The Nashville Predators face the Tampa Bay Lightning with both teams looking to continue building off of strong recent stretches. The Predators have a 12-9-2 record but with three wins in a row have leaped into the middle of the Central Division. The Lightning have a 15-9-1 record and have seven wins in the last 10 games. Both teams are looking to continue making up ground within their division and the upcoming game looks to be a great one as a result.
The Predators have looked promising this season but hope the offense can improve, scoring only 2.65 goals per game. Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, and Mikael Granlund have scored 18 goals and 43 assists while defenseman Roman Josi is adding six goals and 14 assists from the point but the rest of the offense has struggled. Only five skaters have scored five goals or more while only four skaters have eight assists and opposing defenses can eliminate the top-heavy offense as a result.
While the defense has struggled this season allowing 3.00 goals per game the unit has recently stepped up allowing only five goals in the last three games. Roman Josi and Mattias Ekholm have combined for 2.5 defensive point shares and 82 blocked shots while Alexandre Carrier and Dante Fabbro have combined for 1.5 defensive point shares to give the Predators two great defensive pairings. In addition, goaltender Juuse Saros has stepped up in the net with a .909 save percentage and a 2.92 goals-against average on 527 shots.