The Nashville Predators (3-5-0) and Steven Stamkos travel to Amelie Arena in Tampa to face off against Stamkos’ prior team, the Tampa Bay Lightning (5-3-0) as the Predators try to extend their new winning streak to four games. Join us for discussion both before and during the game here!
The Tampa Bay Lightning
The Tampa Bay Lightning started the season 3-0-0, but have since dropped three of their last five. They too are coming off a 3-0 shutout against the Washington Capitals on Saturday, and have victories against Carolina, Vancouver, Vegas and New Jersey as well. The Lightning boast as myriad of weapons in both the forward and defenseman group, including Nikita Kucherov (8 goals, 6 assists, 14 points), Brandon Hagel (6g, 4a, 10p), Jake Guentzel (2g, 5a, 7p) and new Lightning captain Victor Hedman (2g, 6a, 8p), who takes over the role from Stamkos. Also in the Tampa lineup is former Predator Ryan McDonagh, who returned to the Bolts after a stint with Nashvillle.
Nashville’s 2nd-best penalty kill will be tested against the Bolts, who boast a below-average power play (19th in the NHL), but are a threat to score on every opportunity. In addition, Nashville faces an extremely balanced and deadly Tampa team that ranks 4th in goals per game and 3rd in goals allowed per game.
Projected Lines:
Guentzel-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Cirelli-Geekie
Eyssimont-Paul-Chaffee
Girgensons-Glendening-Atkinson
Hedman-Moser
McDonagh-Cernak
Lilleberg-Perbix
Vasilevskiy
The Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators find themselves on a three-game winning streak following their 0-5-0 start, taking both of the back-to-back games on Friday/Saturday against Chicago and Columbus after their initial win against the Boston Bruins.
Filip Forsberg leads the team in points and goals, with four goals and four assists, including a goal on Saturday. Tommy Novak, who is just one point away from his 100th career NHL point, has three goals and an assist on the year. Goaltender Juuse Saros (who is expected to start tonight) was recently named the NHL’s second star of the week after going 2-0-0 last week with a shutout and a 0.968 save percentage after his tough 0-4-0 start to the year.
Steven Stamkos remains to snake-bitten, as the new veteran forward has just one goal and no assists in his eight games this season. Defenseman Marc Del Gaizo, who was a healthy scratch against Columbus on Saturday, has been reassigned to Milwaukee today, and so Dante Fabbro is expected to start again in his place. Defenseman Luke Schenn is also just one point away from his 200th career NHL point.
Nashville boasts the second best penalty kill in the league, and is second in faceoff percentage as well, but the other team statistics have them in the bottom half of the league: power play (20th), goals for (27th) and goals against (24th). All of these have been improved during the winning streak, but after a great victory against Boston, Nashville has faced two weaker teams in Chicago and Columbus, so the effort will have to carry over against the Eastern Conference heavyweights.
Projected Lines
Forsberg-O’Reilly-Marchessault
Stamkos-Novak-Nyquist
Jankowski-Sissons-Evangelista
L’Heureux-McCarron-Smith
Josi-Fabbro
Skjei-Schenn
Carrier-Lauzon
Saros
(Note: lineups are subject to change)
How to Watch/Listen
The game will be broadcast on Hulu/ESPN+ as well as 102.5 The Game at 6:30 pm Central time.