Game Day: Lightning vs. Preds Preview

The Nashville Predators will look to get back on track tonight, as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning again at Bridgestone Arena. This evening's contest is the second half of a back-to-back set between the Preds and Bolts and the fourth of eight meetings overall this season.
Monday's outing did not go the home team's way, and a 4-1 loss to begin a four-game homestand left the Predators disappointed in their showing at the end of the night.
\[View: Virtual, Interactive Preds Press\]
\[Read More: Preds Projected Lineup vs. Tampa Bay\]

"We're not winning right now," Preds defenseman Dante Fabbro said. "We've got to do something extra within the group of guys we have in that locker room to get back and get ourselves back on the right foot here, and that's amongst us. We have each other's backs, and we're going to push through this as best we can. Nobody likes losing, right? It's tough losing at this level, and we want to make sure we change that now."
"We're not playing up to our potential right now," Preds Captain Roman Josi said. "It's pretty obvious, and we need to find a way to get out of this. It's such a short season, so we talked amongst players after the game], and we've got to stick together and find a way out of this."
The Preds placed centerman Ryan Johansen on Injured Reserve with an upper-body injury on Monday, but Head Coach John Hynes said Monday he "would anticipate" forward Luke Kunin to return to the Nashville lineup tonight after missing the last four games with a lower-body injury.
Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm missed Monday's game due to baby reasons, and Rocco Grimaldi was also scratched in the first half of the back-to-back against Tampa Bay.
Update:
[The Preds have recalled
from the taxi squad. Additionally, the team has recalled forward Anthony Richard from Chicago (AHL) to the taxi squad and reassigned forward
Eeli Tolvanen
to the taxi squad.

The Good Guys:
Fabbro scored the lone goal for Nashville in Monday's 4-1 loss, and goaltender Pekka Rinne made 31 saves (Tampa Bay's final two goals were empty-netters).
Filip Forsberg leads the Preds in scoring (6g-5a) with 11 points, followed by Viktor Arvidsson (2g-5a) and Mikael Granlund (3g-4a) with seven points each. Josi (2g-4a) and Matt Duchene (2g-4a) have six points apiece. Arvidsson, Josi, Duchene, Colton Sissons, Calle Jarnkrok and Kunin each have two goals on the season. Rinne is 2-4-0 in net for the Preds; Juuse Saros is 3-3-0.
The Opposition:
Anthony Cirelli scored twice for the Lightning on Monday to lead the club to their fifth consecutive win, three of which have come against the Preds. Steven Stamkos (5g-6a) and Brayden Point (4g-7a) are tied for the team lead with 11 points, followed by Cirelli (4g-6a) and Victor Hedman (3g-7a) with 10 points each. Goaltender Curtis McElhinney earned the win on Monday night, but Andrei Vasilevskiy has started every other game for Tampa Bay this season to post a 7-1-1 record.

All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 16-11-(2)-4 all-time against the Lightning, including a 9-5-(0)-3 record at Bridgestone Arena. Overall, the Preds have earned a point in 13 of their last 16 games (10-3-3) and 16 of their last 20 games (13-4-3) against the Lightning.
Nashville's loss to Tampa Bay on Jan. 30 was its first in regulation against the Lightning since Dec. 29, 2013, a 13-game span.
Notables Versus Tampa Bay:
Roman Josi has 11 points (2g-9a) in his last 12 meetings with the Lightning, including a three-point (1g-2a) performance in Nashville's overtime win versus Tampa Bay on Oct. 26, 2019. Josi has recorded at least a point in 12 of his 17 career games against Tampa Bay.
Matt Duchene's 20 career points (10g-10a) against the Lightning are the most by a current Predators player. Ryan Ellis owns 12 points (4g-8a) in 15 career games versus Tampa Bay.
Colton Sissons notched his first career regular-season hat trick on Jan. 5, 2017 vs. Tampa Bay and became the first player in NHL history to score at least three goals in a game with his second being an empty-netter and his third being scored on a goalie.

Watch & Listen:
Coverage for tonight's 7:30 p.m. CT puck drop from Nashville begins on FOX Sports Tennessee at 7 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show hosted by Lyndsay Rowley and Terry Crisp. Willy Daunic, Chris Mason and Kara Hammer have the call on the television side, while Pete Weber and Hal Gill will broadcast on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game may also be seen nationally on NBCSN. Pregame coverage on the radio begins at 6:30 p.m. For broadcast information and channel locations throughout the country,
click here
.
Streaming Info:
Listen to a Live Radio Feed
(only active during the game broadcast window).
Watch a Live Stream of the game
on the Fox Sports Go App or
Watch on NHL.TV