In Nashville, the decline of the Predators became more ev
Noel Acciari potted a hat trick, his first three goals of the season, for the Panthers.
“It was a great feeling,” Acciari said. “I was hoping to get one tonight, just to get my first of the season. To get the other two is definitely exciting, and a lot of guys are putting a lot of pressure on me about tomorrow now (at the Carolina Hurricanes).”
Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves for the win.
Viktor Arvidsson and Eeli Tolvanen were the only Predators strikers in the loss.
“It’s frustrating right now,” Nashville’s Roman Josi said. “We’re all frustrated. I’m frustrated with myself. We’re all frustrated with each other. We’re frustrated with the way we’re playing right now. We need to find a way to get out of this together. It’s obviously not the way we want to play right now. We know it’s in the room, I have a lot of belief in this room, but we need to figure it out really quick.” 
Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad and Frank Vatrano had single markers for Florida.
“I was just focused on trying to play a simple game, not grip the stick too tight and get that first one,” Acciari said. “It comes in bunches sometimes and I happened to get three tonight. Hopefully I can continue with that game and try to help out the team, whether it’s getting on the board or just blocking a shot.”
The Panthers’ Patric Hornqvist picked up his 500th NHL point on the Huberdeau goal.
“It feels good to get that 500th point, but the biggest thing tonight was our resilience out there,” Hornqvist said. “We score a big goal at the end of the first period and we took over in the second. And then they get a first-shift goal in the third, but it didn’t bite us tonight. We just kept going and played the right way and when we do that, we have a really good team.”
Pekka Rinne made 26 saves in the loss.
“There’s lots of guys who have good moments in the game but not consistent moments in the game,” Nashville head coach John Hynes said. “Or there’s a good game and then there’s a bad one or two bad ones. It’s not good enough, and that’s on us as a group. We’ve got to find a way to be more consistent.”
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