Nashville @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 19, 2019 ) Florida 3, Nashville 2

The Florida Panthers have cooled off a bit with three straight losses and hope to make up for it when they start a monster nine-game homestand Saturday night against the surging Nashville Predators. The Panthers had won five of six to creep within a few points of the top spot in the Atlantic Division before suffering road defeats against Carolina and Washington, sandwiching a 5-2 setback to Buffalo at home.

Florida coach Joel Quenneville saw some positives in the 4-3 loss at Washington on Wednesday, telling reporters after his team finished with a 40-20 edge in shots: “I thought we did a lot of good things tonight. That was a well-played game from our point of view, and we just need some saves to win the game. … It was a tough loss against a good team.” Backup Chris Driedger, who played in three games for Ottawa from 2015-17, is reportedly set to make his first start for the Panthers as they attempt to sweep the season series after winning 3-2 in a shootout at Nashville on Oct. 19. The Predators seem to have pulled themselves out of a slump with points in four straight games (3-0-1) after Pekka Rinne earned his 350th career victory with a 3-0 shutout at Carolina on Friday. That means backup Juuse Saros will likely get the start Saturday for Nashville, which has allowed eight goals during its point streak after surrendering 30 in a 0-5-1 stretch that preceded it.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Tennessee (Nashville), FS Florida

ABOUT THE PREDATORS (12-9-4): Calle Jarnkrok scored one of the three goals Friday to draw within one of becoming the team’s third double-figure scorer, joining Filip Forsberg (10) and Nick Bonino (10). Captain Roman Josi was kept off the scoresheet in the win over Carolina after posting four assists over the previous four games and leads the team with 24 points while center Matt Duchene set up Austin Watson’s goal Friday to push his total to 20 points. Forward Rocco Grimaldi had the other goal for Nashville in the latest win and has at least a point in three consecutive games along with a plus-7 rating overall.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (12-8-5): Brett Connolly has taken over the goal-scoring lead with half of his 12 tallies to go along with two assists in the last seven games and fellow forward Mike Hoffman became the fourth player to reach double figures with a goal Wednesday. Left wing Jonathan Huberdeau, who missed practice Friday (illness), leads the team with 31 points while captain Aleksander Barkov is second with 30, scoring six of his seven goals this month. Defenseman Keith Yandle had two assists Wednesday and boasts 15 in his last 14 contests to tie right wing Evgenii Dadonov (99 career assists) for third with 20 points.

OVERTIME

1. Nashville RW Mikael Granlund has registered seven points in his last eight games and is two goals from 100 for his career.

2. Florida C Vincent Trocheck has picked it up after a slow start, collecting seven points in his last seven games.

3. The Predators are 1-for-21 on the power play in the last seven games, but have killed 8-of-8 in the past three contests.

PREDICTION: Predators 4, Panthers 3