The Nashville Predators will look to get back into the win column in Tampa as they face the Lightning for a 4 p.m. CT puck drop at Benchmark International Arena this evening. The contest comes as the Preds prepare to finish a back-to-back weekend that saw them fall to the Montreal Canadiens last night.
Now, the Predators will be eager for a chance to regroup and collect points once more as the playoff race continues to tighten with just nine games remaining for Nashville.
“We’ve just got to forget and move on,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said following Saturday’s loss. “I mean, that’s something we’ve been doing all year. We’re still in it. The urgency level has to rise, though… We’ve got to find the urgency. And with those things comes the execution. If you don’t execute, you can’t play fast. We didn’t play fast tonight.”
“Every game is a must win,” Josi said last night. “It doesn’t matter who we play, and we need to get points. There’s a lot of things we can learn from tonight and be better tomorrow.”
The Predators dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Saturday night with Ozzy Wiesblatt and Joakim Kemell serving as healthy scratches.
The Good Guys:
Zach L’Heureux scored the lone Nashville goal in last night’s 4-1 loss to Montreal, and Juuse Saros took the loss in net.
Ryan O’Reilly has 24 goals and continues to lead the Preds with 66 points, followed by Filip Forsberg with 65 points, including 33 tallies. Stamkos now has 36 goals and 58 points, while Luke Evangelista has 40 assists and 50 points on the season. Saros is now 26-20-7 in net; Justus Annunen is 8-10-2.
The Opposition:
The Lightning came back to beat the Senators by a 4-2 final yesterday afternoon and have alternated wins and losses in their last four outings.
Nikita Kucherov leads Tampa Bay – and is second in the entire League – with 121 points (40g-81a). Jake Guentzel has 34 goals and 77 points on the season; Brandon Hagel also has 34 goals and 72 points. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won yesterday, is 35-12-4; Jonas Johansson is 10-9-2.
All-Time Meetings:
The Preds are 19-19-(2)-7 all-time against the Lightning, including an 8-10-(2)-2 mark in Tampa. Nashville is 2-5-3 in the last 10 meetings versus Tampa and 1-3-1 in the last five at Benchmark International Arena.
Steven Stamkos won two Stanley Cups (2020-21), two Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophies (2009-10 and 2011-12) and the Mark Messier Leadership Award (2022-23) with the Lightning. Drafted first overall in the 2008 NHL Draft by Tampa Bay, he played 16 seasons with the Lightning and was named the captain in 2014. He is the Lightning franchise leader in games played (1,082), goals (555) and points (1,137).
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for today’s contest begins at 3:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and Chris Mason will have the call on the television side. Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network.