Mike Fisher doubled the Nashville lead less than a minute into the second, banging the puck over Clemmensen’s glove side on a Martin Erat feed from behind the net. It was Fisher’s 19th goal of the season.
Wojtek Wolski (2) scored the Panthers first goal in five periods on a cross ice pass from Marcel Goc. Tomas Fleischmann collected the secondary assist on the play.
Sergei Kostitsyn slashed Sean Bergenheim at the 12 minute mark to give the Panthers their second power play opportunity of the game. Florida kept the puck in the Nashville zone for the entire first minute of the man advantage, as the Predators only cleared the puck once, by accident. Bergenheim would retire to the dressing room, as the Panthers failed to convert. Bergenheim shortly rejoined the on-ice action.
Jordin Tootoo gave the Panthers another chance when he tripped Brian Campbell at the 17 minute mark. Aside from a few Jason Garrison shots, the Panthers couldn’t generate any action on the scoreboard.
Hits: Predators, 17-11 (Gabriel Bourque leads Nashville with four, Tyson Strachan has three for Florida)
Blocked Shots: Panthers, 7-6 (Hal Gill has two for the Preds, Erik Gudbranson two for the Cats)
Faceoffs: Panthers, 23-12 (Paul Gaustad has won six-of-11 for the Preds. After winning only one-of-six chances for the Cats in the first, Stephen Weiss won all five of his faceoff opportunities in the second period)
Shots On Goal: Panthers, 24-14 (Sean Bergenheim, Mike Santorelli and Wojtek Wolski all have three for Florida, David Legwand and Shea Weber lead Nashville with two each)
Score: Predators 2, Panthers 1