Preview: Thriller in Nashville

The Game : 8:00 p.m. EST on NBCSports Philadelphia, ESPN+/Hulu, and 93.3 WMMR

It\'s a streak, y\'all! With their stunning (and quite dominant) victory over the Colorado Avalanche, the Flyers are on a four-game win streak heading into tonight\'s matchup against the Nashville Predators. The Preds, too, have been on quite a tear, going 7-3-0 in their last 10 after a brutal start to the season; that\'s been enough to put the retooling club in a playoff spot.

The Predators had quite an active off season. First, they brought in Barry Trotz as general manager, who hired Andrew Brunette as head coach. Then they shipped out Ryan Johansen to the Avs for a late-round draft pick and 50% retention, and bought out Matt Duchene. With all that shiny new cap space, they signed Ryan O\'Reilly and Luke Schenn.

O\'Reilly, in particular, has been excellent. He\'s been driving play on the top line, and has 12 goals and 22 points so far this season. Coupled with a bounce-back season from Filip Forsberg (14 goals, 31 points), a return to form for captain Roman Josi, and the ever-steady Juuse Saros in net, the Preds are exceeding expectations for a club trying to return to relevancy after a couple down years. Lucky for the vets on this team, the Preds have several valuable prospects giving them support.

A team many wrote off at the outset of the season playing well and grinding out wins with promising young talent, holding down a playoff spot at the advent of the new calendar year? Indeed, that is a tune that us Flyers fans should find familiar--the Flyers are doing basically the same thing, and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. Both teams have had their ups and downs so far this season, and tonight\'s game could be a comedy of errors or the Thrilla in Nashvilla.

Players to Watch

Bobby Brink This kid can pass . In Saturday\'s tilt with the Avs, Brink had two stunning primary assists: one a bank pass to send Owen Tippett, and the other a patient-beyond-his-years tap across the goal crease for a Joel Farabee tip. We don\'t know Brink\'s ultimate ceiling, but it\'s fun to see this kind of offensive creativity from the rookie; he has us asking, \"What exciting play will he make next?\"

Travis Sanheim Sanheim had another stellar showing on Saturday: a goal off a helluva wrister, and an assist on an aggressive play at the net that he never would\'ve made in previous years. A contributing factor may\'ve been the Flyers bringing seven defensemen in that game, which slightly reduced Sanheim\'s minutes, meaning he had more energy to make those kinds of plays. Going forward, Sanheim may play fewer minutes, but watch for him to make the most of the time he is on the ice.

Filip Forsberg The team leader in goals, assists, and points, Forsberg is a constant offensive threat on this Predators team. The Flyers will need to keep him suppressed if they hope to have a chance to win tonight.

Projected Lineups

Philadelphia Flyers

Cam Atkinson – Sean Couturier – Tyson Foerster Travis Konecny – Morgan Frost – Owen Tippett Joel Farabee – Ryan Poehling – Bobby Brink Nic Deslauriers – Scott Laughton – Garnet Hathaway

Cam York – Travis Sanheim Nick Seeler – Sean Walker Egor Zamula – Rasmus Ristolainen

Sam Ersson Carter Hart

Nashville Predators

Filip Forsberg - Ryan O\'Reilly - Gustav Nyquist Kiefer Sherwood - Tommy Novak - Luke Evangelista Yakov Trenin - Colton Sissons - Juuso Parssinen Cole Smith - Michael McCarron - Philip Tomasino

Dante Fabbro - Roman Josi Ryan McDonagh - Alexandre Carrier Jeremy Lauzon - Tyson Barrie

Kevin Lankinen Juuse Saros

Gameday Tunes

Spotify Wrappeds came out not too long ago. What was your top song this year?

https://open.spotify.com/track/1ZnghCVtXCrtmKJH32z4UK?si=ef5ae30d1ebb4a67

Stats via Hockey Reference

The Andrew MacDonald

The Meat(Matt) Read

The Eric Lindros

The Danny Syvret - Ad Free

Preview: Thriller in Nashville

Talking Points