Flyers to face offensive Nashville defense

Nashville's defense has gotten offensive this season.

The Flyers will be aware of that when the teams meet Thursday at the Bridgestone Arena.

Led by Roman Josi (10 goals, 36 points) and Shea Weber (12 goals), the Predators' defensive corps tops the NHL with 124 points and 36 goals.

Asked about the challenges the Predators (24-19-8) present, Flyers coach Dave Hakstol mentioned the "speed of their attack and the quickness of their transition game and how much their defensemen are involved with that. Those guys are good at getting up with the play. They're smart and efficient."

In the teams' other meeting this season, Shayne Gostisbhere's goal with 52 seconds left in overtime gave the Flyers a 3-2 win on Nov. 27. The Flyers (22-18-5) ended a streak of 261 minutes, 58 seconds of no even-strength goals in that contest.

Hakstol was disappointed in the line of Michael Raffl, Scott Laughton, and Matt Read in the Flyers' 4-2 win over Montreal Tuesday, but he praised the play of defenseman Mark Streit, who continues to round into form - and get his timing back - after missing six weeks with a pubic-plate injury. . . . The Flyers' power play is 8 for 22 (36.4 percent) in the last five games.

- Sam Carchidi