Nashville @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 5, 2019 ) Arizona 2, Nashville 5

The Nashville Predators have been an offensive juggernaut during the early part of the season, averaging a league-high 4.67 goals per contest, but they could be without one of their most dangerous players in the finale of a three-game road trip. Forward Filip Forsberg has been listed as a game-time decision for Nashville's matchup at the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.

The Predators' defensive lapses continued in a 7-4 setback at Los Angeles in the opener of the road trip, but they responded with a solid 5-2 victory at Vegas on Tuesday night. "It's always harder to win on the road," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said after his team scored at least five goals for the fourth time. "You have to dig in a little bit more and the compete level had to go up a little bit." Arizona is 2-0-1 in its last three following Tuesday's 4-1 victory at Winnipeg and features a stingy defense that had surrendered a combined nine goals over its last five games. Darcy Kuemper can set a record Thursday, seeking to become the first netminder in franchise history to yield two goals or fewer in 12 straight games.

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Tennessee (Nashville), FS Arizona, FS Arizona Plus

ABOUT THE PREDATORS (4-2-0): Forsberg, who has a team-leading five goals and is riding a six-game point streak, sat out the final nine minutes versus Vegas due to a lower-body injury and did not participate in Wednesday's optional practice. Laviolette was pleased to see his team buckle down defensively, blanking the Golden Knights over the final 40 minutes following the L.A. debacle. "The goals are great, but to me, it was nice to see things really ratchet down in the second period and the third period against a team that's high-octane," Laviolette said.

ABOUT THE COYOTES (2-2-1): Arizona was 0-for-9 with the man advantage through its first four games but finally broke the drought as Christian Dvorak and Nick Schmaltz converted on the power play just over two minutes aprt against Winnipeg. It was the first of two tallies on the night for Dvorak while linemate Schmaltz had a three-point night to extend his goal-scoring three to three games. "I'm just getting to scoring areas and using my shot a little bit more than I usually do," Schmaltz said. "Sometimes, they go in stretches, so just stick with it."

OVERTIME

1. Kuemper is bidding to break the franchise record initially set by G Nikolai Khabibulin in 1998-99.

2. Predators C Matt Duchene had his five-game point streak snapped Tuesday but has 11 goals in 29 games versus Arizona.

3. Coyotes captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson has three assists in the last two games after going scoreless in the first three.

PREDICTION: Predators 3, Coyotes 2