Minnesota @ Nashville preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 3, 2019 ) Minnesota 2, Nashville 5

The Nashville Predators on Thursday try to continue their mastery over the visiting Minnesota Wild, who will be without No. 1 goaltender Devan Dubnyk after he was involved in a violent crease collision. Nashville has won six in a row against Minnesota and eight consecutive encounters at Bridgestone Arena, where it is 4-1-1 this season including a 5-2 season-opening victory over the Wild on Oct. 3.

The Predators routed Anaheim 6-1 on Tuesday to snap a two-game slide (0-1-1) behind a pair of goals from Viktor Arvidsson, who shares the team lead with five. Minnesota has won two straight after Tuesday's 3-0 victory over Edmonton was dampened by Dubnyk's departure early in the second period. Back-up Alex Stalock made 16 saves to preserve the shutout and is expected to get the bulk of the work until Dubnyk returns. "This team is trending in the right direction after falling on some hard times early,'' Wild defenseman Matt Dumba told reporters Tuesday after recording an assist for the second straight game. "This is the team that we know we had, and hopefully going forward this is what we put forth every night."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS North, FS Wisconsin (Minnesota), FS Tennessee (Nashville)

ABOUT THE WILD (3-6-0): Eric Staal, who has 419 career goals, scored his first two of the season Tuesday and told reporters: "Anytime you start a season, you want to get that first one out of the way as soon as possible, and obviously (it's been) pretty challenging (for me) there for a little bit." Mats Zuccarello recorded his first point with Minnesota - an assist on Staal's first goal - after missing the previous four games with a lower-body injury. Stalock is 1-1-0 with a 1.64 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in 182 minutes, 50 seconds of ice time.

ABOUT THE PREDATORS (5-3-1): The club is getting plenty of offense from its defensemen with Roman Josi (four goals, nine points), Ryan Ellis (team-high 12 points) and Mattias Ekholm (three goals, club-best plus-9) the biggest contributors. Kyle Turris (three goals, seven points) is riding a four-game point streak after recording an assist Tuesday. Pekka Rinne (5-0-1, 2.31, .921 this season) is 19-12-4, 2.43, .913 versus Minnesota after stopping 22-of-24 shots in the season opener.

OVERTIME

1. Nashville C Filip Forsberg (five goals, eight points in six games) has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury.

2. Wild LW Kevin Fiala on Wednesday was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury, LW Jordan Greenway left Tuesday's game after taking a big blind-side hit and C Victor Rask has missed the last three contests (lower body), but could play Thursday.

3. Minnesota is 3-for-8 on the power play in its last two games while the Predators were 3-for-3 on the penalty kill Tuesday after allowing five man-advantage goals on 12 chances in their previous three contests.

PREDICTION: Predators 3, Wild 2