Game Day: Jets vs. Preds Preview

The Nashville Predators will look to get back into the win column tonight when they host the Winnipeg Jets at Bridgestone Arena as their three-game homestand continues. Tonight's contest is the second of three meetings between the division rivals this season; Nashville fell to the Jets in Winnipeg by a 6-4 final back in October.
After starting the new year on a five-game win streak, the Predators have just one point in their last four outings. Those marks include losses in Boston and St. Louis that saw Nashville still predominantly satisfied with their effort, but Tuesday's 3-1 result against Vancouver at home left the Predators disappointed with the overall output.

"This is part of the journey you're on in the regular season," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said following Tuesday's loss. "There's times where it goes really well for you and you're clicking on all cylinders, and you find ways to win. When you're in those situations, you have to continue to get better… And now we're in a situation where you're going to go through over 82 games where the details in your game slip, the consistency level in your game slips and you can't get too low either. You've got to be able to get better when things are going really well for you, and you have to be able to get better when things aren't going your way.
"This is a situation we're in now. We have to focus on what we can control, and the only thing we can control is not what has happened - we've got to take some things out of this game - but we've got to move on and we've got to focus on getting better and getting the details and the consistency level in our game that makes us a really difficult team to play. That message is the same: win, lose, good streak, tough streak, it's about what you can control, and what we can control, we're not controlling right now. So, we've got to fix it."
The Predators did not practice Wednesday following their back-to-back set, but they are expected to hold a morning skate prior to this evening's game. Defenseman Mattias Ekholm has missed their last two outings on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list, and defenseman Dante Fabbro (upper-body, week-to-week) is expected to miss at least the next two games.

The Good Guys:

Philip Tomasino scored Nashville's lone goal in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to Vancouver, and netminder David Rittich moved to 3-2-1 on the season. Preds Captain Roman Josi, who is currently tied with David Legwand for the most assists in franchise history (356), leads the team in scoring with 40 points (13g-27a).
Matt Duchene (17g-18a) has 35 points on the season, Mikael Granlund (5g-28a) has 33, Ryan Johansen (11g-20a) has 31 and Filip Forsberg has recorded 19 goals and 30 points in just 28 games. Rookie Tanner Jeannot has 12 goals on the season, Yakov Trenin has tallied 10 times. Goaltender Juuse Saros is 20-11-2 in net for Nashville.

The Opposition:

The Jets have points in four of their five games in the month of January, including a 4-3 overtime loss on Tuesday night in Washington. Winnipeg is now guided behind the bench by Interim Head Coach Dave Lowry after Paul Maurice resigned earlier this season.
Kyle Connor leads the Jets with 21 goals and 39 points in 35 games. He's followed by Pierre-Luc Dubois with 16 goals and 28 points, Nikolaj Ehlers with 13 goals and 25 points, and then Andrew Copp with 10 tallies and 25 points. Connor Hellebuyck is 14-10-5 in net this season for Winnipeg.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 32-38-(2)-6 all-time against the Jets, including a 15-8-(0)-0 record at Bridgestone Arena. Overall, Nashville has earned at least a point in seven of its last 13 games against Winnipeg (6-6-1).
The Predators are 2-3-0 in their last five games vs. the Jets; they are 4-5-1 in their last 10; and 2-3-0 in their last five at Bridgestone Arena. The two teams met in the playoffs for the first time in 2018, with the Preds falling in seven games, 4-3.

Notables Versus Winnipeg:

Roman Josi tied the Preds franchise record for assists and points in a game with five on Feb. 27, 2018, at Winnipeg. He has 21 points (4g-17a) in 29 career games vs. the Jets. Ryan Johansen is averaging nearly a point per game in his career against Winnipeg, tallying 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points in 27 games. His nine points (3g-6a) in Nashville's 2018 Second Round series vs. Winnipeg were the second-most in a single series in team history.
Filip Forsberg recorded a five-game point streak (5a) vs. Winnipeg from March 13, 2018-March 1, 2019. He has picked up at least one point in eight of his last 15 contests against the Jets and has posted 17 points (3g-14a) in 29 career games vs. Winnipeg. Luke Kunin owns five points (2g-3a) in 10 career meetings with the Jets.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for tonight'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 Lyndsay Rowley and Terry Crisp. Willy Daunic, Chris Mason and Kara Hammer 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 6 p.m. with Darren McFarland. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country, click here.