Predators at Flyers
To a man, the Philadelphia Flyers embraced a positive attitude despite a negative result on the heels of seeing their longest winning streak in 31 years come to an end. With their 10-game run of good fortune now history at the hands of one Central Division representative, the Flyers look to exact revenge against another on Monday when they open a two-game homestand versus the Nashville Predators.
"We can't let one loss dampen our spirits," forward Wayne Simmonds told Philly.com after his team dropped a 3-1 decision to Dallas on Saturday afternoon. "We know we're playing good hockey and we just have to continue what we've been doing. We knew we were a good team even before we started this streak." The 28-year-old Simmonds collected six goals and 10 points during the winning streak - including two power-play goals as the Flyers defeated Nashville for the fourth straight time in a 4-2 road triumph on Dec. 4. Captain Mike Fisher had an assist in that contest and recorded his 100th goal in a Predators' uniform and fourth in three outings in Saturday's 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Rangers. "Overtime and shootouts just haven't been our friend for whatever reason. It's frustrating," the 36-year-old Fisher told reporters as Nashville fell for the fourth time in five outings overall and dropped to 0-5 in games past regulation this season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TVAS, FSN Tennessee (Nashville), CSN Philadelphia
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (13-12-5): Colin Wilson has set up three goals in his last three games overall and looks to continue his scoring binge versus Philadelphia, against which he scored in the last meeting and has five tallies and six points in 10 career encounters. Fellow forward James Neal has scored four of his team-leading 12 goals over his last eight games and added two assists to boot. Defenseman P.K. Subban logged a game-high 28:02 of ice time in the first outing versus the Flyers but is considered day-to-day after sitting out Saturday's tilt against the Rangers with an upper-body injury.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (19-11-3): Jakub Voracek kept his spirits up at the end of the streak, during which he collected four goals and a team-high 16 points - including an assist versus the Predators two weeks ago. "I don't think anyone expected us to win every game for the rest of the year," the 27-year-old Voracek told reporters. "We just have to recover and get another winning streak going on Monday." Captain Claude Giroux notched an assist against Nashville as part of his 12-point performance (five goals, seven assists) during the streak while fellow forward Brayden Schenn also set up a goal to highlight his eight-point run (six goals, two assists) in that same stretch.
OVERTIME
1. After being held off the scoresheet in his first nine NHL games, Philadelphia LW Taylor Leier recorded an assist in Colorado on Wednesday and added his first goal in the league Saturday.
2. Nashville G Pekka Rinne is 3-6-2 with a 3.17 goals-against average on the road this season.
3. The Flyers have won six of eight encounters versus Central Division representatives in 2016-17 while the Predators are 1-1-3 versus Metropolitan foes.