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The Nashville Predators' lineup against the Edmonton Oilers is aiming for its first win

Posted on by Kennedy
The Nashville Predators' lineup against the Edmonton Oilers is aiming for its first win

The Nashville Predators are looking for their first win of the season on Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers at Bridgestone Arena.

The Oilers head to Nashville with just one win in their first four games, but in recent years, Edmonton has been a tough opponent for Nashville with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. The Predators have lost 10 of their last 12 games against the Oilers, most recently losing 4-1 on January 27th.

Meanwhile, the Predators are winless in three games, including an ugly 7-3 home loss to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.

Looking for an offensive spark, coach Andrew Brunette made another change to the lineup, moving center Tommy Novak back to Steven Stamkos. Winger Luke Evangelista will join this line, pushing Jonathan Marchessault to the third line along with Colton Sissons and Mark Jankowski.

“I thought (Novak) and (Evangelista) had their best game two nights ago,” Brunette said. “With her hockey IQ and offensive ability, (Stamkos) could be a really good fit.”

Stamkos, who signed a four-year, $32 million deal with the Predators over the summer, will have a different lineman in each game tonight.

“It’s a work in progress,” Brunette said. “I don’t know how or where it will fit, but we’re trying different things.”

On Wednesday, the Predators held team meetings to try to unify the team's direction heading into the season. The players say the locker room is focused on playing together and getting wins where they can.

“We’re just trying to socialize, that’s the word of the day,” Stamkos said on Morning Skate. “As much as we would love for everything to fall into place and happen right away, sometimes it doesn’t.”

In the latest line combinations there is only one forward unit, the top line with Filip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly and Gustav Nyquist. Here's how the Predators will face the Oilers tonight:

Forward

Filip Forsberg – Ryan O'Reilly – Gustav Nyquist

Steven Stamkos – Tommy Novak – Luke Evangelista

Mark Jankowski – Colton’s Sissons – Jonathan Marchessault

Cole Smith – Michael McCarron – Philip Tomasino

defense

Roman Josi – Dante Fabbro

Brady Skjei – Luke Schenn

Jeremy Lauzon-Alex Carrier

goalkeeper

Juuse Saros

Scott Wedgewood

Nashville Predators morning skate quotes

“You can either sulk about it or go out there and work hard.” – Steven Stamkos on going winless in his team's first three games.

Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at [email protected]. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our exclusive Predators Instagram page @tennessean_preds.

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