PITTSBURGH PENGUINS VS NASHVILLE PREDATORS 12/27/2019 LIVE 8:00 PM ET

The Pittsburgh Penguins and host Nashville Predators both look to resume the modest momentum they carried into the NHL's Christmas break when they meet on Friday.

The Predators won four of five games before the break, including Monday's 3-2 win against the Arizona Coyotes. Pittsburgh has been off since Saturday, when it finished its annual western Canada trip with a 2-1-0 record following a 4-1 loss at Vancouver.

The teams play again Saturday in Pittsburgh in an old-fashioned home-and-home series.

One key element for Nashville has been the play of captain Roman Josi, who has scored seven times during a five-game goal streak.

Josi's 14 goals put him in the NHL lead for defensemen, and one away from tying his career high for a season. He also leads the Predators with 35 points.

"Right now, he's in a groove, and that's good for us," Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's had such a strong start to his season. Every game, he's if not the most noticeable player, he's one of them."

The Predators and Penguins have something in common -- their designated backup goaltender coming into this season has pretty much moved ahead of their franchise goalie in terms of starts and playing time.

Nashville's Pekka Rinne, one of the faces of the franchise, has watched Juuse Saros start eight of the past 15 games.

"He's playing really well right now," Laviolette said of Saros. "It's nice to have two goaltenders that we trust and we count on.

"I think Juuse's starts have to increase. He's not a rookie in the league anymore. In saying that, (Rinne's) still one of the best, so we're fortunate we have two goalies, and we'll utilize them both."

Rinne, 37, could be starting to wear down. That's not the case with Pittsburgh's Matt Murray, 25, who has won two Stanley Cups but has started just twice in December as Tristan Jarry, 24, has taken over.

While Rinne and Saros both have fairly pedestrian statistics, Jarry has risen to lead the NHL with a 1.86 goals-against average and .939 save percentage.

It seems likely both teams will give each of their goalies a start in the back-to-back games.

Pittsburgh has been plagued by injuries, including some longer-term issues and some involving key players. The Penguins could be close to getting some of those players back.

That includes captain Sidney Crosby, who had sports hernia surgery Nov. 14 and has been skating separately from the team for a couple of weeks. It might be a little optimistic to think he could play in one of the games against Nashville, but not completely out of the question.

"Everybody recognizes, to say the obvious, what he does for our team on and off the ice," Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "We're really looking forward to getting him back."

Pittsburgh has held its own despite losing 143 man-games, sitting just one point behind the third-place Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division coming out of the holiday break.

"I give our players a lot of credit. I think we've really rallied around some of the adversity we've faced to this point," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We've found ways to win games. This is a resilient group. We have great leadership. We have good people. I can't say enough about this group of players."