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Forsberg, Jones-Weber pairing to make season debuts for Preds

Sethjones3

Tonight will be a night of firsts at Bridgestone Arena.

Nashville forward Filip Forsberg will make his season debut against the Wild, and it looks as though Shea Weber will play alongside Seth Jones for the first time on the club’s top defensive pairing, according to The Tennessean.

“They could be a really good pair,” head coach Barry Trotz said of the Jones-Weber duo. “Shea does what he does, and Seth is in game three of his career, but tracking really well in terms of poise and playing.”

Though their season is only two games old, the Preds haven’t been shy about increasing Jones’ responsibilities. His ice time went up from 18:35 in a season-opening loss to St. Louis to 25:46 in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to Colorado, a performance Trotz graded as “A-plus.”

Nashville didn’t start the season with Jones and Weber playing together, as both are right-handed shots. Josi had been playing with Weber and Jones with Mattias Ekholm but, with Josi now out out for an undetermined length of time, the decision was made to load up the top unit and see how things go.

In other lineup news, Forsberg is in at the expense of Nick Spaling, who will be a healthy scratch.

Forsberg, 19, missed the first two games of the year with a lower-body injury. It remains to be seen if he’ll reunite with David Legwand and Gabriel Bourque -- the trio had success in the preseason, showing good chemistry, and likely would’ve opened the season together had Forsberg been healthy.