"Tonight's going to be one of those games where both teams have been off for a while," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. "[It's going to come down to] the team that finds their game first and early. We're going to talk a little more about that tonight, game plan-wise."
The Panthers (20-20-8) barreled into the break with wins against Toronto, Nashville and San Jose, beating those teams by a combined score of 13-5. As it stands now, they sit 11 points behind Columbus for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with two games in hand.
Starting with tonight's matchup, Florida will play 11 of its next 12 games on home ice.
"I saw it yesterday at practice and again today, I think they're in a good mood," Boughner said of the team's morale. "We talked yesterday about what we need to do here short term in the next couple weeks. Long-term, the next 11 out of 12 game are at home.
"We have to be one of the best teams in the league in February to give ourselves a chance. There were some positive things happening before the break. We're recharged… There's a job at hand. We're healthy and we're fresh. Everything's positive right now."
In the first game of a back-to-back set (Vegas visits on Saturday), the Panthers will turn to Roberto Luongo in net against the Predators. Prior to the break, the 39-year-old said he was starting to feel like his old self again, stopping 47 of 50 shots over back-to-back victories.
"Lu's been real good at home lately," Boughner said. "The team's been better in front of him. We're not asking to have to make six, seven crazy saves a night. We're trying to play good and tight and trying to limit the other team's time and space."
Jonathan Huberdeau stands as Florida's leading scorer coming out of the break, registering 49 points (12 goals, 37 assists) this season, including 32 (eight goals, 24 assists) over his last 28 games. The 25-year-old winger also leads the team with an eye-popping 17 multi-points games.
Entering the 49th game of the season, Huberdeau needs to notch just one point tonight against Nashville to make history. Per NHL Stats, only three players in franchise history have tallied 50 points before the team's 50th game of the season: Pavel Bure, Scott Mellanby and Olli Jokinen.
"Obviously it's always hard when you come back from a break like that," Huberdeau said of tonight's matchup. "We've recharged our batteries and we're ready to go, but we've just got to get our legs going. Sometimes it's hard. Early, we've just got to skate and not think too much."
After todays' morning skate, the Panthers shook up their roster quite a bit by acquiring forwards Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan, as well as a 2019 2nd-round pick and two 2019 4th-round picks, in exchange for forwards Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann.
It is unlikely that Brassard or Sheahan make their Panthers debuts tonight.
"This move balances our needs now and will help us improve in the future. We are pleased to have acquired two quality veteran forwards in Derick and Riley, while adding three valuable 2019 draft selections," Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said. "This move allows our team to remain competitive this season while providing additional flexibility and permitting us to be aggressive in the free agent market this summer."
The Predators (30-18-4) currently occupy the second spot in the Central Division standings. And even though they boast the league's third-ranked defense, they have surrendered an average of 3.28 goals per game over their last seven contests, owning a 3-3-1 record during that span.
Ryan Johansen, who missed his team's previous matchup against Florida due a suspension, leads Nashville in both assists (34) and points (43), while Viktor Arvidsson paces the club in goals (19). On defense, Mattias Ekholm and Roman Josi have 37 and 36 points, respectively.
The Panthers defeated the Predators 4-2 on Jan. 19 in Nashville.
"It's fresh in our minds," Boughner said. "We played a really good two periods there. They came out and pushed hard in the third. We know what it's going to take to beat a team like this. It was a 60-minute effort in Nashville, and it's going to have to be a 60-minute effort here tonight."
