Sabres at Predators preview

SABRES (24-41-12) at PREDATORS (50-16-11)
8 p.m. ET; MSG-B, FS-TN, NHL.TV

The Predators need a win against the Sabres and a regulation loss by the Winnipeg Jets to the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the Central Division. If that happens and the Vegas Golden Knights lose to the San Jose Sharks, Nashville, who leads the NHL with 11 points, will clinch the Western Conference.
Nashville forward Eeli Tolvanen will make his NHL debut. He was on a line with Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson at the morning skate.
Sabres coach Phil Housley will return to Nashville for the first time since last season, when he was an assistant coach for the Predators, who advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.

Players to watch

Sabres forward Sam Reinhart has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 13 games.
Predators forward Mike Fisher is expected to play in his 1,100th NHL game.
They said it
"This building is loud, especially when they're getting a lead and they're forechecking hard. They suffocate you at times. We're going to have to handle that. I thought any time we faced adversity last game, we didn't do a good job with it. We talked about that, especially in this building."-- Sabres coach Phil Housley
"It would feel awesome. Obviously we started the year out with a lot of goals. There's some goals that you can accomplish during the regular season, and we've done a good job of putting ourselves in a position to be able to do that." -- Predators forward Austin Watson

Sabres projected lineup

Zemgus Girgensons -- Jack Eichel -- Jason Pominville
Scott Wilson -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Sam Reinhart
Evan Rodrigues --
Casey Mittelstadt
-- Kyle Okposo
Benoit Pouliot -- Johan Larsson -- Nick Baptiste
Marco Scandella -- Casey Nelson
Brendan Guhle -- Rasmus Ristolainen
Nathan Beaulieu -- Justin Falk
Chad Johnson
Adam Wilcox
Scratched:Josh Gorges, Jordan Nolan, Victor Antipin
Injured: Linus Ullmark (upper body), Jacob Josefson (upper body), Kyle Criscuolo (upper body), Jake McCabe (shoulder), Zach Bogosian (hip), Robin Lehner (lower body)

Predators projected lineup

Eeli Tolvanen -- Ryan Johansen -- Viktor Arvidsson
Kevin Fiala -- Kyle Turris -- Craig Smith
Colton Sissons -- Nick Bonino -- Austin Watson
Scott Hartnell -- Mike Fisher -- Ryan Hartman
Roman Josi -- Ryan Ellis
Mattias Ekholm -- P.K. Subban
Alexei Emelin -- Anthony Bitetto
Pekka Rinne
Juuse Saros
Scratched:Matt Irwin, Miikka Salomaki, Filip Forsberg
Injured: Calle Jarnkrok (upper body), Yannick Weber (upper body)

Status report

The Sabres held an optional morning skate. … Watson could return to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury.

Stat pack

Eichel has three goals in his past two games. … Arvidsson has 23 points (11 goals, 12 assists) in his past 20 games