GAME DAY: Preds at Jets, December 30

The penultimate game of the 2024 calendar year has arrived for the Nashville Predators, and they’ve headed north of the border to take on the Winnipeg Jets tonight at Canada Life Centre for a 6:30 p.m. CT puck drop. This evening’s contest is the second of four meetings between the division rivals this season; the Preds defeated the Jets earlier this season, and they’ll visit Winnipeg for a second time to close out this five-game road trip.

Nashville found success with a 3-0-1 homestand heading into the holiday break, but they returned from Christmas with a 7-4 loss in St. Louis on Friday. Now, the Predators will look to take the good from that outing and get back into the win column as the year nears its end.

“It's not going to get any easier with the quality opponents that we're playing coming up here, so we have no choice but to clean things up,” Preds forward Steven Stamkos said following Friday’s loss. “So, we'll look to do that. And it's going to be a challenge, but we have no choice at this point.”

The Preds made a pair of transactions on Saturday, the first of which was a recall of forward Vinnie Hinostroza - the AHL’s leading scorer - from Milwaukee. Then, Nashville dealt forward Juuso Parssinen and the New York Rangers’ seventh-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft to Colorado in exchange for forward Ondrej Pavel and a third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft.

Following Saturday’s practice, Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said he expects Hinostroza to play on the wing when he gets into the lineup. Hinostroza skated with Michael McCarron and Colton Sissons during Saturday’s session.

Last Time Out:

Stamkos, as well as Mark Jankowski, Nick Blankenburg and Jonathan Marchessault all found the back of the net on Friday in St. Louis. Goaltender Juuse Saros allowed Nashville’s first five goals before being pulled in favor of Justus Annunen.

Marchessault extended his goal streak to a career-high five games to match Sergei Kostitsyn (2010-11), Greg Johnson (1998-99) and Sergei Krivokrasov (1998-99) for the longest goal streak by a player in their first season with the Predators.

Marchessault is also on an eight-game point streak (8g-5a), including five points in his last two outings.

The Good Guys:

Filip Forsberg, who is on a six-game assist streak (11a), leads the Preds with 30 points (9g-21a), followed by Marchessault (13g-13a) with 26 points and Roman Josi (7g-17a) with 24 points. Stamkos has 11 goals and 22 points on the season; Ryan O’Reilly (8g-13a) has 21 points. Saros is 8-15-6 in net; Annunen is 8-5-0 overall.

The Opposition:

The Jets, who got off to the best start to a season in NHL history, have won five of their last six outings, including a 4-2 victory over Ottawa on saturday. Kyle Connor leads the club with 22 goals and 49 points, while Mark Scheifele also has 22 tallies and 44 points. Josh Morrissey (3g-31a) has 34 points from the backend, while Gabriel Vilardi has 15 goals and 32 points. Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is 23-5-1 on the season.

All-Time Meetings:

The Predators are 31-20-(1)-7 all-time against the Jets franchise, including a 12-11-(1)-5 mark on the road.

Nashville went 2-1-1 last season against Winnipeg. Roman Josi led the Predators with seven points (1g-6a) in the four games and Filip Forsberg paced the team with three goals.

The Predators are 3-2-0 in their last five games against the Jets; they are 4-3-3 in their last 10; and 1-3-1 in their last five on the road.

Notables Versus Winnipeg:

Steven Stamkos has tallied 60 points (33g-27a) in his career against the Winnipeg Jets franchise (including their time in Atlanta). It is the third-most points he has recorded against a single franchise and the second-most goals. In his last nine games against the Jets, he has 11 points (5g-6a).

Jonathan Marchessault has 15 points (11g-4a) in 20 career games against Winnipeg. The forward has scored seven goals in his last five games against the Jets, including a hat trick on Nov. 2, 2023. He has also accumulated nine points (4g-5a) in 10 career postseason meetings with Winnipeg.

Roman Josi tied the Predators franchise record for assists and points in a game with five on Feb. 27, 2018 at Winnipeg. He has 34 points (7g-27a) in 39 career games vs. the Jets. Josi has recorded a multi-point game in his last four appearances against the Jets (3g-6a).

Winnipeg forward Nino Niederreiter tallied 28 points (18g-10a) in 56 games for Nashville to begin the 2022-23 season before being dealt in a trade to the Jets.

Milestone Watch:

Filip Forsberg is three power-play goals (78) from passing Shea Weber (80) for the most in Predators history and is four goals from 300 in his NHL career.

Vinnie Hinostroza is three assists from 100 in his NHL career.

The Predators franchise is three wins from 1,000.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for tonight’s game begins at 6:00 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network 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. (El partido también se transmite en español por El Jefe en 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM y 810 AM.)