Wild at Predators
The red-hot Minnesota Wild have ripped off five consecutive victories, but they will have to knock off an opponent with one of the league's best home records to keep their streak intact. The Wild will square off with a Central Division rival on Thursday when they visit the Nashville Predators, who are coming off a spectacular comeback victory.
The Predators appeared headed to a third straight defeat when they spotted St. Louis a three-goal lead before erupting for six unanswered tallies to push their record at Bridgestone Arena to 10-2-2. "Winning those games goes into the memory bank," Nashville captain Mike Fisher said. "It furthers the belief we already have in here. We know we can do it, we're going to have to do it again." Minnesota is coming off a 5-0 rout of Florida, a rare blowout victory after 14 of its previous 18 games were decided by one goal. The Wild have allowed the fewest goals in the NHL and have the best goal differential (plus-23) in the Western Conference.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN North, FSN Wisconsin (Minnesota), FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE WILD (16-8-4): Devan Dubnyk has not lost in regulation in his last nine starts (7-0-2) and tops the NHL in goals-against average (1.60), save percentage (.947) and shutouts (4). Forward Jason Zucker was mired in a nine-game point drought over the first three weeks of November, but he is averaging a point per game since with four goals and six assists in the past 10 contests. Minnesota's power play still ranks in the bottom third of the league and has failed to cash in on 18 straight chances over the past eight games.
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (13-11-4): The newly configured line of James Neal, Filip Forsberg and Ryan Johansen paid instant dividends, with each member of the trio scoring a goal against St. Louis. "They really got going and spent a lot of time in the offensive zone," coach Peter Laviolette said. "That's a big thing. If you're in the offensive zone, you can start generating. You don't have to go through two zones just to get to the offensive zone." Forsberg ended a seven-game point drought with only his third goal of the season.
OVERTIME
1. Forsberg, a 33-goal scorer last season, has five tallies in 10 games versus the Wild.
2. Minnesota is 0-for-18 on the power play over the past eight games.
3. Nashville also is struggling with the extra skater, going 1-for-25 in its last eight contests.