GAME DAY: Preds at Utah, April 10

The final road trip of the season has arrived for the Nashville Predators, and it begins tonight as they make their first-ever visit to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Hockey Club. This evening’s contest, which comes at 8 p.m. CT at Delta Center, is the second of three meetings between the two in Utah’s inaugural campaign.

The Preds snapped a six-game skid on Tuesday night as they came back to win a thrilling, 7-6 overtime decision against the New York Islanders. Now, with just four games to go in the season, Nashville will try for another win as they look to improve in the final week of the schedule.

“We talked about finding a way to finish strong and try to build on,” Preds forward Steven Stamkos said following Tuesday’s win. “That’s where we are. It's a crappy situation, but you want to feel good about yourself each and every night. You never know how many games you're going to get to play in this League, so you take advantage when you can. And like I said, just build on some things to feel a little better about yourself.”

The Predators did not practice on Wednesday ahead of their flight to Utah. Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Predators reassigned forward Kieffer Bellows and defenseman Spencer Stastney to Milwaukee. Jonathan Marchessault returned to the Nashville lineup on Tuesday after missing four games with a lower-body injury.

Last Time Out:

Stamkos tallied twice on the power play, and Fedor Svechkov scored the overtime winner in the 7-6 victory over the Islanders. Ryan O’Reilly, Filip Forsberg, Michael McCarron and Michael Bunting also found the back of the net, and Justus Annunen took the win in goal.

Per NHL Stats, Tuesday marked the fourth time in franchise history in which the Predators erased a multi-goal deficit within the final three minutes of regulation and won, tied with the Canadiens and Sabres for the second most among all teams since Nashville’s inaugural season in 1998-99. The Flames (5) are the only club with more.

Forsberg secured his already franchise-record fifth 30-goal season. He became the sixth Swedish player to reach the plateau in as many seasons, joining Mats Sundin (13), Markus Naslund (6), Kent Nilsson (5), William Nylander (5) and Tomas Sandstrom (5).

The Good Guys:

Forsberg continues to lead the Preds with 30 goals and 72 points, followed by Marchessault (19g-33a) with 52 points, and then Stamkos with 27 goals and 51 points. Both O’Reilly and Bunting have 18 goals apiece. Juuse Saros is 18-30-6 on the season; Annunen is 15-14-1.

The Opposition:

Utah has won three of four outings in April, including a 7-1 victory on Tuesday over Seattle. Clayton Keller leads the team with 27 goals and 84 points, followed by Nick Schmaltz (18g-42a) with 60 points and Logan Cooley (23g-25a) with 58 points.

All-Time Meetings:

The Preds were victorious in their only previous meeting against Utah - a 4-0 win at Bridgestone Arena back in November. Nashville is 4-6-0 in the last 10 meetings with Arizona and Utah combined.

Milestone Watch:

Ryan O’Reilly scored his 300th career NHL goal on April 8 vs. NY Islanders.

Brady Skjei recorded his 200th career NHL assist on April 8 vs. NY Islanders.

Michael McCarron is two games from 300 in his NHL career.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for this evening’s game begins at 7:30 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 Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.

Voice of the Preds Pete Weber 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.)