The Nashville Predators (4-0-3) will put their unbeaten in regulation streak on the line again this afternoon at 5 p.m. when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning (5-1-1) at the St. Petersburg Times Forum.
The Predators have had the benefit of playing the team with the best record in the West (Dallas) and the top record in the East (Tampa) within a 24 hour period.
The Predators have had little success in Tampa going 1-3-2 and have not won there since their inaugural season. The game will mark a return to his former team for Shane O'Brien who played parts of three seasons there from 2006-2009.
After a 30 save shutout last night in the Predators 1-0 win over Dallas, Pekka Rinne will get the night off and Anders Lindback will get the start in goal.
For Tampa, Dan Ellis will face his old teammates for the first time and claims he has no animosity toward the Preds.
With Teemu Laasko playing last night, he became the 16th Predators draftee to suit up for the team this season. Last year the Preds has 17 draftees play which is a mark that should be broken this season.
Tampa is led in scoring by the league leading Steven Stamkos who has eight goals and six assists and is coming off a hat trick in their last game against Atlanta on Friday.
The Lightning's special teams are among the best in the league with their power play ranked third (29.3%) and their penalty kill at sixth (88.6%). The Predators are ranked 12th (16.7%) and 24th (79.2%) respectively.
On the injury front, J.P. Dumont left last night's game with an undisclosed injury, believed to have been suffered from a Shea Weber slapshot. His availability for today is questionable. The Predators played seven defensemen last night so they could do that again or insert Sergei Kostitsyn and/or Wade Belak into the lineup as no call ups have been announced. Simon Gagne is out for the Lightning.
Other game previews come from Amanda DiPaolo and Dirk Hoag.
From the other side, check out Tampa Tribune, Raw Charge,and the St Petersburg Times.
Preds-Stars Round-Up...
Amanda DiPaolo was the only Nashville person at the rink for Saturday's game. Here is her game story.
Here is our wrap-up from last night.
Other stories come from Dirk Hoag (with highlights and advances states, Mark Willoughby, Jeremy Gover, What the Puck, and the AP story at the Tennessean.
The other side of the Star-Preds game previews can be found at The Dallas Morning News, ESPN Dallas, the Star-Telegram, The Dallas Stars Blog, and Defending Big D.
More Later...
Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass
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