The Nashville Predators opened the season with back-to-back wins home at Bridgestone Arena and followed that up by taking two over a three-game road-swing. Tonight they're back at Nashville for a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning who ended a two-game skid with a hard-fought 2-1 win against Buffalo Saturday. The Preds have won three straight in the series and I think we're getting a more than fair price on them in tonight's matchup.

Here are my keys to the game:

1. The Predators Special Teams - Nashville's penalty kill unit has given up just one goal all season while the club converted on two of six chances on the man advantage in the 4-3 shootout win against Ottawa Saturday. It ranks fifth in the NHL with a 26.7% efficiency for the season on the power play and the Lightning had conceded six goals on 10 shorthanded situations before blanking the lowly Sabres over three chances their last game.

2. Pekka Rinne - The Preds star netminder will come in well rested as he got the day off when Nashville defeated Ottawa Saturday and he's 3-1-0 with a 1.51 GAA and .944 save percentage to start the season. He's a perfect 4-0-0 in previous meetings with Tampa Bay.

3. X-Factor - The Lightning's Ben Bishop has a 4.20 GAA over two career losses against the Predators.

Selection: This is a play on the Nashville Predators (7*)