Preds at Hurricanes, Round 1, Game 1: What You Need to Know

It's the most wonderful time of the year.
The 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs have begun, and the Nashville Predators will start their postseason journey tonight in Carolina when they face the Hurricanes for Game 1 of their first-round series at PNC Arena.
This evening's contest is the first-ever playoff series between the two clubs, as part of the temporarily realigned Central Division, and after falling in six-straight meetings to start their season series, the Preds finished the eight-game set with a pair of victories over Carolina. The first of those two wins, a 3-1 result on May 8, clinched Nashville's spot in the playoffs for the seventh-consecutive season, and the Predators followed that with a 5-0 triumph over the Canes to close out the regular season.
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Game 1 Projected Lineup: Predators at Hurricanes
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Tonight, with a week of preparations complete - and plenty of pundits making their predictions favoring Carolina - the time to drop the puck has arrived, and the Preds can hardly wait.

"[Our confidence] is extremely high," Preds forward Colton Sissons said. "We've played some good hockey down the stretch, and we've talked about it quite a few times, but we've played some intense, playoff-style hockey for a month or two now. I think we're primed and ready to go."

"I like a lot about this [past] week," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "We've had some time to rest and recharge, and guys have a lot of energy. I felt we've had really good practices, focused, so we've done the best we can. We've really focused on ourselves; we know a lot about Carolina, but we feel like our preparation has been really strong, and now it's time to play."
Following the penultimate game of the regular season on May 8, the Predators made 11 different lineup changes for the season finale on May 10. Since then, Hynes and his staff have been making lineup decisions as Game 1 draws near with the final choices set to be revealed tonight.
Forward Viktor Arvidsson, who missed the final five games of the regular season due to injury, could be one of those Preds who dresses tonight. Hynes said last week Arvidsson (day-to-day) had practiced in full and was progressing in the right direction.
Update: Hynes says Arvidsson will return for the Preds tonight in Game 1, but it has yet to be determined who will come out of the lineup in his place.

Regular-Season Wrap Up:
After a slow start, the Predators turned their season around, and now they find themselves competing for the Stanley Cup once again.
Since March 15, Nashville's 20 wins were tied for the third-most in the NHL, and they accomplished that feat despite 199 total man-games lost in that time span; the team used 29 different skaters and two goaltenders.
Over that time, (March 15 to May 10), Nashville led the NHL in team save percentage (.937) and goals-against per game (2.07); was fourth in goal differential (+28); and tied for seventh in penalty kill percentage (85.7 percent).
Predators Captain Roman Josi finished as Nashville's leading scorer for the second consecutive campaign; the defenseman's 33 points (8g-25a) were tops on the team. Filip Forsberg had 32 points (12g-20a) in just 39 games played, Calle Jarnkrok had 28 points (13g-15a), Mikael Granlund recorded 27 points (13g-14a) and Viktor Arvidsson registered 25 points (10g-15a) on the campaign.
The Predators had 17 players reach the 10-point mark, tied for the fifth-most in the NHL. Nashville also had 10 players score at least eight goals, tied for the fourth-most such players in the League; seven skaters tallied at least 10 goals.
Goaltender Juuse Saros won a career-high 21 games, going 21-11-1 in 36 appearances. Among NHL goalies who played in at least 25 games, he was third in save percentage (.927); fifth in goals-against average (2.28); and tied for sixth in wins and shutouts (3). He also led all goaltenders in even-strength save percentage (.942).
In his last 26 appearances of the season - nearly 50 percent of Nashville's 2020-21 campaign, dating back to Feb. 27 - Saros went 18-6-1 with a 1.88 goals-against average, .941 save percentage and three shutouts. He allowed two-or-fewer goals in 20 of his last 26 starts.
Welcome to the Playoffs:
Tonight's Game 1 marks the first time Nashville has opened a postseason series on the road since the 2017 Stanley Cup Final versus Pittsburgh. Nashville is 9-11 all-time in Game 1 (6-6 on the road); the Predators are 7-2 all-time in a series when going up 1-0; they are 0-11 when trailing 1-0.
Ten players who helped the Predators reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in 2017 remain with the club: Viktor Arvidsson, Mattias Ekholm, Ryan Ellis, Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan Johansen (injured, did not play in SCF), Roman Josi, Pekka Rinne, Juuse Saros and Colton Sissons.
Filip Forsberg ranks first on the all-time franchise list for career playoff goals (26) and points (49). He also holds the franchise record for most points in a single postseason (16), set in 2017 and matched in 2018.

The Opposition:
Carolina finished the 2020-21 season with 36 wins and 80 points to earn a Central Division title. Sebastian Aho led the club in scoring with 57 points (24g-33a), followed by Vincent Trochek with 43 points (17g-26a) and the Andrei Svechnikov (15g-27a) and Dougie Hamilton (10g-32a) with 42 points apiece. Nino Neiderreiter finished the season with 20 goals, Jordan Staal had 16 and Martin Necas tallied 14 times. Petr Mrazek was injured at times this season, but the goaltender went 6-2-3 for the Hurricanes; Alex Nedeljkovic was 15-5-3 between the pipes.
All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 17-17-(1)-4 all-time against the Hurricanes during the regular season, including a 6-10-(1)-3 record at PNC Arena. This will be the first-ever playoff series between the two franchises.
Nashville went 2-5-1 against Carolina in 2020-21, going 2-2-0 at Bridgestone Arena and 0-3-1 on the road. Nashville and Carolina shared an AHL affiliate this season, the Chicago Wolves; 18 players on a Nashville contract suited up for Chicago this season, including Tanner Jeannot, Alexandre Carrier and Rem Pitlick.
Notables Versus Carolina:
Ryan Johansen (2g-2a), Mattias Ekholm (1g-3a) and Dante Fabbro (4a) shared the team lead in points against the Hurricanes this season with four. Johansen, Luke Kunin, Matt Duchene and Erik Haula each scored twice versus Carolina this season, with Haula recording one of the team's two game-winning goals.
Juuse Saros appeared in four games against the Hurricanes and went 1-2-0 with a .917 save percentage and 2.73 goals-against average.
Johansen (5g-9a) and Duchene (6g-8a) both own 14 career points versus Carolina, tied with Mikael Granlund (4g-10a) for the most by a Preds skater. Ryan Ellis owns 10 points (2g-8a) in 16 career games against the Hurricanes, including points in six of seven contests (1g-6a) from Jan. 6, 2015 to March 9, 2019.
Show Your Preds Playoff Pride:
While the Preds are on the road in Carolina, and even when they return home for Games 3 and 4, there are plenty of ways for fans to love for their team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with watch parties, Preds Pride Pickups, game-day offers and so much more.
Click here for all the details and Stand With Us.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for Game 1 from Raleigh 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.
Tonight's game may also be seen nationally on CNBC with puck drop set for 7 p.m. CT. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
.
Streaming Info:
Listen to a Live Radio Feed
(only active during the game broadcast window).
Watch a Live Stream of the game
on the Bally Sports App or
Watch on NHL.TV