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Time: Pregame coverage begins at 7 p.m.
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TAMPA, Fla. -- Two teams with similar expectations are dealing with similar issues heading into a Thursday matchup.
Both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Nashville Predators were picked by many pundits to be among the league's elite. Some publications predicted a Stanley Cup Final between the two teams come June.
Yet at the beginning of January, both teams sit outside the playoff picture. And there's been one common them that has kept both teams from enjoying a better season to this point -- consistency.
"The whole season, consistency has been a problem," Nashville defenseman Roman Josi said. "We have a good game, then the next one is not good enough to win. We have to find that consistency and play the same way."
That has been the same with the Lightning, who won more than two consecutive games only once since winning four straight from Nov. 14 to 19. Since then the only thing consistent about Tampa Bay has been its inconsistencies.
"There's been games where we give up nine or 10 scoring chances and then there are games we are giving up double that," Lightning associate coach Rick Bowness said Wednesday, a day after Tampa Bay was handled by Winnipeg. "So where is the consistency, that's the biggest issue."
The Lightning looked as if they were ready to get their act together and make a climb up the standings. Before Tuesday's loss to Winnipeg, Tampa Bay had won four of six and picked up points in seven of the previous nine games.
But the 6-4 loss to the Jets was a step backward and the game was not as close as the score indicated.
"You beat Carolina (on Saturday), and you have to come back and do it again, and we didn't, it's as simple as that," Bowness said. "There are no excuses, we didn't play hard enough, we didn't play smart enough, the work we were doing was really without a purpose and when that happens the other team is going to control the pace. And we made it way too easy for the Winnipeg Jets to come in here and play for 40 minutes."
It's been a similar formula for the Predators, who have won consecutive games only once since the end of November, unable to find that some sort of consistency that made them one of the toughest teams in the Western Conference over the past two seasons.
Some games it's there, most games it's not.
"We're all trying. We all want to play consistent," Josi told The Tennessean. "We're all trying to give our best every night, but somehow we (haven't found) it yet in the first half."
Now both teams face similar treks to try to get back in to a spot most predicted they will be at when the season comes to an end.
"I think our team has not lived up to our own expectations," Poile told The Tennessean. "We've been off as a team.... We've got to figure it out."
Tampa Bay center Cedric Paquette returned to practice Wednesday. He missed six games with a lower-body injury.
