In their first home game since Jan. 3, Nashville Predators (19-16-6) will host the Buffalo Sabers (20-18-2) Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.
The puck drops at 7 pm 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 Thursday’s game at Montreal:
Forsberg – Parssinen – Sissons
Smith – Johansen – Duchene
Niederreiter – Glass – Granlund
Trenin – Novak – Jeannot
McDonagh: Josi
Ekholm – Carrier
Lauzon – Fabbro
Askarov
The Good Guys
- Goaltender Jesus Saros was named to the Central Division’s squad for the 2023 NHL All-Star Game last week. He made a franchise-record 64 saves on Jan. 5 at Carolina; it was tied for the third-most saves in a regular-season game in NHL history, and was tied for the second-most in a regulation regular-season contest. (The NHL began tracking saves officially in 1955-56.) His 67 shots against were also the most in a game in Predators history. He followed it up with a 38-save shutout on Monday at Ottawa. It was his first shutout of the season and the 19th of his NHL career.
- Filip Forsberg has 34 points (16g-18a) in his last 34 games dating back to Oct. 22 vs. Philadelphia. He became the fastest player in Predators history to reach the 500-point mark, doing so in his 601st career game Dec. 31 at Vegas.
- Roman Jose has 29 points (9g-20a) in his last 32 games after tallying an assist Thursday at Montreal. He has now recorded nine 10-goal seasons in his NHL career, the second-most in Predators history behind David Legwand (13).
- Matt Duchene has 11 points (5g-6a) in his last 12 games. He scored in four straight contests from Dec. 17-23 (4g) and had a five-game point streak from Dec. 15-23 (4g-1a).
- Juuso Parssinen, who made his NHL debut on Nov. 12 vs. the New York Rangers, has 16 points (4g-12a) in his first 27 career NHL games. His 16 points since Nov. 12 are the third-most among NHL rookies in that time span, and his five multi-point games are tied for the fourth-most among all NHL rookies this season.
The Other Guys
The Sabers have lost three straight heading into Saturday’s contest, with their most recent loss coming at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday.
Tage Thompson leads Buffalo with 57 points (31g-26a), ranking sixth among all NHL skaters in that category. His 31 goals are also a team high and the third-most in the League.
All-Time Meetings
The Predators are 17-11-(1)-2 all-time against the Sabres, including a 6-8-(0)-2 record at Bridgestone Arena. This is the first of two matchups between Nashville and Buffalo in 2022-23 and the first and only at home.
Nashville went 0-2-0 against Buffalo last season, dropping a 4-1 decision on home ice on Jan. 13. The Predators are 2-3-0 in their last five games against the Sabers and 2-2-1 in their last five at home.
Notables vs. Buffalo
- Ryan Johansen is on a personal 14-game point streak vs. Buffalo in which he tallied 16 points (4g-12a). He’s recorded a point in 16 of his 19 career games against the Sabers (4g-15a).
- Duchene has 10 points (3g-7a) in his last 10 games vs. Buffalo, including a three-point effort (3a) on Feb. 15, 2018.
- Mikael Granlund has seven points (3g-4a) in his last 10 games against Buffalo.
- Saros made his NHL debut on Nov. 28, 2015 vs. Buffalo.
- Sissons scored his first career NHL goal on March 27, 2014 vs. Buffalo (Matt Hackett).
- Jeremy Lauzon scored his first goal with the Predators on April 1, 2022 at Buffalo (Craig Anderson).
- Mark Jankowski played in 19 games for the Sabers in 2021-22, tallying five points (2g-3a).
- Predators Assistant GM, Director of Player Development and Milwaukee Admirals GM Scott Nichol began his NHL career with Buffalo, skating in five games for the Sabers from 1995-97.
- Predators Assistant Coach Dan Lambert spent one season in the same role for the Sabers in 2015-16.
Last Time Out
Nashville moved to 10-10-3 on the road in 2022-23 with Thursday’s loss at Montreal. The Preds closed out their two-game regular-season series against the Canadiens with a 1-1-0 record.
Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves in his NHL debut, and Parssinen led the Predators with two points (1g-1a). Nino Niederreiter opened the scoring with his 13th goal of the season, and Matthias Ekholm tallied an assist to give him seven points (3g-4a) in his last 12 games. Cody Glass also assisted on Parssinen’s goal to give him nine points (3g-6a) in his last 15 contests, and Cole Smith returned to the lineup after missing the previous six games with an upper-body injury.
Watch & Listen
Coverage for Saturday’s game begins at 6:30 pm 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 analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.
Pete Weber and Jay More 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.
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