The Predators host  the Edmonton Oilers tonight at the Sommet Center, and by  my count, this marks the 18th time in 19 home games that the Predators  have hosted a game against a team that has played the night before; last night,  the Oilers  won in St. Louis 3-2 in overtime, on the strength of two goals by Dustin  Penner (a nice boost for the Fab  Forecheckers, my fantasy hockey team).  Before winning last night  against the Blues, Edmonton had gone 0-4-2 in their last six to seperate  themselves from the rest of the Northwest Division, seven points behind  4th-place Colorado.   Even their  17-20-4 record is a bit overly optimistic, as 10  of those victories have come via the shootout, rather than during regular  action.  You have to give credit to the Oilers for their success in the  post-overtime spectacle, but it's hardly a reliable way to rack up points in the  standings.  In their only previous meeting this season on November 2nd, the  Predators  won 4-1 in Edmonton, during their successful western Canada road  trip.
 On the Nashville  side, it looks like David  Legwand and Ryan Suter will continue to recover from various injuries  despite practicing Wednesday, while Shea Weber will likely be out for another  week.  The relevant question, as posited by John Glennon  of the Tennessean yesterday, is what Barry Trotz will do with rookie  Ville Koistinen when the regulars return to the lineup.  Koistinen  has been outstanding (arguably their best 5-on-5 player) so far this year,  particularly since Christmas as he's logged  20+ minutes a game and has shown great poise playing alongside Marek  Zidlicky at even strength, and on the power play has consistently gotten the  puck on net, a failing of other Nashville blueliners so far.  Will GM David  Poile address the blue line glut via trade?  I would think that unlikely,  until he knows for sure whether Steve Sullivan can come back as a healthy  contributor.  But if any Eastern Conference teams are looking for some  young defensemen and have a scoring winger to offer in trade, please contact the  Predators front office, won't you?
 In goal, Dan Ellis  gets the start after his 1-0 shutout in Dallas on New Year's Eve.   Tonight, the Predators are running  a promotion where the donation of a non-perishable food item will get kids a  $1 ticket to the game, so we're going to bring all 3 of the Little Forecheckers  tonight and allow them a late night out since school is still on winter  break.  By all means get the word out to your friends and coworkers, and  let them know about this cheap family night out...