Game Day: Preds at Panthers Preview

The Nashville Predators (29-23-6) will look to complete the season sweep of the Florida Panthers (30-26-6) on Thursday at FLA Live Arena.
The puck drops at 6 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio. Here's everything you need to know:

Line 'Em Up

Below are Nashville's lines from Tuesday vs. Pittsburgh:
Granlund - Glass - Duchene
Sherwood - Novak - Tomasino
Trenin - Sissons - Smith
Sanford - Jankowski - Evangelista
Josi - Fabbro
McDonagh - Carrier
Lauzon - Foote
Saros

Last Time Out

Nashville moved to 16-11-3 at home in 2022-23 with Tuesday's loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mark Jankowski opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 7:01 of the third period.
Luke Evangelista made his NHL debut, logging 14:28 of ice time with two shots, six shot attempts, one hit and one takeaway. Cal Foote skated 12:14 with two blocked shots in his Predators debut.

All-Time Meetings

The Predators are 19-19-(3)-2 all-time against the Panthers, including a 9-10-(1)-1 record on the road. This is the second and final matchup between Nashville and Florida in 2022-23 and the first and only at FLA Live Arena.
Nashville is 1-0-0 against Florida this season, scoring a season-high seven goals in a 7-3 win at Bridgestone Arena on Feb. 18. Roman Josi (1g-2a) and Ryan McDonagh (3a) both had three points in the win.

Notables vs. Florida

• Filip Forsberg has 20 points (5g-15a) in 19 career games against Florida, with 10 of those points (3g-7a) coming in six contests in 2020-21. He recorded his first of two career five-point games on Feb. 4, 2021 at Florida (2g-3a).
• Josi has 22 points (8g-14a) in 23 career games vs. Florida.
• Matt Duchene owns 24 points (12g-12a), including four multi-goal games, in 27 meetings with the Panthers.
• Colton Sissons went 16-for-16 in faceoffs on Feb. 22, 2022 at Florida, becoming the fourth NHL player since 1997-98 to take at least 16 faceoffs in a game and win them all.
• Yakov Trenin (Oct. 19, 2019) and Kevin Lankinen (Jan. 19, 2021) made their NHL debuts against Florida.
• Panthers forward Patric Hornqvist was selected by the Predators in the seventh round (230th overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft. He posted 216 points (106g-110a) in 363 games with Nashville from 2008-14.
• Florida forward Nick Cousins played in 120 games for Nashville from 2020-22, tallying 40 points (14g-26a).

The Good Guys

• Goaltender Juuse Saros is 20-11-4 with a 2.61 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in his last 35 games dating back to Nov. 12. His 20 wins in that time frame are the third-most in the NHL. He's made at least 30 saves in 20 of his last 34 games, facing at least 30 shots in 25 of those outings.
• Josi owns the Predators team lead in points with 54 (17g-37a). He has 50 points (16g-34a) in his last 49 games and has recorded at least one point in 20 of his last 25 contests.
• Duchene has 28 points (12g-16a) in his last 30 games, including two consecutive three-point efforts last Thursday at San Jose (3a) and Sunday at Arizona (1g-2a). He's recorded points in eight of his last 13 games (7g-8a), tallying multiple points in five of those outings.
• Tommy Novak has 22 points (9g-13a) in 27 games with Nashville since being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Dec. 19. He recorded his first career multi-goal game on Feb. 18 vs. Florida (2g), followed it up with a season-high three points on Feb. 19 at Minnesota (1g-2a) and tallied another three-point effort on Sunday at Arizona (1g-2a).

The Other Guys

The Panthers currently sit in fifth place in the Atlantic Division and have won three of their last five games, including a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. They have not won a home game in regulation since Feb. 9 (4-1 vs. San Jose).
Matthew Tkachuk leads the Panthers with 79 points (28g-51a), including an assist in Tuesday's win. Carter Verhaeghe has scored a team-high 31 goals, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky owns a 10-4-1 record over his last 16 appearances.

Watch & Listen

Coverage for Thursday's game begins at 5:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on Bally Sports South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.
Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM.