Penguins-Predators preview

Some news, nuggets and numbers in advance of the Penguins’ game in Nashville tonight:

*** Penguins coach Mike Johnston said after the game-day skate that he plans no lineup changes, which means defenseman Robert Bortuzzo still won’t make his 2014-15 debut.

*** The Penguins have won four games in a row against Nashville, the longest such streak by either club in the all-time series.

*** Penguins C Sidney Crosby has three goals and 11 assists in eight career games against the Predators, and has been shut out in just one of them.

*** Nashville D Shea Weber, on whether he’s surprised by his team’s strong start after so much off-season turnover of players and coaches: “Every year you come into the season with expectations that you’re going to win. You don’t sit back in training camp and go, ‘Oh, I think we’re going to be 3-3 to start the year.’ You expect to win.”

*** The Predators have been dominant while playing five-on-five, running up a 14-7 edge in goals.

*** Nashville RW James Neal has five goals in seven games this season, but has gone eight games without an assist.

*** The Penguins are scoring a league-high average of 3.67 goals per game, while Nashville’s average of 1.71 goals-against is tied for the NHL’s fourth-best.

*** C Evgeni Malkin, the only Penguins player with at least one point in each of the first six games, needs one assist for 400 in the NHL.

*** Neal, on what it will be like to face the team that traded him in June: “It’s going to be weird at the start but hopefully you can just put that stuff behind you and worry about your own game.” He added that his goal is to “get it over with. Have fun with it, enjoy it and then move on.”

*** Penguins D Kris Letang has two goals and five assists in five career games against Nashville, a 1.4-points per game average that is his best against any opponent.

*** The Penguins are 0-1-1 in games decided by one goal.

*** Penguins C Brandon Sutter does not have an assist in his past 18 games.

*** Nashville has outscored its opponents, 9-3, during the third period, when the Penguins have been outscored, 9-4.

*** Penguins winger Pascal Dupuis’ next point will be his 400th in the NHL.

*** Predators coach Peter Laviolette, on trying to limit the damage done by the Penguins’ power play: “We can shut them down if we just don’t take any penalties, so that’s Plan No. 1. If that fails, then we’re going to have to execute well, and I’m sure we’re going to need some timely, big saves [from goalie Pekka Rinne].”

*** The Penguins have scored first in five of their six games, while Nashville has done it just twice in seven.

*** Neal, on whether he knows anything about Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury that he could take advantage of tonight: “I know a few things about Fleury that I’m going to exploit tonight. I shot at him a lot in practice. Good battles.”

*** Patric Hornqvist and Crosby are the only Penguins players to get at least two shots in each of the first six games. Hornqvist is averaging a team-high 5.7 per game; he averaged 3.2 during six seasons with the Predators.

*** Johnston said the Penguins have played at the pace he wants “about 80 percent” of the time, but added that “at times, we’ve played a little bit tentative, and we don’t want to play that way.”

*** Penguins D Rob Scuderi has gone 106 games without a goal. Christian Ehrhoff doesn’t have one in his past 29.

*** The Penguins will enter the game in sixth place in the Metropolitan Division and tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference.