Game Day: Preds at Flyers

The Nashville Predators have their fathers in tow as they head east, beginning tonight in Philadelphia against the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center. The contest will be the second and final meeting between the two clubs this season. The Preds lost to the Flyers, 4-2, just two weeks ago at Bridgestone Arena with Wayne Simmonds scoring twice for the visitors.
Nashville is coming off a 2-1 shootout loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday night, with Captain Mike Fisher scoring the lone goal for the Preds, his fourth in the last three games. Goaltender Juuse Saros stopped 26 shots through 65 minutes of regulation and overtime.
Ryan Johansen leads the Preds in scoring with 21 points, followed by Viktor Arvidsson with 20, including nine goals. Mike Ribeiro has 19 points on the season; Fisher and James Neal have 18 points apiece, with Neal's 12 goals leading the club. Pekka Rinne is 12-8-4 on the season in goal; Saros is 1-2-1.

The Flyers (19-11-3) fell 3-1 to Dallas on Saturday, their first loss after rattling off 10 consecutive wins going into Saturday. Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers with 22 assists and 33 points on the season. Simmonds leads the team in goals with 16 and Claude Giroux has 21 helpers and 30 points. Steve Mason owns a 13-9-3 record between the pipes.

Morning Update:
Defenseman P.K. Subban did not travel to Philadelphia with the team and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The Preds recalled defenseman Adam Pardy from Milwaukee prior to the morning skate. A projected lineup can be seen
here
.
The Predators will have a big name out of the lineup tonight, but that won't change the way they look to go about their business.
Defenseman P.K. Subban, who is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, is not with the team in Philadelphia and won't play tonight against the Flyers. Blueliner Adam Pardy was recalled this morning from Milwaukee of the AHL, giving the Preds seven defensemen on their roster.
Matt Irwin has stepped up before, recently with Ryan Ellis out the lineup, filling in alongside Roman Josi while Ellis was injured. Head Coach Peter Laviolette expects Irwin to have more responsibility again tonight under the circumstances.
"We don't have plans for people, we just try to play a style, an identity," Laviolette said. "Filling the hole isn't easy. If we had another P.K., we'd use him, but Matt Irwin's jumped up and done a really nice job for us.
"The system stays the same, but somebody's got to go in that spot… we've mixed it up a little bit, Matt Irwin had jumped up in the lineup before and done a really nice job, so we ended up with that at the end of the Rangers game on Saturday]."
After continuing to generate chances over the past few games, it's the play in their own end the Preds are most concerned about, something they'll look to continue to tweak tonight.
"We can still tighten up our game defensively; we've been watching a lot of video on it and there are simple fixes," forward Colton Sissons said. "It's not like we need to panic or anything, just really simple corrections that we're all very capable of making; just being a little bit tighter and limiting their grade-A scoring chances that we talk about. I think that'll be a big part of turning things around and stringing some wins together."
And in the midst of the
[annual Fathers Trip
, having some extra motivation in the crowd could help as well.
"Oftentimes, when teams bring the dads they play well," Laviolette said. "It doesn't necessarily guarantee wins, but no one wants to play poorly in front of their dad."
As the Preds look for success in the City of Brotherly Love, here are three things to watch for:
"We Have to Be Better"
After completing a home stand that saw them go 1-1-1, the Preds don't have the best taste in their mouth heading into Philadelphia tonight. Nashville gave up the first goal in all three of those contests, forcing them to play from behind for a majority of the time. They mounted a comeback on Tuesday against the Blues, but were unable to find the equalizer on Thursday against Minnesota and ultimately fell in the shootout to the Rangers on Saturday.
After the game, Captain Mike Fisher made a similar statement to one that he put forth back in October when the team got off to a slow start.
"We have to find ways to win and get rolling and move up in the standings," Fisher said. "We know we can be better. We have to be better. [We] have to get back to the way we were playing a few weeks ago, and start getting some wins. We're a confident group, and we have the guys in here to do it. We're going to pick it up, and just keep improving and getting better."
The difference between then and now is the Preds have been pleased with a majority of their play as of late. The hope now is to not only eliminate the few mistakes, but to then capitalize when they have the chances to do so. A win against a hot team in their own building tonight could pay dividends.

See You Again:
It goes both ways, but the familiarity is there tonight for the Preds after seeing tonight's opponent roughly two weeks ago. Wayne Simmonds was able to capitalize twice for the Flyers on the man advantage, so staying disciplined will be key tonight for the Preds. They'll also concentrate on eliminating time and space for Philadelphia's skilled players in their own end, something that can turn the tide of the game very quickly for one side or the other.
Like Father, Like Son:
If the Preds need any extra motivation, the team is embarking on their annual fathers trip, allowing players and coaches the opportunity to bring along their dad, brother or son to get a glimpse at life in the NHL. And as Coach Laviolette has said on previous trips, no one wants to play bad in front of their dad. See photos from the trip by
clicking here
.
Take It In:
Tonight's game comes with a 6 p.m. CT start and can be seen on Fox Sports Tennessee, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with Predators Live! pregame with Willy Daunic, Stu Grimson and Lyndsay Rowley. On the radio side, Pete Weber and Brent Peterson have the call.