Predators vs. Flames Preview and Morning Skate Update

The Nashville Predators welcome the Calgary Flames to Bridgestone Arena tonight in a game Predators head coach Andrew Brunette predicts will be "a battle".

Tonight the Nashville Predators take on the 16-16-5 Calgary Flames. The Predators are hoping to build off of their Tuesday night win over the Chicago Blackhawks while the Flames won the first game of their road trip Tuesday over the Minnesota Wild. 

Tonight is the second of four road games for the Flames. Calgary went 1-2-2 in their five road games in December and 5-7-2 on the road this season. Calgary has played well against some top teams in the league with wins over Dallas, Carolina, Florida, Vancouver, Vegas, and most recently Philadelphia. 

Blake Coleman leads the team in goals and points. In recent seasons, the Flames have traded for Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau. Kadri has ten goals on the season, but Huberdeau has struggled in the first 37 games of the season and has scored just five goals. Youngsters Yegor Sharangovich and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar have been important pieces for the Flames this season. 

Jacob Markstrom has been playing well in net lately and has a .907 save percentage on the season and earned his first shutout of 2023-2024 on December 21 against Anaheim. Dan Vladar has gone 5-4 in his nine starts as the backup for Calgary. 

"There's not a lot of time and space out there," Andrew Brunette said about playing the Flames.

"They're heavy. Systematically they don't give you a lot of room, so it's going to be a battle."

Nashville got the home win Tuesday against the Blackhawks, but it wasn't a complete 60 minute game. 

"In the Chicago game we had a pretty good first, pretty good third, but we kind of fell asleep in the second for a little bit," forward Luke Evangelista said. 

"We want to focus on playing a complete sixty."

Andrew Brunette has also talked to the team about getting wins at home. The Predators ended December losing their last three home games, and part of the focus tonight is making sure teams understand that coming to Bridgestone Arena and leaving with two points will not be easy. 

Nashville's top line has been excellent lately, and the team will need Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, and Gus Nyquist to execute well on both ends of the ice. Nyquist is on a six game point steak that includes five goals and nine points while Forsberg and O'Reilly have combined for four goals and six assists in the last five games. 

Juuse Saros is expected to get the start in net tonight and is coming off of a shutout win over Chicago. 

Forsberg - O'Reilly - Nyquist

Pärssinen - Sissons - Sherwood

Smith - Novak - Evangelista

Trenin - McCarron - Tomasino

Josi - Fabbro

Lauzon - Carrier

McDonagh - Schenn

Saros

Tyson Barrie was on the ice to start practice, but was not with the team when morning skate wrapped up. Cody Glass was the extra skater this morning and is expected to be a healthy scratch tonight. 

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 pm CT. Tonight's game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game will have the radio call. 

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