Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos lead the team in goals with nine, and Kucherov also leads the team with 25 points in 17 games. The Lightning have no shortage of firepower, despite a few injuries. Even with a less-than-good record, Vasilevskiy is always a threat to shut teams out, so Nashville will have to be on their game tonight. The always-great Andrei Vasilevskiy (6-5-1, 90.6%) has virtually identical stats as Juuse Saros, and much like Saros, I don’t expect that to last long. #Bolts assistant coach Jeff Blashill says they anticipate Zach Bogosian could potentially be available to play tomorrow at Nashville. As our sister site Raw Charge mentioned, Anthony Cirelli is close to a return (perhaps next month), but they may have a return tonight: The Bolts enter the game perhaps a bit lower in the standings than expected, but they have help on the way. Hynes also mentioned there would be no healthy scratches tonight, but several lineup decisions are “game-time” – so we’ll see what that means at puck drop. Forsberg has been perhaps the most consistent player on the team throughout the stretch of losses, and hopefully that continues to happen – this time hopefully with some teammates.Ĭoach John Hynes has confirmed that goaltender Juuse Saros (6-6-1, 90.5% save percentage) will get the start in net for the Predators. Speaking of McDonaugh, this is the first time he’ll face the Lightning, his former team, since he arrived in Nashville.įilip Forsberg leads the team in points (17), and his sixth goal of the season against the Islanders puts him second on the team in goals behind Nino Niederreiter.

His switch to the right side with Ryan McDonaugh worked very well against the Islanders – time will tell if coach John Hynes has found the right spot for McDonaugh and if Josi can continue playing on his off side. Roman Josi looks close to being back to his Norris-winning form as of late, picking up 4 assists in the victory over the Islanders, his second 3 point+ game of the season. The arrival of rookie Juuso Parssinen has contributed in just his first three NHL games with three goals and one assist, including the game-winning goals over the Rangers and Islanders. The good news is that the Predators have looked pretty good and had some great play against their last three opponents. The Predators will have to make the the performance of the last three games become the norm, or this team could be headed for another race for a playoff spot and immediate first-round loss. Unfortunately though, being perfectly average seems to be pretty telling for this team – in the Western Conference they are 6-0-0 against teams lower in the standings from the west, but are 0-5-1 against the teams above them in the standings, getting outscored 35-14 in those games. The Predators are coming off a three-game winning streak this week after victories at home over the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and New York Islanders to get them back to an even 0.500 record (8-8-1). So let’s take a closer look at both teams. The Lightning are only two games ahead of Nashville, but this is still a team coached by Jon Cooper ( Author’s note: I think he’s one of the best three coaches in the game, along with New York’s Gerard Gallant and Colorado’s Jared Bednar), and still a team with a ton of stars, and let’s not forget – three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, so Nashville can’t get complacent.

The Predators have seen some improvement lately – not just in the standings – as the power play, while still bad, has scored some goals and some of the stars look to be getting back into mid-season form.

The Lightning enter the contest sixth in the Eastern Conference while the Nashville Predators surprisingly sit in the 8th and final playoff spot in the West, just behind the Edmonton Oilers. The Nashville Predators (8-8-1) face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning (10-6-1) at Bridgestone Arena tonight on Hockey Fights Cancer night.

Lightning vs islanders 2022