Nashville @ Minnesota preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 5, 2019 ) Minnesota 4, Nashville 5

The Minnesota Wild are locked in a fierce four-way battle for the two Western Conference wild-card spots as they host the Nashville Predators on Monday. Minnesota is tied with Arizona - two points behind Colorado and three back of wild-card leader Dallas - after Saturday's 5-1 loss at Carolina left it 2-5-1 in its last eight games.

"There were some unforced errors and if we want to have any hope, we can't have unforced errors at this point in the season," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, whose team won at defending Stanley Cup champion Washington 2-1 on Friday, told reporters. Nashville is coming off a 5-0 loss at Winnipeg on Saturday, falling four points behind the Jets for Central Division supremacy and seeing its margin over third-place St. Louis trimmed to two. "It's disappointing," Predators captain Roman Josi told reporters after the loss. "Biggest game of the year up to this point and they're just better than us. It's disappointing. ... At the end of the day, we're playing in two days, so we've got to look forward. But it's definitely a tough loss." Nashville will try for its fifth straight victory over Minnesota with the last two coming on shootout goals by Ryan Johansen earlier this month.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network

ABOUT THE PREDATORS (42-28-6): Johansen leads the club with 60 points but hasn't scored a non-shootout goal in 19 games, although he has 12 assists during that span. Josi is second with 55 points but hasn't recorded one in five contests since a four-game streak produced a goal and three assists. Viktor Arvidsson (team-high 31 goals) and Filip Forsberg (second with 26) each have five goals in March with Arvidsson's 12 assists the fewest among the league's 30-goal scorers.

ABOUT THE WILD (35-32-9): Zach Parise (team highs of 26 goals, 59 points) did not play Saturday after taking a high-stick from Washington's Tom Wilson on Friday but Boudreau said it was a lower-body injury. Eric Staal (21 goals) scored versus Carolina to reach 50 points for the 13th season - the first 10 came with the Hurricanes - and is 28 points shy of 1,000. Ryan Donato has four goals and 15 points in 16 games since being acquired from Boston but is a minus-4 in his last three contests, dropping him to plus-2 with Minnesota after he was minus-11 in 34 games with the Bruins.

OVERTIME

1. Arvidsson, who has matched his career in goals set in 2016-17, needs one for 100.

2. Wild D Jared Spurgeon recorded his 28th assist Saturday, matching the career high he set in 2016-17 and matched last season.

3. Nashville is 0-for-7 on the power play in its last five games and 13-for-13 on the penalty kill in the past six while Minnesota is 6-for-18 with the man advantage in its last six contests and 14-of-15 on the kill in the past seven.

PREDICTION: Predators 3, Wild 2