Nashville plays Buffalo, looks for 5th straight home win

Buffalo Sabres (10-19-6, sixth in the Atlantic) vs. Nashville Predators (24-11-2, first in the Central)

Nashville, Tennessee; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Nashville hosts Buffalo trying to continue its four-game home winning streak.

The Predators are 11-5-0 at home. Nashville ranks sixth in the Western Conference recording 8.6 points per game, averaging 3.1 goals and 5.5 assists.

The Sabres have gone 4-8-4 away from home. Buffalo averages 2.9 penalties per game, the least in the Eastern Conference. Alex Tuch leads them averaging 0.7.

The teams meet Thursday for the first time this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Mikael Granlund leads the Predators with 28 assists and has 33 points this season. Filip Forsberg has 12 points over the last 10 games for Nashville.

Tage Thompson leads the Sabres with 12 goals and has 23 points. Rasmus Dahlin has three goals over the last 10 games for Buffalo.

LAST 10 GAMES: Predators: 8-1-1, averaging 3.7 goals, 6.5 assists, 5.8 penalties and 15.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game with a .938 save percentage.

Sabres: 2-5-3, averaging 2.1 goals, 3.8 assists, three penalties and 8.7 penalty minutes while giving up 3.2 goals per game with a .911 save percentage.

INJURIES: Predators: Filip Forsberg: out (health and safety protocols), Thomas Novak: out (health protocols).

Sabres: Alex Tuch: out (health and safety protocols), Casey Fitzgerald: out (covid-19), Peyton Krebs: out (health and safety protocols), Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: day to day (lower body), Kyle Okposo: out (covid-19), Dustin Tokarski: out (health protocols), Craig Anderson: out (upper body), Robert Hagg: out (lower-body), Tage Thompson: out (health protocols).

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