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CHARLOTTE - Reaching .500 is usually not the recipe for first place in any sport but thats exactly where the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers find themselves as the two NFC South rivals get ready to meet on Thursday Night Football. The winner of tonights contest at Bank of America Stadium will take over sole possession of the top spot in the division, a testament to just how bad the NFC South has been thus far. A Week 8 loss to Seattle dropped the Panthers to 3-4-1, percentage points clear of New Orleans, which is 3-4 and coming off its most impressive win of the season, a 44-23 drubbing of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The 2-6 Falcons and 1-6 Buccaneers round out the disappointing foursome. If you said at the start of training camp or OTAs, hey, you have a chance in Week 9 to be playing for first place, would you take it? Yeah, Id take it, offensive coordinator Mike Shula told the Panthers website. Thats the mindset. You have to keep moving forward and forget about whats happened. The Saints will arrive in the Queen City knowing they are 0-4 away from the Bayou this season and have lost seven straight regular-season games away from New Orleans dating back to 2013. Carolina has its own concerns, most notably a 1-4-1 record over the last six games following a 2-0 start to the season. The truth of the matter is we had opportunities and we didnt make them on both sides of the ball, said Panthers coach Ron Rivera. You have to take advantage of opportunities in the red zone by putting the ball in the end zone. When you have third down and long, you have to be able to stop them. The Panthers were inside the red zone on their first two possessions last Sunday against Seattle and came away with two field goals. Later, they suffered a turnover inside the 20-yard line. As a result, all of the Carolina scoring in a 13-9 loss came from three Graham Gano field goals. The Seahawks, who have never lost three straight games with Russell Wilson under center, were on the verge of doing exactly that in Charlotte before Wilson willed his team to a come-from-behind road victory, firing a touchdown pass to tight end Luke Willson with 47 seconds remaining to lift Seattle to the hard-fought win. Cam Newton struggled for the second straight week for Carolina, completing just 12-of-22 passes for 171 yards and an interception. He missed both of his throws and was sacked twice on the Panthers final possession. We didnt play our best football, Newton admitted. The next opportunity awaits on Thursday and Im anticipating that to be a great game for us. Rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin continued to be a bright spot offensively for Carolina, recording four catches for 94 yards, including a career-long 51- yard reception in the fourth quarter to set up one of the teams three field goals. Benjamin currently leads NFC rookies with 571 receiving yards and five touchdowns. For the Saints, Drew Brees tossed three touchdown passes in Week 8 as New Orleans pulled away in the second half during the triumph over Green Bay. The game was deadlocked at 16 at halftime, but the Saints intercepted the red- hot Rodgers twice over an 11-attempt span in the final 30 minutes, quite the accomplishment because the veteran QB hadnt tallied a pick in his previous 213 throws. Brees, meanwhile, completed all 11 of his passes in the second half and finished 27-of-32 overall for 311 yards. Mark Ingram carried the ball 24 times for 172 yards and a touchdown and Brandin Cooks caught six passes for 94 yards and a score and added a 4-yard TD run for the Saints, who squandered a fourth-quarter lead for the third time this year in the prior weeks 24-23 loss at Detroit. Jimmy Graham hauled in all five of his receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown in the second half in the triumph. I think the tempo was better today and I think thats something well continue to emphasize, Brees said. Division foes since Carolinas inaugural NFL season in 1995 -- first in the NFC West from 1995-2001 and now the NFC South beginning in 2002 -- the Panthers and Saints will be meeting for the 39th time with Carolina holding a slim 20-18 advantage in the all-time series. The two clubs will meet again in Week 14 in New Orleans. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Brees generally excels at night. Since joining New Orleans in 2006, the star signal caller has led the Saints to an impressive 22-10 mark in primetime games, the third-best record of any team during that span. And despite their pedestrian record the Saints have been as explosive as ever offensively and are tops in the NFC, averaging 445.4 yards per game, far ahead of Carolina (332.5 YPG). Brees in second in the conference with 2,227 passing yards but the issue has been ball security and New Orleans has a minus-six turnover ratio coming in, a stark contrast to the Panthers positive plus-four mark. Certainly theres all sorts of goals and theres big picture, small picture and I think what weve tried to do is really focus on the smallest picture - and thats our own team getting better, Saints coach Sean Payton said. New Orleans cleaned up things against the Pack and were plus-two in that game so its possible the worm has turned or at least the impact of Ingrams game against the dismal Green Bay run defense created more balance and enabled Brees to stop forcing the issue. If thats the case, the recipe could be there for a sequel because the Carolina D is a far cry from the unit that dominated in 2013 and is surrendering 378.5 YPG, slightly better than the often-maligned NOLA stop unit which is giving up about 12 yards more per contest. The Panthers gave up at least 37 points-or-more in four of their previous games until righting the ship a bit against the Seahawks. The main struggle has been to stop the run, as Carolina has surrendered 135.2 YPG on the ground, 28th best in a 32-team league. Offensively the Panthers hope to solve their red-zone woes and turn those Gano 3s into 7s. Carolinas 46.2 percent TD efficiency inside the 20 is also 28th in football. Its tough when you dont score touchdowns and miss opportunities, Rivera said. You have to make hay down in the red zone. The offense could be in line for a boost with the potential return of running back DeAngelo Williams, who has missed the previous four games with a balky ankle. Itll be a nice boost, said Rivera. When he and Jonathan (Stewart) get rolling and doing the things they do thats a huge thing for us. That could be a nice shot in the arm. OVERALL ANALYSIS Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me five times? Lets just say its tough to pick the Saints away from the Superdome but this is the team trending in the right direction and no one is happy about the way Carolina is looking. Furthermore, despite that lack of road success, New Orleans has been very close to getting over the hump, leading into the fourth quarter in three of their four road setbacks this season and losing those games by a total of just six points. So, lets be a glutton for punishment one more time here and figure on Payton and Co. finally figuring out a way to finally win one outdoors. Theres no more important game than this quick turnaround, the Thursday night game at Carolina, said Brees. This was the team that won the division last year. We are going to need our best performance to beat them. Sports Network predicted outcome: Saints 23, Panthers 20 Ryquell Armstead Jersey . Lawrie was hit on the hand by Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Cueto in the second inning of Sundays 4-3 loss to the Reds. 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Subbans power-play goal 4:08 into overtime sent the Montreal Canadiens into the All-Star break with a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday.The NHL-worst Edmonton Oilers have dropped three in a row in regulation, a skid that began at home against the Florida Panthers last weekend. Returning the favor Saturday night on the Panthers home ice may be tough even though the Oilers have won five straight there because they enter mired in a franchise-record, 14-game road losing streak. The Oilers (10-26-9) are averaging 2.2 goals and allowing 3.31 per game to rank near the bottom of the league in both categories. Their 29 points are the fewest in the NHL, only 11 of which have come on the road. Edmonton hasnt tasted victory away from home since beating the New York Rangers 3-1 on Nov. 9, and its only other road win came two days earlier against Buffalo. No team has dropped 15 straight on the road since Chicago endured a 19-game skid in 2003-04. The Oilers fell 4-2 to Florida on Sunday before opening a four-game trek with Tuesdays 4-2 defeat to St. Louis. Their woes continued two nights later with a 3-2 loss at Tampa Bay as Ben Scrivens allowed two goals in the third period. Its not like were getting blown out every game like last year, said Scrivens, who is 0-6-5 with a 3.30 goals-against average on the road. Weve been playing better, but weve got to figure out its easier to play defense in the third than try to score one late. Benoit Pouliot scored both goals, giving him six in the past four games. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins assisted on both as the Oilers outshot Tampa Bay 32-19, including 14-9 over the final 20 minutes. We were still doing the right things, but they buried their chances and we didnt, coach Todd Nelson told the lleagues official website.ddddddddddddIf we keep on generating chances, those goals will go in. Edmonton had won five straight and nine of 10 against the Panthers before coming up short last weekend as Roberto Luongo stopped 31 shots. Scrivens dropped to 3-1-0 with a 1.84 GAA against Florida after making 23 saves. The Oilers have won their only five visits to Sunrise since losing there March 8, 2002, though the past four have gone past regulation. The Panthers (20-13-9) are hoping to avoid losing three straight for the first time since Nov. 4-8 after falling 4-2 to Colorado on Thursday. Aaron Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov scored for Florida, which opened a five-game homestand. The boys fought hard tonight, (I) just need to be better to give them a chance, Luongo said after stopping 25 of 28 shots. Two nights earlier, he was pulled in the second period after allowing four goals in an 8-2 loss at Winnipeg. Luongo hasnt lost three straight starts since dropping his first three of the season. While hell see several familiar faces when Vancouver comes to town Monday in Floridas final game before the All-Star break, Luongo appears to be focused on the task at hand. He is 15-5-1 with a 2.18 GAA and three shutouts in his last 21 starts against the Oilers, allowing eight goals in five matchups since the start of last season. Its two games left, he said. Focus on the Saturday game first and foremost and make sure we have the same type of effort, if not better than (Thursday). Panthers left wing Jonathan Huberdeau has three goals and four assists over the last five games. ' ' '