The Nashville Predators (1-2-0) play host to the Edmonton Oilers (0-2-0) Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena.
Puck drop is at 7 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 Saturday’s game at Boston:
Forsberg - O’Reilly - Pärssinen
Nyquist - Glass - Smith
Tomasino - Novak - Evangelista
Trenin - Sissons - Sherwood
Josi - Fabbro
McDonagh - Carrier
Lauzon - Barrie
Saros
Lankinen
Scratches: Fagemo, McCarron, Schenn*
*Luke Schenn did not play Saturday vs. Boston due to a lower-body injury.
LAST TIME OUT
The Predators dropped a 3-2 decision to the Boston Bruins Saturday at TD Garden. Nashville outshot Boston, 35-31, but went 0-for-7 in 13:12 of total power-play time while all three Boston goals came on either the power play or a penalty shot.
Colton Sissons (2g) recorded his fifth career multi-goal game and his first since Nov. 7, 2018 at Colorado (3g). Kiefer Sherwood, Tyson Barrie and Roman Josi each recorded their first points of the season (1a each), and Filip Forsberg assisted on Sissons’ second goal to give him three assists in three games.
ALL-TIME MEETINGS
The Predators are 45-31-(3)-4 all-time against the Oilers, including a 23-16-(3)-0 record at Bridgestone Arena. This is the first of three matchups between Nashville and Edmonton in 2023-24 and the first and only at home.
Nashville went 1-2-0 in three games against Edmonton last season, recording a 4-3 OT win at Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 19, 2022. The win snapped an eight-game losing streak (0-7-1) vs. the Oilers.
NOTABLES VS. EDMONTON
- The Predators acquired Barrie, Reid Schaefer and a first-round pick (Tanner Molendyk) in the 2023 NHL Draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft from Edmonton for Mattias Ekholm and a sixth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft on Feb. 28, 2023. Barrie spent parts of three seasons with the Oilers from 2020-23, recording 132 points (25g-107a) in 190 games.
- Juuse Saros set the Preds franchise record for most saves in a shutout when he posted 46 vs. Edmonton on Dec. 14, 2017. In nine career games vs. the Oilers, Saros is 3-4-1 with a 2.69 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.
- Forsberg has averaged nearly a point per game in his career vs. the Oilers, tallying 21 points (11g-10a) in 22 games. He became the second player in NHL history to score a “lacrosse-style” goal in Nashville’s game against Edmonton on Jan. 14, 2020.
- Josi has 15 assists and 19 points in 29 career meetings with the Oilers.
- Ekholm was selected by the Predators in the fourth round (102nd overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft and played the first 719 games of his career with Nashville, recording 268 points (62g-206a).
THE GOOD GUYS
The Netminder: Saros recorded a 23-save shutout – the 21st of his NHL career – in Thursday’s home opener vs. Seattle. He has 2.41 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage through the first three games of the season and has allowed just one even-strength goal.
The Sizzler: Sissons leads the Predators with three goals through three games this season, including two on Saturday vs. Boston. He scored Nashville’s first shorthanded goal of the season in Thursday’s home opener vs. Seattle.
The New Faces: Nashville’s offseason free-agent signings have made an early impact on their new team.
- Gustav Nyquist scored his first goal as a member of the Predators on Thursday vs. Seattle for his second point in as many games after he recorded an assist in Tuesday’s season opener against Tampa Bay. Nyquist signed a two-year, $6.37 million contract with the Predators as a free agent on July 1 after totaling 27 points (11g-16a) in 51 games with Columbus and Minnesota last season.
- Ryan O’Reilly recorded a goal and an assist in Tuesday’s season opener at Tampa Bay. O’Reilly signed a four-year, $18 million contract with the Predators as a free agent on July 1. The 32-year-old won the Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy with St. Louis in 2019 and has collected numerous other accolades during his 14-year NHL career, including the Selke Trophy (2019), Lady Byng (2014) and three nods to the NHL All-Star Game.
The Rising Stars: Several of Nashville’s young forwards have already picked up where they left off down the stretch last season.
- Tommy Novak, 26, scored Nashville’s first power-play goal of the season on Tuesday in Tampa Bay. had 43 points (17g-26a) in 51 games with Nashville last season.
- Juuso Pärssinen, 22, has two goals this season, scoring one in each of Nashville’s first two games. Pärssinen posted 25 points (6g-19a) in 45 games in 2022-23, his rookie season; despite missing 23 games with an upper-body injury from Feb. 26-April 8, he finished 12th among NHL rookies in assists (19) and tied for 16th in points.
THE OTHER GUYS
The Oilers are still seeking their first win of the 2023-24 season after dropping both ends of a home-and-home series with the Vancouver Canucks. Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins lead the Oilers with three points apiece through their first two games, and Draisaitl has the team lead in goals with two.
WATCH & LISTEN
Coverage for Tuesday’s game begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on Bally Sports South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley alongside analyst Hal Gill. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and rinkside reporter Kara Hammer will have the call on the television side, with analyst Chris Mason between the benches.
Max Herz and Jay More will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network, with pregame, postgame and intermission coverage by Chase McCabe beginning one hour before puck drop. 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.)
