Red-Hot Florida Panthers Take on Struggling Predators

The Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators come into tonight’s game in Sunrise heading down different paths.

Despite a huge offseason in which the Predators appeared poised to challenge in the Western Conference, Nashville got off to an 0-5 start before winning its next three.

Since then, however, the Predators (4-8-1) have lost four of their past five games.

Before Nashville lost 3-2 in Washington on Wednesday night, GM Barry Trotz said if things do not turn around, he may start rebuilding the team.

He clarified some of those remarks, saying he is not going to tear things down, but perhaps speed up the development of some of their high-end prospects.

The Predators made a big splash over the summer by signing such players as former Lightning captain Steven Stamkos and former Vegas and Florida sniper Jonathan Marchessault.

Get the Inside Sccop on the Florida Panthers

Every. Single. Day.

Subscribe to Florida Hockey Now Today!

“I’ve tried to buy time through free agency with these older players so that we can still be a threat,” Trotz told The Tennessean. “But if it doesn’t work, I’ve still got to buy the time for those young players.”

Florida, meanwhile, has kept on trucking.

The defending Stanley Cup champions come into tonight’s game at Amerant Bank Arena with wins in its past five — going 5-0 on its longest road trip of the season, outscoring its opponents 24-12 along the way.

Coach Paul Maurice knows his team will be getting a desperate Nashville team — which lost on a goal by Alex Ovechkin at 10:25 of the third on Wednesday — all the while, he has a team which could show affects of the long trip and time off to recover.

On Wednesday, Maurice said he felt pretty confident his team would be ready to play tonight, but the residual affects of the trip could show in the coming games.

“This is not a road trip we’re accustomed to, so I don’t really have the answer,” said Maurice, whose team is tied for second in the NHL standings with 19 points. “I have liked the way we moved today. This one is an aberration, the first game back from a global series game. I am aware, with some other teams, you don’t notice a lag for almost a week. You come back, you’re fired up, everything is exciting.”

— The starting goalies: Sergei Bobrovsky will go for the Panthers, per Maurice; Jusse Saros played in Washington on Wednesday so the Predators are expected to start Scott Wedgewood tonight.

ON DECK: GAME 14

NASHVILLE PREDATORS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (Naples/FTM)
• Streaming: Panthers+, ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5-FM2; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL App
• Betting Odds — Panthers Favored: Money Line (-200); Puck line (-1.5, +115); Over/Under 6 (-120/+100)
• Season Series — At Nashville: Feb. 25. At Florida: Thursday.
• Last Season: Split 1-1
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 22-15-6, 3 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Philadelphia Flyers, 6 p.m.

PROJECTED FLORIDA PANTHERS (9-3-1) LINES

17 Evan Rodrigues // 16 Sasha Barkov // 13 Sam Reinhart

23 Carter Verhaeghe// 9 Sam Bennett // 19 Matthew Tkachuk

13 Eetu Luostarinen // 15 Anton Lundell // 70 Jesper Boqvist

10 AJ Greer // 92 Tomas Nosek // 25 Mackie Samoskevich

42 Gus Forsling // 5 Aaron Ekblad

77 Niko Mikkola // 7 Dmitry Kulikov

88 Nate Schmidt // 26 Uvis Balinskis

72 Sergei Bobrovsky

30 Spencer Knight

Scratched: Adam Boqvist, Jonah Gadjovich

PROJECTED NASHVILLE PREDATORS (4-8-1) LINES

9 Filip Forsberg // 90 Ryan O’Reilly // 14 Gustav Nyquist

91 Steven Stamkos // 13 Juuso Parssinen // 81 Jonathan Marchessault

26 Philip Tomasino // 82 Tommy Novak // 47 Michael McCarron

68 Zachary L’Heureux // 10 Colton Sissons // 36 Cole Smith

76 Brady Skjei // 59 Roman Josi

3 Jeremy Lauzon // 45 Alexandre Carrier

7 Marc Del Gaizo // 2 Luke Schenn

41 Scott Wedgewood

74 Juuse Saros

Scratched: Mark Jankowski, Dante Fabbro, Luke Evangelista

Injured: None

Nashville Predators Lines Courtesy NHL.com