Game Day: Preds at Canadiens Preview

The Nashville Predators (18-15-6) will make their final stop on a five-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents with a visit to the Montreal Canadiens (16-22-3) Thursday at Bell Centre.
The puck drops at 6 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio. Here's everything you need to know:

Line 'Em Up

Below are Nashville's lines from Wednesday's game at Toronto:
Forsberg - Parssinen - Sissons
Jankowski - Johansen - Duchene
Niederreiter - Glass - Granlund
Trenin - Novak - Jeannot
McDonagh - Josi
Ekholm - Carrier
Lauzon - Fabbro
Saros

The Good Guys

• Goaltender Juuse Saros was named to the Central Division's squad for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game on Thursday night. He made a franchise-record 64 saves on Jan. 5 at Carolina; it was tied for the third-most saves in a regular-season game in NHL history, and was tied for the second-most in a regulation regular-season contest. (The NHL began tracking saves officially in 1955-56.) His 67 shots against were also the most in a game in Predators history. He followed it up with a 38-save shutout on Monday at Ottawa. It was his first shutout of the season and the 19th of his NHL career.
• Filip Forsberg has 33 points (15g-18a) in his last 33 games dating back to Oct. 22 vs. Philadelphia. He became the quickest player in Predators history to reach the 500-point mark, doing so in his 601st career game Dec. 31 at Vegas.
• Roman Josi has 28 points (9g-19a) in his last 31 games after scoring on Monday at Ottawa. He has now recorded nine 10-goal seasons in his NHL career, the second-most in Predators history behind David Legwand (13).
• Colton Sissons is tied for first in the NHL in shorthanded faceoffs won (81).
• Matt Duchene has 10 points (5g-5a) in his last 11 games. He scored in four straight contests from Dec. 17-23 (4g) and had a five-game point streak from Dec. 15-23 (4g-1a).
• Juuso Parssinen, who made his NHL debut on Nov. 12 vs. the Rangers, has 14 points (3g-11a) in his first 26 career NHL games. His 14 points since Nov. 12 are tied for the third-most among NHL rookies in that time span.

The Other Guys

The Canadiens are coming off a 4-0 shutout loss to the Seattle Kraken on Monday and have lost eight of their last nine, including a 6-3 loss to Nashville at Bridgestone Arena on Jan. 3. Montreal currently ranks last in the Atlantic Division with 35 total points.
Captain Nick Suzuki leads the Habs with 34 points (15g-19a), while Cole Caufield has a team-high 23 goals.

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 16-7-(1)-6 all-time against the Canadiens, including a 7-6-(0)-2 record on the road. This is the second and final matchup between Nashville and Montreal in 2022-23; it is the first and only at the Bell Centre.
Nashville is 1-0-0 against Montreal this season, picking up a 6-3 win at Bridgestone Arena on Jan. 3 in a game that featured six different goal scorers for the Predators. Nashville has picked up at least a point in 17 of its last 19 meetings with Montreal (13-2-4) and has only lost twice in regulation since Jan. 15, 2009.

Notables vs. Montreal

• Mikael Granlund posted an eight-game point streak vs. Montreal from Dec. 22, 2015-Jan. 7, 2019, tallying three goals and 13 points. He has 20 points (3g-17a) in 16 career games against the Canadiens, including seven multi-point outings, one of which came on Jan. 3 (2a).
• Duchene has 18 points (7g-11a) in 22 career meetings with Montreal. He notched his second career hat trick - and first with the Predators - on Nov. 20, 2021 at the Bell Centre.
• Josi has 11 points (2g-9a) in 15 career games against the Canadiens.
• Alexandre Carrier is a native of Quebec City, Que., and played four seasons for Gatineau in the QMJHL from 2012-16.
• Jeremy Lauzon is a native of Val-d'Or, Que., and played his junior hockey for Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL) from 2013-17.
• Ryan McDonagh was drafted by Montreal in the first round (12th overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft.
• Assistant Coach Todd Richards was selected by Montreal in the second round (33rd overall) of the 1985 NHL Draft.
• Predators Skills Coach Sebastien Bordeleau was drafted by Montreal in the third round (73rd overall) of the 1993 NHL Draft. He played in 85 games for Montreal from 1995-98, posting 25 points (8g-17a).
• Predators prospect Zachary L'Heureux (2020 first rounder) is a Montreal native.

Last Time Out

Nashville moved to 10-9-3 on the road in 2022-23 with Wednesday's loss at Toronto. The Predators' overall and road point streaks both came to an end at six games (5-0-1).
Saros made 33 saves, including 14 in the first period. Forsberg scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season, with assists from Juuso Parssinen (11) and Matt Duchene (20). Josi skated a team-high 23:57 in his 800th career NHL game.

Watch & Listen

Coverage for Thursday's game begins at 5:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on Bally Sports South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.
Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM.