Can the Nashville Predators rattle off back-to-back wins for just the third time this season?
That is the task at hand as they travel to Sunrise to face the Florida Panthers on Thursday at 6 p.m. CST.
The Predators have seemingly begun to turn things around, winning three of their last four, including a 5-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at home on Tuesday. However, Nashville has not defeated Florida since the 2023-24 season.
Here is everything you need to know ahead of tonight's game.
Game info
Who: Nashville Predators (9-13-4, 8th Central) at Florida Panthers (12-12-1, 8th Atlantic)
When: 6 p.m. CST
Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Florida
TV: FanDuel Sports Network South
Radio: 102.5 The Game
Line (via BetMGM): Predators (+1.5) Panthers (-1.5). Over/under 6 (-115/-105)
Future on display
A pair of Predators rookies has milestone performances in the win over the Flames. In just his third NHL game, Reid Schaefer scored his first career goal and recorded his first career fight.
Not long after that, after 23 games played, Ozzy Weisblatt scored his first career goal and recorded the second fight of his career. After scoring the goal, Weisblatt paid homage to his late brother, Orca, by pointing to the sky in his celebration.
Weisblatt and Schaefer aren't the only rookies to have scored the first goals of their careers this season. Matthew Wood netted his first NHL goal against the Flyers on Oct. 30. He has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) on the season.
Stammer beginning to heat up
After a slow start to the season, Steven Stamkos is slowly beginning to find his mojo.
He has five points in the last four games, which included multi-point performances in wins over the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. Stamkos has not had back-to-back multi-point performances since March 8.
Stamkos' goal against the Flames was also the 1200th point of his career, which averages out to about a point per game over the 1190 games he's played in his 18 seasons in the league.
Seeing Stamkos beginning to find a rhythm is huge, as it could be the shove the Predators need to finally get their offense going. He had seven points through 13 games played in November, but four of those points have come in the last nine days.
Cat scratched
The Predators have not beaten the Panthers in 623 days, a 3-0 victory that extended Nashville's point streak to 16 games. It was a very different time.
Their last meeting, an 8-3 loss on Nov. 24 in Nashville, was the Predators' worst loss of the season and the biggest blowout since losing to the New Jersey Devils, 5-0, on Feb. 23, 2025.
It was a game with a lot of offense, seeing six combined goals in the first period, that the Predators lost control of. The Panthers took a 5-2 lead into the third period before Nick Blankenburg scored in the first two and a half minutes to make it a two-goal game.
The wheels fell off for Nashville as Florida scored three unanswered goals to push the game way out of reach. Six Panthers players had two goals or more.
Things have not been ideal for the defending Stanley Cup champions either, as they have lost three straight and are in last place in the Atlantic Division. However, nine points separate first from last place in the Atlantic and Florida is only six points out of a Wild Card spot.
Meanwhile, Nashville is 22 points behind Central Division leader, Colorado, and is seven points outside of a Wild Card spot.
Inactive players
Nashville: Cole Smith (upper body, injured reserve), Zach L'Heureux (lower body, injured reserve), Nick Perbix (upper body, day-to-day), Justin Barron (lower body, day-to-day), Michael McCarron (lower body, day-to-day)
Florida: Matthew Tkachuk (groin, injured reserve), Aleksander Barkov (knee, injured reserve), Dmitry Kulikov (upper body, injured reserve), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body, injured reserve), Eetu Luostarinen (lower body, week to week), Tomas Nosek (knee, injured reserve), Cole Schwindt (arm, injured reserve)