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Preds, Wild battle in Music City

Mar 10, 2011 - 4:04 PM (Sports Network) - No team has played more road games this season than the Predators. Still fighting for a playoff spot, they're about to reap the rewards.

Nashville will play 12 of its final 15 games on home ice, a stretch it begins tonight with the opener of a five-game homestand against the Minnesota Wild at Bridgestone Arena.

The Predators have skated in an NHL-leading 38 games as the guest to set up their home-heavy schedule. They are 18-17-3 away from home while going a solid 15-7-7 in Nashville and come into this game with 76 points, three back of a possible playoff spot.

The Wild have one more point than the Preds, putting them in a tie for ninth in the Western Conference.

Nashville returns to Bridgestone Arena after a 1-1-2 road trip. The club capped the swing with a 3-2 overtime loss in San Jose for its seventh loss in nine games overall.

Shea Weber had a goal and an assist and Joel Ward scored the other goal for the Predators, who received 30 saves from Pekka Rinne in getting a hard-fought point.

"They're one of the top teams and I thought we played really well defensively," said Rinne. "We limited their chances out there and stayed in the game the whole time."

Rinne is 5-2-1 with a 2.33 goals-against average versus the Wild, who the Predators have bested in two straight and in three of the past four meetings. They have outscored Minnesota 9-2 over the two-game win streak and have won two straight and four of the past six at home in this series.

Minnesota comes to the Music City with some injury concerns as well. Though the Wild got forward Guillaume Latendresse back in the lineup in Tuesday's 5-2 win over the Avalanche for the first time since Oct. 25 from a sports hernia and hip surgery, captain Mikko Koivu missed his ninth game in a row with a broken left index finger and forward Cal Clutterbuck sat out his second straight test with an upper-body injury.

Both Koivu and Clutterbuck are traveling with the Wild as they open a four- game road trip tonight, but Koivu isn't expected to play tonight and Clutterbuck is questionable.

Defenseman Clayton Stoner is also questionable after missing Tuesday's win with a lower-body ailment and fellow blueliner Cam Barker aggravated an upper- body injury in the game and did not travel to Nashville, so Minnesota recalled defenseman Marco Scandella from Houston of the American Hockey League.

John Madden, Jared Spurgeon and Kyle Brodziak all had third-period goals in Tuesday's win over the Avalanche. Spurgeon, Brodziak and Martin Havlat all ended with a goal and an assist for the Wild, who were coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Sabres on Sunday and now have points in three straight (2-0-1).

"We started well, then we kind of stopped playing," Havlat said. "We weren't happy the way we played in the second and we got back on the right note in the third, which was the most important."

Niklas Backstrom turned aside 28-of-30 shots to pick up the victory. He is 7-3-0 with a 2.93 GAA lifetime versus the Predators.