On Sunday night, the Nashville Predators showed lots of resiliency in their matchup against the Florida Panthers.
Going into the third period, the Predators were down by a score of 2-0. Carter Hutton had given up goals in the 2nd period to Florida’s Tomas Fleischmann (6) at 08:37 and rookie phenom, Aaron Ekblad (8) at 14:27.
Nashville has been exceptional this year in the third period, and Sunday was no exception. The Predators were able to get two PPG’s from Seth Jones (5) at 04:44 and Filip Forsberg (18) at 15:17.
Towards the end of the game, Florida’s Roberto Luongo was stellar in net, and the game went to OT. Nothing could be settled in the OT so the game went to a shootout.
Nashville was able to get goals in the shootout from Matt Cullen, Craig Smith, and, the eventual game-winner, from Filip Forsberg.
The Predators took the two points in a 3-2 shootout victory.
Tonight, in an untelevised game, the Nashville Predators will welcome the Tampa Bay Lightning (34-16-5) to Bridgestone Arena.
In their last meeting, the Lightning were able to defeat the Anaheim Ducks by a score of 5-3. Tampa Bay came out strong and put up 3 goals in the 1st period by Brian Boyle (11), Valtteri Filppula (11), and Nikita Kucherov (20).
The scoring barrage continued with two more goals. Brian Boyle (12) was able to get his 2nd of the contest during the 2nd period. In the 3rd period, Ryan Callahan (16) tacked on the 5th goal for the Lightning to give them the win.
Tampa Bay is being led in points by Tyler Johnson. He has a total of 52 points (19 goals, 33 assists). Steven Stamkos leads the team in goals with 28 and is not far behind Johnson in total points with 50.
Keys to Watch
Offensive Talent
When it comes to offensive firepower, there are not many teams that compare to the offense of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Their ability to create, improvise, and bury chances make them one of the most dangerous in the NHL. Tampa Bay is ranked 1st in goals with 177, 3.22 GF/GA, and tied for 1st for the most goals in the 3rd period (66). The Predators defense MUST be on their toes with Pekka Rinne in net.
Opportunities…
The Preds will need to take advantage of any opportunity given to them. There have been many opportunities, as of recent, where the Preds have squandered chances to score. The Lightning give up lots of penalties. With 539 penalty minutes, the Lightning are ranked 17th in PIM. If given the ability, the Preds have to bury their chances tonight.
Making it count!
Shots can come at a premium, at times. One Nashville player that knows how to make his shot count is Mike Fisher. Fisher is currently tied for 6th in the NHL with a Shooting % of 19.1. He is averaging 2.1 Shots per Game. After his return off of the IR, Fisher has been a driving force and a leader for this team.
Nashville looks to continue a strong winning trend at Bridgestone Arena. Please remember that this game will be NOT be televised on TV so you will have to make the trip out to Bridgestone Arena. As usual, the game will be covered on 102.5 The Game. Puck drops at 7:00pm CST.
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