Tampa Bay @ Nashville preview
Nissan Stadium
Last Meeting ( Oct 2, 2021 ) Tampa Bay 1, Nashville 6
After conquering two of the NHL's top scoring threats Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Lightning now have to deal with another obstacle -- the Tennessee outdoors.
The two-time defending champions will meet the Nashville Predators in the 2022 Stadium Series game at Nissan Stadium, home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans, Saturday night in Nashville, Tenn.
In doing so, Tampa Bay will help the NHL check off another box.
The club will become the 27th franchise to play outdoors. Only the Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers and expansion Seattle Kraken have not played in the annual affair.
The Lightning fought off a two-goal outing Wednesday from Edmonton's Connor McDavid and three-assist showing by Leon Draisaitl -- a duo tied for second in NHL points production -- to notch their ninth straight home win against the Oilers, 5-3.
Corey Perry became the 103rd player in NHL history to net his 400th goal, one of 11 active players on the list headed by Washington Capitals marksman Alex Ovechkin.
In typical gritty fashion, Perry skated in front of the Edmonton crease and got a piece of Mikhail Sergachev's shot, deflecting home the milestone marker.
Perry went goal-less the first 17 games of his first season in Tampa but now has netted 14.
"He is a slick, sneaky, skilled player in the blue paint," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose side has won three straight games. "He's just oozing with hockey sense all around the net there."
In the 2020 Winter Classic at the venerable Cotton Bowl, the host Dallas Stars rallied from a two-goal hole to beat Nashville 4-2 before 85,630 fans on New Year's Day.
Perry made news in that one but for the wrong reason: The former Star blasted Nashville's Ryan Ellis with a blow to the head and was given a game misconduct early in the match.
The right winger was apologetic after becoming the first player ejected from an outdoors match.
"This is a big event," Perry said before ultimately being served with a five-game suspension. "I'm sure he had family in here and I definitely had family here. It's tough. I just hope he's OK."
The Predators have a chance to match history Saturday night beside the Cumberland River. They will attempt to become the second team in an outdoors contest to defeat the defending Cup champions -- only accomplished by the Minnesota Wild over the Chicago Blackhawks in 2016.
Reigning champions are 4-1-0 in the open air.
Mikael Granlund has had a strong week for Nashville, which snapped its four-game losing streak in Tuesday's 6-4 win at the Florida Panthers, then defeated the Dallas Stars 2-1 in a shootout Thursday on home ice.
Granlund was the offensive star in both. He produced the game-winning tally in South Florida and the only shootout goal against Dallas.
In a pregame ceremony Thursday, the Predators retired their first number ever -- Pekka Rinne's No. 35 -- to honor the Finnish goalie, who won the 2018 Vezina Trophy and posted 369 wins and 60 shutouts with the team.
"It's been a special day obviously for (Pekka), and we all love him so much," said Granlund, Rinne's countryman. "But we were able to get those two points and that's all that matters. I'm just happy for tonight and I'm really happy for (him)."
--Field Level Media