The Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators open their seasons Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, and the numbers point to a tight one. Our model sees a 4-3 Predators win in a game set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
Minnesota comes in with a track record that says it can win a lot of different kinds of games. Last season, the Wild finished 46-24-12 overall and went 16-14-30 in overtime.
They were especially strong in close games, posting a 17-5-9 mark in one-goal decisions. When the Wild were held to a single goal, though, things got rough: they went 1-8-2 in those 11 games.
They also managed just 12 points in 20 games when they scored exactly two goals, but when they pushed past that mark, the offense usually carried them. Minnesota went 46-8-8 in the 62 games it scored more than two goals.
The special teams profile also stands out. In the 38 games when Minnesota scored one power-play goal, it went 20-11-7.
And when it outshot opponents, the Wild went 23-12-5 in 40 games. Even when they were on the wrong side of the shot count, they still found ways to stay in games, going 27-15-9 in 51 contests where the opponent had more shots.
Nashville’s season-long profile tells a similar story of a team that lived in close games but had to fight for everything. The Predators finished 38-34-10 and went 10-10-20 in overtime.
In one-goal games, they were 15-8-8, good for 38 points. Like Minnesota, scoring volume mattered a lot.
Nashville had just two points in nine games when it scored one goal, and it picked up 19 points when it scored two. Once the Predators reached three goals, the results improved sharply, with 65 points in 41 games.
The shot battle didn’t always go Nashville’s way, either. The Predators were outshot in 46 games and still managed a 20-20-6 record in those matchups. When they outshot the opponent, they were 15-14-4.
A look at the 2025-26 team stats comparison shows Minnesota with the edge in several key categories. The Wild ranked 10th in goals scored at 3.27 per game and 4th in goals allowed at 2.87.
Nashville sat 20th in scoring at 2.95 and 26th in goals allowed at 3.26. Minnesota also ranked 7th in shots at 29.1 and 3rd on the power play at 25.19 percent, while Nashville came in 19th in shots at 27.8 and 11th on the power play at 23.11 percent.
On the penalty kill, the Predators held the edge, ranking 6th at 81.71 percent compared with Minnesota’s 16th-place 79.81 percent.
So while the Wild carry the stronger statistical profile, the model still leans toward Nashville in the opener, with the Predators edging it 4-3.
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