Devils at Predators
With a five-game road trip looming on the horizon, the surging Nashville Predators go for their season-high sixth consecutive victory when they host the sliding New Jersey Devils on Thursday night. Nashville is riding a 10-game point streak (7-0-3) to seize a firm hold on the seventh slot in the Western Conference, seven points ahead of No. 8 Minnesota.
The Predators received a boost along the blue line with the return of captain Shea Weber, who scored a goal and set up two others in a 5-3 win over Dallas following a three-game absence. Weber's tally set a franchise record for power-play points (182) set by Kimmo Timonen. "He was terrific," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "We were being safe in making sure that Shea was ready. We didn't want to force the issue. We didn't want to go backwards. We got to a point where he felt good." New Jersey has dropped three in a row and six of its last seven games (1-6-0) and is seven points out of the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, MSG-Plus2 (New Jersey), FSN Tennessee (Nashville), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE DEVILS (30-27-7): Already without Michael Cammalleri for the past 14 games, New Jersey traded leading scorer Lee Stempniak at Monday's trade deadline and has been outscored 13-2 during its three-game skid. Forward Devante Smith-Pelly, acquired from Montreal in exchange for Stefan Matteau on Monday, is expected to make his team debut along with defenseman David Warsofsky, who was picked up off waivers from Pittsburgh. Smith-Pelly is expected to play on a line with Reid Boucher and Adam Henrique, who notched his 20th goal in Tuesday's 3-1 loss at Carolina.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (32-21-11): Veteran center Mike Fisher is scheduled to be the 23rd active player to appear in his 1,000th career game against New Jersey. "Sometimes you throw out clichés like 'role model' too loosely, but I think for Mike, it's a perfect fit," Predators general manager David Poile said. "When we got him, it clearly was a difference (for) our franchise — the way we played, the way we conducted ourselves." Goaltender Pekka Rinne, named to Team Finland for the 2016 World Cup on Wednesday, is 5-0-1 with a pair of shutouts in his past six starts.
OVERTIME
1. Predators F Filip Forsberg, who has two hat tricks in the past four games, was named the NHL's Third Star of the Month for February.
2. Devils G Keith Kinkaid, who allowed two goals in a 3-1 loss to Nashville on Oct. 13, will make a rare start Thursday.
3. Rinne is 3-2-1 with a 1.95 goals-against average versus New Jersey.