Game Day: Avalanche vs. Preds Preview

The Nashville Predators have been victorious in their past five outings, and they'll look to extend their win streak to six games tonight when they host the Colorado Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena. This evening's contest is the second of four meetings between the two Central Division foes this season; the Preds fell to the Avs in Denver last month.
Tonight's game arrives with some adversity for Nashville; the Predators announced Wednesday six players and six additional members of the team's traveling party have entered COVID-19 protocol after returning from their four-game road trip.

The six Preds players on the COVID list are forwards Mikael Granlund, Ryan Johansen, Matt Luff, Michael McCarron and Philip Tomasino as well as defenseman Ben Harpur. Among the six members of the traveling party on the list are Head Coach John Hynes, Assistant Coaches Dan Lambert and Todd Richards and Goaltending Coach Ben Vanderklok.
Johansen was the first member of the team to be placed on the COVID list after missing Sunday's game in New York. Additionally, forward Matt Duchene has missed two consecutive games and remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Nashville was supposed to host Calgary on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena, but that game was postponed due to a COVID outbreak among the Flames players and staff.
Despite all of the circumstances, tonight's game carries plenty of importance in the Central Division; Nashville (35) is just one point behind Colorado (36) for the third spot in the division, and both clubs are riding five-game win streaks.
"I think we're just having fun," Tomasino said following Sunday's win in New York. "I've said it in the past, but we come to the rink every day, we're having fun, we're working for each other and we're trying to be the best teammates we can be for each other. So, this was definitely a big road trip for our group.
"It was an unbelievable road trip for us. I think tonight was probably the hardest game of the road trip, but we came up with a win. It was an awesome trip for our team, and hopefully we continue it with the homestand coming up in the next couple days."
10 a.m. CT Update: The
Preds have recalled
forwards Cody Glass, Rocco Grimaldi, Mathieu Olivier and Cole Smith from Milwaukee (AHL). Additionally, Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor and Assistant Coach Scott Ford will serve behind the bench for the Predators in tonight's game against the Colorado Avalanche.
12 p.m. CT Update: Predators Assistant Coach Dan Hinote has been added to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list. Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor, Assistant Coach Scott Ford and Admirals General Manager Scott Nichol were on the ice for Nashville's morning skate.
Predators Captain Roman Josi addressed the media following the skate and had this to say on the situation at hand for his team.
On the current situation and playing tonight:
"It's definitely a weird situation. I think just the last couple of days, being home for two days and not playing Tuesday, the cases we had on our team - but as of now we're playing tonight, so our focus is to win a hockey game. That's why you've got a lot of depth, and we have a lot of guys out, but a lot of guys got called up [and it's a] big chance for everyone. So, our mindset is to win the hockey game tonight, and then the rest we can't really control."
On if the Preds should have to play a game tonight:
"I don't know. I mean, that's not my decision. Like I said, we're preparing to play a game, we're preparing to win the hockey game and everything else is kind of out of control. But obviously it's not a very good situation right now around the League. It's not just our team. It's a lot of other teams. As a player, there's not much you can do either. Either we're going to play or we're not, and that's kind of how we prepare for it."

12:15 p.m. CT Update:

5:45 p.m. CT Update:

The Good Guys:

Roman Josi (9g-18a) leads the team in scoring with 27 points; Granlund (COVID protocol) also has 27 points, and Duchene (day-to-day) has 13 goals and 25 points on the season. Filip Forsberg has 11 goals and 18 points in 19 games, and Tanner Jeannot has found the back of the net on six occasions. Juuse Saros owns a 13-8-1 record with a .925 save percentage.

The Opposition:

Colorado's most recent victory came on Tuesday against the Rangers for their fifth-straight win. Nazem Kadri (11g-26a) leads the Avs with 37 points, followed by Mikko Rantanen (13g-15a) with 28 points and Gabriel Landeskog (9g-18a) with 27 points. Cale Makar has 13 goals from the backend; Andre Burakovsky has 12 tallies. Darcy Kuemper is 13-5-0 in net for the Avalanche.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 44-33-(5)-3 all-time against the Avalanche, including a 22-15-(3)-1 record at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville has won 12 of its last 17 regular-season games against Colorado, including an 11-game win streak from April 5, 2016-Nov. 7, 2018. During the win streak, Nashville posted 4.2 goals per game and held Colorado to two-or-fewer goals seven times.
The Preds are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games against the Avs at Bridgestone Arena, winning five in a row from April 5, 2016-Nov. 18, 2017.

Notables Versus Colorado:

Matt Duchene was drafted third overall by the Avalanche in the 2009 NHL Draft. He recorded 428 points (178g-250a) in nine seasons with Colorado from 2009-17. Duchene has six goals and seven points in seven career games against his former team.
Roman Josi recorded a 12-game point streak vs. Colorado (5g-11a) from March 28, 2016-Jan. 21, 2019. He's recorded a point in 24 of his 35 career games against the Avalanche, tallying 11 goals and 32 points.
Colton Sissons posted a five-game point streak (7g-1a) against the Avalanche from Oct. 17, 2017-Nov. 7, 2018. He has 10 points (8g-2a) in 16 career regular-season games vs. Colorado; including the postseason, he has 17 points (11g-6a) in 22 games against the Avs.
Filip Forsberg notched his fourth career hat trick on Feb. 23, 2017 vs. the Avalanche. He's averaged more than a point per game in his career against Colorado, recording 28 points (14g-14a) in 27 games, including four game-winning goals.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for this evening's 7 p.m. CT puck drop from Nashville begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators Live! pregame show on Bally Sports South hosted by Kara Hammer and Terry Crisp. Willy Daunic and Chris Mason have the call on the television side, while Pete Weber and Hal Gill will broadcast on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. Pregame coverage on the radio begins at 5 p.m. with Darren McFarland. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
.