Driedger, whose last appearance was Oct. 28, 2016 as a member of the Ottawa Senators, was playing his fourth NHL game. He was leading the American Hockey League with a .938 save percentage when he was recalled from Springfield on Monday.
"Honestly, I'm speechless at this point," Driedger said. "It's been a long time coming. They told me I was starting yesterday. I was definitely pretty nervous going into it, but once the puck dropped I kind of felt good. The defense] did an incredible job tonight making my job easy. It was incredible. It was a lot of fun."
***[WATCH: [All Predators vs. Panthers Highlights]*
Anton Stralman scored his first two goals for the Panthers (13-8-5), who ended a three-game losing streak in the first of a nine-game homestand.
"It's always fun," Stralman said. "Sometimes it's just being at the right place at the right time. Other than that, there was not much to it, just trying to hit the net. It's a good feeling."
Juuse Saros made 25 saves for Nashville (12-10-4), which saw its four-game point streak end.
The Predators, who defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday, were playing the second game of their first back-to-back of the season.
"We were just OK tonight," forward Ryan Johansen said. "It's tough. Back-to-backs are tough, traveling. The bottom line is we needed to do more to be successful. We didn't create enough opportunities. When we did have ours, their goalie played well, and they did some good things. It's the way it went."
Stralman made it 1-0 at 1:06 of the second period after Saros stopped Colton Sceviour's shot from close range. It was Stralman's first goal since Dec. 29, 2018 when he was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Stralman increased the lead to 2-0 at 8:38 of the third period when he redirected Vincent Trocheck's pass from behind the net.
