Game Night in St. Louis as the Predators are in town for a divisional showdown against the Blues. So far this season, the Preds have won both meetings with the Blues this season and are looking to build off of Wednesday’s shootout win. The Predators will have to do it without Kevin Klein and without their captain, Shea Weber who continues to be sidelined by a concussion.

The Blues are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, but they have been solid in their last ten games, going 7-2-1 and maintaining their lead over Nashville in the hyper competitive Central Division. These games are always tight with 15 of the last 23 games between these two teams decided by one goal. Nashville has traditionally played well at Scottrade Center, going 18-17-3 all-time at the venue and 15-7-0 since 2005. The Blues have dominated on home ice since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach, going 11-2-1. One of these trends will break tonight.

The kids will once again have to step up on the blueline as three rookies will again dress for the Preds and the team may be looking to Jordin Tootoo for offense as he has more goals against the Blues than any other team in the NHL. Pekka Rinne will also have to come up big in net tonight. It is during stretches like this, when your blueline is depleted, that Rinne really shows his value.

The Blues are dealing with their own injury issues, defenseman Kris Russell went down in the Detroit game, he was placed on injured reserve, joining Andy McDonald, Kent Huskins and Ryan Reaves. Vladimir Sobotka. Jamie Langenbrunner and TJ Oshie are listed as probable.

Game time is 7pm, coverage on 102.5 the Game and Fox Sports Tennessee. Stu Grimson will be joining Pete Weber on the call tonight as Terry Crisp is in Philly for the Winter Classic Alumni Game.

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Random Notes

- Shea Weber’s return will not be rushed according to an article in today’s Tennessean. Wise move.

- There are questions being raised about the sale of the St. Louis Blues to Matthew Hulsizer. The deadline that the NHL imposed is less than 48 hours away.

- Y! Sports has a salute to sports figures who passed in 2011. Unlike ESPN, At least they got Rick Martin and the Lokomotiv tragedy, but like ESPN, they missed Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak. But, unlike ESPN, they have since corrected the oversight.

- Jaromir Jagr returned to Pittsburgh last night as the Penguins alumni that now play for the Flyers were roundly booed. Jagr has a goal and former Pen Max Talbot had an empty netter to seal the Flyer win 4-2.

- Columbus has finally hit double digit wins. With their victory over Dallas last night, the Jackets stand at 10-22-5. Columbus got some bad news though as d-man James Wisniewski broke his ankle in the second period of last night’s win. No timetable for return is available, but this is a crushing blow to a team already suffering the season from hell.

- Versus will begin its’ college hockey coverage with a New Year’s Eve matchup between Boston University and Notre Dame.

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