Habs Make Rare Visit to Nashville

The Montreal Canadians (9-10-0) make a rare visit to Music City tonight when the play the Nashville Predators (8-8-1) at 7 p.m. at the Sommet Center.

The Habs last game in Nashville was on February 22, 2007 when they beat the Preds 6-5 in a shoot-out. All time, the Preds are 3-5-3 against Montreal and last won at home against the Habs on March 23, 2001 when the Preds came out on top in a 5-1 game.

Both teams are coming off road wins on Thursday night, the Preds against St. Louis 3-1, and the Habs in Phoenix, 4-2.

Montreal has played without much consistency this season and are 3-5 in the last eight games. The Preds seemed to have righted their ship and have gone 6-3 since losing six in a row early in the season.

The Preds have gotten much healthier and only have Colin Wilson (groin) and Wade Belak (day to day, lower body) that are injured at this time. The Habs have several injuries including Andrei Markov (ankle), Hal Gill (foot), Georges Laraque (upper body), Matt D’Agostini (concussion), Ryan O’Byrne (lower body), and Jaroslav Spacek (leg) will be a game time decision.

The Predators will go with Pekka Rinne in net after a strong performance in St. Louis on Thursday. Carey Price, who has struggled, will get the start for Montreal after winning on Thursday.

John Glennon of the Tennessean reports the lines at the morning skate were as follows:
Sullivan-Arnott-Dumont
Smithson-Legwand-Ward
Erat-Santorelli-Hornqvist
Thuresson-Goc-Tootoo

One of the highlights of tonight's match-up will be seeing Francis Bouillon play against his old team, that was also his childhood favorite.

This will be a true test for the Predators against a team that they don't see very often. Now that they have returned to a healthier status and with 12 of 15 games in the next month at home, this is the time that the Preds will need to start racking up points in order to make a run for the playoffs.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass