Die Anpflanzler [DA] » The bad news for the Nashville Predators:

They have lost 10 straight games on the road Nicklas Backstrom Jersey , eight of them in regulation.The good news: Their first two games after the Christmas break are at Bridgestone Arena, including Thursday night’s visit from the Dallas Stars.The better news: Some desperately needed help might be on the way sooner instead of later.Article continues below ...It appears that All-Star defenseman P.K. Subban and right winger Viktor Arvidsson could be back after extended absences. Subban has missed the last 19 games with an upper-body injury and Arvidsson has been sidelined since a slash broke his thumb Nov. 10 in a 5-4 overtime win at Dallas.“We’re not in the position to rest guys,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said to the Tennessean last week when asked if the team would wait to bring injured players back until after Christmas. “Guys will play when they are ready. We can’t afford the luxury of resting guys.”With their depth stretched beyond its considerable max by a series of injuries that have also claimed Filip Forsberg and Colton Sissons, the Predators are 9-10-2 over their last 21 games. They went 0-3-1 on last week’s road trip, losing to three of the NHL’s worst teams in Ottawa, Chicago and Philadelphia along the way.Yet Nashville is still 22-13-2, good for second place in the Central Division and third in the Western Conference. It is only four points behind Winnipeg in the Central and only three points off the pace of last season, when it won the Presidents’ Trophy for the first time with 117 points.To a man, the Predators are hopeful the break results in a return to the win column.“Hopefully, we come back hungrier and rested, maybe a bit healthier than we are now and go from there,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said.The Stars (18-16-3) were in position to go into the holiday break with momentum, but couldn’t build on a 1-0 second period lead Sunday night and fell 3-1 to the New York Islanders at American Airlines Arena.Aiming to win consecutive games for the first time since early December, Dallas instead lost for the sixth time in eight games, all in regulation. First-year coach Jim Montgomery wasn’t quite willing to use playing on back-to-back nights as an excuse.“Guys were tired tonight James Neal Jersey Womens , but a lot of other teams have similar schedules and they find ways to win hockey games,” he said. “It’s a mindset of pushing the envelope and wanting to make plays, wanting to be a difference-maker.”Their recent skid aside, the Stars remain in fourth place in the Central, tied for the Western’s last playoff spot with Edmonton. The problem lately has been an offense that was once explosive, but has slid to 24th in the league with 99 goals in 37 matches.Slow starts have also plagued Dallas. Its 18 goals in first periods rank last in the league.“As a group, we don’t prepare well enough,” Montgomery said. “I don’t have, obviously, my finger on it. I hope it would be better.” ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter has a broken right ankle that will require surgery and end his season, right before the start of the playoffs.The Wild announced the diagnosis on Monday before they beat Edmonton 3-0, when Suter’s streak of 242 consecutive regular-season games ended. That’s the third-longest in franchise history.”Sure it is a blow, but it’s a chance for other people to step up and for leaders to take the team on their back and show you can play through adversity,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. ”The greatest feeling of success is when people say you can’t do something and you do it. So that’s where we’re at.”Suter was hurt on Saturday at Dallas when he crashed leg-first into the end wall and needed help off the ice T.J. Oshie Jersey , and according to his teammates he was downcast on the bus afterward. An MRI on Monday confirmed the fear that an operation would be needed to fix the fracture.”That’s tough news, but that’s where we’re at,” left wing Zach Parise said before the game. ”We’re all going to have to play better, and we’re going to have to play simple and smart and all get together and see what we can do.”Suter already set a career high this season with 45 assists, which also beat his own franchise record for defensemen. Almost half of those assists came on a power play. Suter is also second in the NHL with an average ice time per game of 26:46. No player in the league has been on the ice more since 2012, when Suter and Parise signed matching 13-year, $98 million contracts with Minnesota.The 2014-15 season was the only other one out of six with the Wild during which Suter didn’t play a full schedule, but those absences weren’t even due to injury. He missed two games with the mumps virus, served a two-game suspension for elbowing and sat out the finale to rest for the playoffs.”He brings a lot of calm and poise back there, and he moves the puck well,” goalie Devan Dubnyk said. ”That’s one thing that makes a great defenseman, moving pucks out of the zone, putting pucks in the forwards’ hands, and it’s going to be important for our guys to continue to do that.”The Wild are also currently missing Jared Spurgeon, their second-best defenseman Authentic Blake Wheeler Jersey , because of a partially torn hamstring. He skated on Monday for the third straight day, though, and Boudreau said he’ll be ready for the playoffs. Against the Oilers, Jonas Brodin and Matt Dumba formed an under-25 first pair, rookie Nick Seeler played with Ryan Murphy and Carson Soucy made his NHL debut next to Nate Prosser. Gustav Oloffson is also out, missing his second straight game with an upper body injury. The Wild were plenty confident in the ability of Brodin and Dumba to elevate their performance with the higher profile and increased responsibility.”That’s a one-two defenseman on almost any team in the league the way they’ve played this year,” Dubnyk said.The Wild have played without several of their best performers for long stretches this season, and two years ago they entered the playoffs without Parise, who was bothered by a back injury. So while Suter’s absence is unmistakable, playing without key players is nothing new to them or any of their opponents for that matter.”When you compete, things happen like this, and they happen because you compete,” Boudreau said. ”It’s the nature of the beast, and we’ll just move on.”—