The Nashville Predators are back home to host the Montreal Canadiens tonight for a 6 p.m. CT puck drop at Bridgestone Arena. This evening’s contest is the second and final meeting between the two clubs this season; the Preds fell to the Habs back in December.
A three-game road trip didn’t go Nashville’s way as its overall skid extended to five games with a 5-1 loss in Dallas on Thursday. Now, with just six games to go on the schedule, the Predators will look to get back into the win column as things wind down.
“We go back through the games, and when you watch games, there's large parts of games that are good, and there's these windows of games where the game slips through our fingers, out of our grasp, however you want to say it,” Preds Assistant Coach Todd Richards said Saturday. “So, for me, it's just that consistency… There’s going to be times you're playing against good teams, desperate teams, you're going lose it… But how can we manage it better where we aren't losing the game in the next minute, because it did happen last game.”
Rookie forward Matthew Wood, who has yet to make his NHL debut, participated in his first full team practice on Saturday afternoon. Following yesterday’s practice, Richards said a decision on Wood has not yet been made for this evening’s game against Montreal.
Defenseman Spencer Stastney (upper-body, day-to-day) also participated. Jonathan Marchessault (lower-body, day-to-day) and Colton Sissons (lower-body, week-to-week) were absent. Forward Zach L’Heureux was also absent from practice to attend his grandmother’s funeral in Quebec.
The Predators reassigned forward Ozzy Wiesblatt to Milwaukee on Saturday after he played Thursday in Dallas. Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette was absent from practice on Saturday and is currently away from the team tending to family matters.
