The Predators are back in Nashville to begin a season-long, five-game homestand when they host the Anaheim Ducks for a 7 p.m. CT puck drop tonight at Bridgestone Arena. This evening’s contest is the first of three meetings between the two clubs this season; the Preds and Ducks won’t face each other again until April.
Nashville returns to home ice following a four-game Canadian road trip that saw them go 1-2-1 across stops in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg over the past week. Now, they’ll look to build on the good from that trip and take advantage of what’s to come in their own barn.
“You always want to make your home ice a tough place to play, a tough place for the opposing team to get points, and we’ve got a crowd that helps that for sure,” Preds defenseman Nick Perbix said. “And then we’ve got the guys in the locker room to help do that. It’s important, especially with the way we ended the last road trip, [to get some wins at home].”
“Every point is huge, but I think on home ice here, if we can get that feeling, get the fans into it, I think they they drive us a lot of nights, but we have to give them something to get excited about,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought we did the first two games. So, to come back here, our start is going to be important after a long road trip. To me, it’s just one game at a time. I’m not really looking at how long the homestand is. We’ve just got a really fast team coming in, and our mindset has to be right going into [tonight’s] game.”
Preds defenseman Nic Hague, who has yet to play this season and remains on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury, practiced with the team on Monday. Jonathan Marchessault, who missed Saturday’s game in Winnipeg and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury, did not practice Monday.
Luke Evangelista skated with Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly during Monday’s practice. Brady Martin centered Fedor Svechkov and Tyson Jost, while Steven Stamkos took Marchessault’s spot on the Erik Haula line.
