The Nashville Predators return home to host the Utah Hockey Club and Hockey Fights Cancer night at Bridgestone Arena for a 7 p.m. CT puck drop. This evening’s contest is the first-ever meeting between the Preds and Utah; the Arizona Coyotes organization relocated to Salt Lake City and became the Utah Hockey Club – a new franchise – during the offseason.

After losses on back-to-back nights in Washington and Florida, the Preds will be looking to bounce back tonight in their only home game across the next two weeks. A 3-2 loss to the Capitals saw the Predators largely pleased with their play, but Thursday’s 6-2 final in Florida left them hoping for more.

“I mean, obviously you’re concerned about the record, but it’s more how we’re playing every night,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said following Thursday’s loss. “We just can’t seem to grab any momentum… We’re just not grasping the connection here with this group, and that’s the frustrating part. The record is the record for me. It’s more of the process right now. I think we put ourselves, obviously, in a tough spot, but we were 5-10 last year [to start the season]. In this League, you never know what can happen, but for me, the biggest thing is our standard, and our standard has not been upheld here.”

Predators forward Colton Sissons, who left Wednesday’s game in Washington after blocking a shot, did not play Thursday and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Forward Tommy Novak (day-to-day, upper body) was also out of the lineup Thursday. Mark Jankowski replaced Sissons in the Nashville lineup against the Panthers, while defenseman Dante Fabbro was scratched.

Last Time Out:

Steven Stamkos and Juuso Parssinen both scored for the second straight game on Thursday in Florida, a 6-2 loss for the visitors. Stamkos tallied on the power play, and the forward now has six points in his last six games, including three goals in the past four outings. Parssinen’s goals in back-to-back games are his first two tallies of the season. Goaltender Scott Wedgewood took the loss for the Predators against the Panthers.

The Good Guys:

Filip Forsberg leads the Preds with six goals and 11 points, followed by Ryan O’Reilly (3g-7a) with 10 points. Roman Josi has seven helpers and eight points to his name, while Stamkos (4g-3a), Gustav Nyquist (4g-3a), Jonathan Marchessault (2g-5a) and Luke Evangelista (1g-6a) have seven points apiece. Goaltender Juuse Saros is 3-7-1 in net with a .904 save percentage.

The Opposition:

Utah is coming off of a 4-2 victory in St. Louis on Thursday night, and the Club has 15 points in their first 14 games as a franchise. Clayton Keller (6g-7a) leads the team with 13 points, followed by Dylan Guenther (7g-5a) and Nick Schmaltz (12a) with 12 points each. Former Preds goaltender Connor Ingram is 6-2-3 in net for Utah this season; former Preds prospect Karel Vejmelka is 0-3-0.

All-Time Meetings:

This is the first-ever matchup between the Utah Hockey Club and Nashville Predators.

Before Utah Hockey Club moved to Salt Lake City from Arizona this offseason, Nashville went 43-35-(2)-6 all-time against the Coyotes, including a 27-13-(2)-1 record at Bridgestone Arena.

This is the first of three matchups between the two teams this season; they will meet again in Salt Lake City on April 10 and the season finale is set for April 14 back at Bridgestone Arena, the Predators’ second-to-last game of the season.

The Predators went 1-4-0 in their last five games against Arizona; they are 4-6-0 in their last 10; and 7-3-0 in their last 10 games at Bridgestone Arena.

Notables Versus Utah:

Jonathan Marchessault tallied 27 points (8g-19a) in 31 career games against the Coyotes franchise. It is the second-most he has recorded against a single franchise in his career (Sharks – 30).

Roman Josi had 27 points (11g-16a) in his final 14 games vs. the Coyotes, including ten multi-point efforts. He posted a seven-game point streak against Arizona from Dec. 23, 2019-Feb. 26, 2023 (8g-7a). Since the 2021-22 season, Josi led all NHL skaters in points against the Coyotes with 22 (9g-13a).

Filip Forsberg had 19 points (9g-10a) in 20 career meetings with Arizona.

Milestone Watch:

Luke Schenn is one point from 200 in his NHL career.

Tommy Novak is one point from 100 in his NHL career.

Gustav Nyquist is two games from 800 in his NHL career.

Steven Stamkos is four games from 1,110 in his NHL career; Stamkos (217) is one power-play goal from passing Mike Gartner and Jaromir Jagr (217) for sole possession of the 11th-most in NHL history.

Filip Forsberg (77) is four power-play goals from passing Shea Weber (80) for the most in Predators history.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for Saturday night in Smashville begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley and Hal Gill. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic, analyst Chris Mason and rinkside reporter Kara Hammer will have the call on the television side.

Voice of the Predators Pete Weber 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.)