"Toronto is a great team," Preds Captain Roman Josi said following Monday's practice in Nashville. "They are great offensively, they have a lot of high-end talent upfront, really good off the rush, a team that makes a lot of plays, and I think it's definitely going to be one of those games where we have to manage the puck. We have to get on the forecheck, which is our strength, and get pucks into their zone. You can't turn over pucks against a team like that because it's going to come back and bite you."
"The fact that you can win on the road - there's different circumstances - but the way that we've played, we've had leads, we've had some tough losses, we've come from behind, we've had some overtime games - so I think when you look at what we've gone through on the road, I guess my biggest thing - the biggest positives - would probably be that there's been a mixed bag of situations and results," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "I think the fact that we've been able to get through those with wins and points is really important as we continue to build our team, build our game, build the identity, build our toughness - that's a big part of playing on the road."
The Predators practiced Monday at Bridgestone Arena, but none of Nashville's injured players - Filip Forsberg (IR, upper-body), Nick Cousins (IR, upper-body) and Alexandre Carrier (day-to-day, upper-body) - were present for the session.
Additionally, Nashville's journey north of the border has now become a two-game trip. On Monday afternoon, the NHL announced the postponement of Ottawa Senators games through at least Saturday due to the number of Senators players currently in COVID protocol. The Preds were supposed to play in Ottawa on Thursday, and they'll now have just two contests on the trip - tonight in Toronto and Saturday in Montreal.
