Predators try to end three-game skid against Blues

Nashville hosts St. Louis on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena, closing out a three-game homestand against a Blues team trying to get back over .500 on its own road trip. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. CT, with the game on Blue Note+ and locally on WNPX The Spot, according to fubo.tv. Read more: Predators try to end three-game skid against Blues

The Predators are winless in their last three, a stretch that includes Thursday's shootout loss to San Jose. St. Louis is 1-1 on this three-game road trip after falling 5-4 in Minnesota on Thursday, scoring twice in the final four minutes, including a short-handed goal from Robert Thomas, before running out of time.

Nashville is 2-2-3 this season and St. Louis is 3-3-1, according to records listed by docsports.com.

Goalies unconfirmed for Saturday

Neither team has officially named a starter. Juuse Saros has started six of Nashville's first seven games this season and carries a 2-2-2 record with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage, per southernsportstoday.com. Joel Hofer has started both Blues games on this trip and is 2-2-1 with a 2.43 GAA.

History tilts away from Nashville's net. Saros is 10-11-2 against St. Louis for his career, with a 3.36 GAA and an .885 save percentage over 24 games. Hofer has faced Nashville eight times and is 4-3-0 with a 3.59 GAA.

Mavrik Bourque missed a week with an upper-body injury but practiced with Nashville on Friday and may be back in the lineup. Predators coach Andrew Brunette said his team's approach is unchanged this week. "I think we're very well aware of where we want to be and how we want to begin the year," he said, per southernsportstoday.com.

Related: Predators fall short to Sharks in shootout

St. Louis has more sorting out to do. Pavel Buchnevich sat out Thursday for the birth of his child, and his status for Saturday was unclear as of Friday, per southernsportstoday.com.

Forward Alexey Toropchenko has been out since Oct. 2 with an upper-body injury and was given a minimum six-week timeline, according to The Hockey News. Dillon Dube has been sidelined since Oct. 8 with a neck injury and is not expected back until early December.

Blues favored on the puck line

St. Louis is a 1.5-goal favorite on the puck line, with Nashville getting the points, according to FOX Sports' listing for the game. Separately, docsports.com had St. Louis at -105 and Nashville at -115 on the moneyline, with a total of 5.5.

Nashville's power play has quietly been one of its better units, converting 7 of 26 chances for 26.9 percent, well ahead of St. Louis at 18.75 percent. The Predators have not turned that edge into results at five-on-five.

Mason McTavish leads St. Louis with 5 goals and 8 points and has a point in five straight games. Steven Stamkos leads Nashville with 4 goals and 8 points of his own, matching McTavish in the box score. "We got to come out above .500," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said, adding his team would bring "a little more determined effort" Saturday, per southernsportstoday.com.

Nashville gets one more game at home before the schedule sends it back on the road, and Saturday will say more about this team than this week's talk has.

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