GAME DAY: Preds at Panthers, December 4

Following a night full of milestones in Nashville, the Predators are in Florida to begin a two-game road trip with a contest against the Panthers tonight from Amerant Bank Arena at 6 p.m. CT. This evening’s contest is the second and final meeting of the season between the Preds and Panthers; the defending Stanley Cup Champions beat Nashville at Bridgestone Arena last month.

Since that contest against Florida, the Preds have won three of their last four outings, including a 5-1 victory over Calgary on Tuesday night that saw both Reid Schaefer and Ozzy Wiesblatt record their first NHL goals.

Now, the Predators will look to build off that outing and a stretch that has seen them score 17 goals over their past four games.

“[The energy and contributions from the young players] is great,” Preds forward Steven Stamkos said following Tuesday’s win. “I mean, you need that. You need that to be a good team in this League, contributions from everybody. Obviously, guys are getting a little more opportunity each and every day because of the way that they're playing, and it's great to see them get rewarded. But, you need that throughout the course of the year to be a good team. So, we’ve got to build on that, because it was great to see.”

Preds defenseman Nick Perbix did not play Tuesday and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Center Michael McCarron (day-to-day, lower body) and defenseman Justin Barron (day-to-day, lower body) were also out of the lineup.

Both Perbix and McCarron practiced on Wednesday in Nashville before the team departed for Florida.

The Good Guys:

In addition to Schaefer and Wiesblatt’s tallies, Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Michael Bunting all found the back of the net. Stamkos recorded his 1,200th career point on his goal and became just the 53rd player in NHL history to accomplish the feat.

Per NHL PR, Wiesblatt joined Schaefer as the second Predators player to score his first NHL goal on Tuesday. It is the fifth game in franchise history to feature multiple players score their first career goal with the franchise. The others: Jan. 9, 2020 (Colin Blackwell & Pekka Rinne), March 27, 2014 (Calle Jarnkrok & Colton Sissons), Oct. 15, 2008 (Patric Hornqvist & Ryan Jones) and Jan. 8, 2004 (Simon Gamache & Andrew Hutchinson).

Ryan O’Reilly (8g-11a) continues to lead the Preds with 19 points, followed by Luke Evangelista (4g-14a) with 18 points and Filip Forsberg (9g-8a) with 17 points. Stamkos and rookie Matthew Wood have seven goals apiece. Juuse Saros is 8-9-3 in net for Nashville; Justus Annunen is 1-4-1.

The Opposition:

Florida’s victory over Nashville is their only victory across their last five games, including a 4-1 loss to Toronto on Tuesday. Brad Marchand leads the club with 15 goals and 27 points, followed by Sam Reinhart with 14 goals and 24 points. Forwards Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk remain out due to injury. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky is 10-8-0 in net; Daniil Tarasov is 2-4-1.

All-Time Meetings:

The Preds are 21-23-(3)-2 all-time against the Panthers, including an 11-11-(1)-1 mark on the road. Nashville is 4-6-0 in their last 10 versus Florida but 3-2-0 in the last five in Sunrise.

Notables Versus Florida:

Steven Stamkos has recorded 82 points (42g-40a) in 70 career regular-season games against the Panthers; it is the highest amount of goals and points he has totaled against a single franchise in his career.

Jonathan Marchessault played 75 games for Florida in 2016-17, recording 51 points (30g-21a).

Erik Haula played seven games for Florida in 2019-20, recording two points (2a).

Milestone Watch:

Filip Forberg is two points from 700 in his NHL career.

Luke Evangelista is three games from 200 in his career.

Jonathan Marchessault is five assists from 300 in his NHL career.

Erik Haula is five assists from 200 in his NHL career.

Watch & Listen:

Coverage for this evening’s contest begins at 5:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and 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.