Coyotes-Predators Preview

Regular Season Matchup
	W-L-OT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
PHO	38-37-7	17-20-4	21-17-3	19-11-2	33-32-7
NSH	41-32-9	23-14-4	18-18-5	18-9-5	36-28-8
· Complete Standings

Team Stat Comparison
209	Goals	227
225	Goals Against	224
63	Power Play Goals	53
64	Power Play Goals Allowed	49
11	Shorthanded Goals	7
12	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	10
1193	Penalty Minutes	1027
15	Average Penalty Minutes	13

Goalie Breakdown
	GOALIE	GP	W	TGA	GAA	SO	SV	SV%
	Ilya Bryzgalov	55	26	128	2.42	3	1493	.921
	Mikael Tellqvist	22	9	56	2.74	2	551	.908
	Alex Auld	9	3	30	3.54	1	219	.880
	David Aebischer	1	0	3	3.00	0	30	.909
	Chris Mason	51	18	130	2.90	4	1148	.898
	Dan Ellis	44	23	87	2.34	6	1060	.924
	Pekka Rinne	1	0	0	0.00	0	8	1.000

Team Stat Leaders
G	Shane Doan 28	J.P. Dumont 29
A	Shane Doan 50	Jason Arnott 44
PTS	Shane Doan 78	Jason Arnott 72
PIM	Daniel Carcillo 324	Jordin Tootoo 100
SOG	Radim Vrbata 246	Jason Arnott 248

The Nashville Predators hope facing the Phoenix Coyotes is what they need to bounce back from their first loss of the season.

The Predators look for their sixth straight home victory over the Coyotes as the teams meet Thursday at Sommet Center.

After outscoring its first two opponents 9-1, Nashville (2-1-0) struggled overall in a 4-1 loss at St. Louis on Wednesday.

Jordin Tootoo scored the lone goal for the Predators, who were outshot 32-20 and couldn't contain former team member Paul Kariya, who had two assists for the Blues.

"It's always a little different the first time you play the guys you played with," said Kariya, who led the team with 76 points last season. "They're a really good team over there and a great group of guys."

The Predators look to get back on track by continuing their home dominance over the Coyotes, who are winless in their last seven visits to Nashville since a 2-1 win on Oct. 22, 2002. Though the teams split four meetings last season, Nashville has outscored Phoenix 19-6 during its five-game home winning streak in the series.

Jason Arnott, who had two goals and two assists in his first two games, had two goals and five points in three games versus Phoenix last season.

Nashville goaltender Chris Mason allowed four goals on 18 shots and was pulled in the second period in favor of Dan Ellis, who saw his first action since his only other appearance for Dallas in 2004.

"It wasn't all (Mason's) fault, absolutely not," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We left Mace to the wolves. He was under siege most of the time."

Mason, who allowed one goal in 64 shots in the Predators' first two contests, is 2-1-0 with a 2.62 goals-against average against the Coyotes.

Phoenix will play its second straight road game after opening with two home games. The Coyotes will try to avoid losing their ninth consecutive game on the road dating to last season, when they went 13-26-2.

After a 3-2 season-opening victory over St. Louis, Phoenix (1-2-0) has been outscored 6-1, and is 0-for-16 on the power play this season.

The Coyotes had 32 shots on goal and went 0-for-7 with the man advantage in a 3-0 loss at Columbus on Wednesday.

"It was a game where I thought we could have contributed a power-play goal and it would have been a tighter scenario," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "We've got to find a way to get some goals on our power play. It's as simple as that."

After Mikael Tellqvist started the Coyotes first two games, David Aebischer made 30 saves Wednesday in his first start since signing with Phoenix after going 13-12-3 in his only season with Montreal in 2006-07.

The Coyotes are using a three-player rotation in goal involving Aebischer, Tellqvist and Alex Auld, who has yet to play. Tellqvist, meanwhile, made 19 saves in a 3-2 win over Nashville on Dec. 4 in his only outing against the Predators.