Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Nashville Predators (11-4-2, 24 points) and Toronto Maple Leafs (9-7-2, 20 points) take the ice at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto for the first of two meetings against each other this season. The game can be live streamed here. Nashville fans can hear all of the action on 102.5 The Game while Toronto fans can do the same on TSN 1050.
Nashville is in second place in the Central Division and closes out a two-game road trip after winning four of its last five while Toronto kicks off a three-game home stand in hopes of snapping a two-game skid and is eighth in the Eastern Conference.
The Predators are coming off of a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday that saw James Neal notch his team-best ninth goal of the season and Craig Smith score his sixth tally of the season.
Nashville is off to a good start under coach Peter Laviolette, who took over for long-tenured Barry Trotz this season.
"For sure it's a new voice, a new character and new systems that we play," goaltender Pekka Rinne said via NHL.com. "I feel like we play an active style of game where we are really aggressive on the puck on the forecheck. It's nice to see."
Filip Forsberg has paced the Predators with 20 points off of eight goals and 12 assists and he leads the NHL with a plus-19 rating. Neal (nine tallies, five helpers) and Mike Ribeiro (four goals, 10 assists) are tied for second on the team with 14 points apiece.
The Maple Leafs are looking for some consistency throughout the lineup as the team comes in off of a 6-2 loss to the NHL-worst Buffalo Sabres.
Phil Kessel scored his team-leading 11th goal Saturday against Buffalo, which ranks him tied for second in the NHL, while David Clarkson notched his fifth marker in the loss.
"I just think we're too erratic and too inconsistent," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle told NHL.com. "In the games before the games we played this past weekend we had kind of adopted a style that was working and then we seemed to lose it."
Kessel has paced the Maple Leafs with 22 points -- which ranks him tied for third in the league - while James van Riemsdyk (seven goals, eight assists) and Tyler Bozak (six tallies, nine helpers) each have 15 points to rank second on the team.
In net, Toronto is likely to turn to Jonathan Bernier, who is 5-4-2 with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.
Rinne is the probable starter in the crease for Nashville and he is tied for the NHL lead with 11 points while putting up a 1.92 GAA and a .929 save percentage.
The Predators look for their second straight win while the Maple Leafs try to snap a two-game losing streak when the lights come up tonight at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
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