The red-hot Florida Panthers are coming home to face the Nashville Predators on Thursday night in Sunrise, Fla.
Florida, which has won five games in a row, hasn’t played since Saturday, when the team finished a two-game set in Finland.
In its most recent game, Nashville lost 3-2 at Washington on Wednesday night, which means the Predators won’t be as rested as the Panthers.
Florida is led by center Sam Reinhart, who has club-best totals in goals (10), assists (11) and points (21).
Reinhart was an All-Star last season, when he finished second in the NHL with 57 goals, leading the Panthers to their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.
This season, Reinhart may be even better. He started this week leading the league with a plus-13 rating.
“He’s very quiet,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said of Reinhart. “But he’s also very intense.”
The Panthers, who lead the Atlantic Division with 19 points, are 8-0-0 this season when Reinhart scores a goal. He has scored a goal in four straight games. In fact, in those past four games, Reinhart has five goals and four assists.
Besides Reinhart, the Panthers are grateful they have returned to essentially full health. On Oct. 10, they lost captain Aleksander Barkov and fellow forward Matthew Tkachuk to injury.
Barkov has been back for three games. During that span, he has two goals, five assists and a plus-6 rating.
Tkachuk has been back for six games. In that stretch, he has three goals, three assists and a minus-1 rating.
Florida’s top goalie is Sergei Bobrovsky, who is 6-2-1 with a 3.08 goals-against average.
Meanwhile, the Predators have lost four of their past five games (1-3-1), including the past two in a row.
Nashville’s Andrew Brunette, who coached the Panthers in the 2021-2022 season, was upset after his team hit several posts on Wednesday. The Predators also had one goal disallowed.
That’s the way things have been going this season for the Predators, who made several major offseason moves, including signing forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Brady Skjei.
Stamkos, 34, ended his 16-season tenure with Tampa Bay, signing a four-year, $32 million contract with Nashville. The two-time Stanley Cup champion has three goals, three assists and a minus-10 rating in 13 games this season.
Marchessault, 33, signed a two-year, $27.5 million contract. Last season, he scored a career-high 42 goals for Vegas. He also scored 30 goals in his one season playing for the Panthers (2016-17).
This season, Marchessault has two goals, five assists and a minus-8 rating.
Skjei, 30, signed a seven-year, $49 million contract. He totaled 31 goals over the past two years. This season, he has two goals and four assists.
Stamkos, already a team leader in Nashville, said the Predators played well on Wednesday.
“Our work ethic and effort — that’s the style of play we want,” he said. “It was probably one of our better efforts of the year.
“It’s tough when (you give great effort) and you’re not rewarded. But these are the games that hopefully we can build on.”
–Field Level Media
