale, with both games taking place on Saturday.
2. Minnesota G Devan Dubnyk has started 39 consecutive games, including all 38 of the Wild's contests since being acquired from Arizona.
3. The Wild are riding a franchise-record 11-game road winning streak and can match the NHL record of 12 straight victories away from home set in 2005-06 by Detroit.