The Predators and Wild delivered a wild one in Nashville on Wednesday night - a back-and-forth, high-scoring affair that felt more like a rollercoaster than a hockey game. Despite five different Nashville skaters lighting the lamp, the Preds ultimately came up short in overtime, falling 6-5 to Minnesota in their final home game before the Olympic break.
Let’s be clear: this one had just about everything. A hat trick in the first period (by Minnesota’s Matt Boldy), a pair of power-play goals from the Preds, multiple lead changes, and a chaotic finish in OT. It wasn’t always pretty - and Preds head coach Andrew Brunette didn’t shy away from that - but it was never boring.
“It was kind of one of those games when you know the [Olympic] break is coming,” Brunette said postgame. “I don't know if the focus on both teams was all that high. I think we scored three goals in our own net.”
That might be hyperbole, but the message was clear: things got messy. Still, Brunette saw something positive in his team’s resilience.
“I think [our resilience to come back again is] a great sign for our group,” he said. “And a point in our League, we'll take it. It's a really good hockey team [we faced].”
The night started with Minnesota jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but Nashville responded quickly. Filip Forsberg got the Preds on the board with a power-play goal, and after Boldy completed his first-period hat trick - yes, all three in the opening frame - Steven Stamkos answered with a power-play tally of his own.
Then Erik Haula tied things up before the first intermission, and suddenly it was 3-3 after 20 minutes of chaos.
Nashville kept the momentum early in the second when Luke Evangelista buried a rebound to give the Predators their first lead of the night. But former Pred Yakov Trenin - now wearing Wild colors - evened the score later in the period. That 4-4 tie held until late in the third, when Minnesota grabbed the lead off a fortunate bounce.
And just when it looked like the Preds might head into the break empty-handed, Roman Josi delivered.
The captain found a bounce of his own to tie the game and force overtime - a fitting moment for one of the NHL’s most clutch defensemen. With that goal, Josi tied Erik Karlsson and Zdeno Chara for the third-most game-tying goals by a defenseman born outside North America (41). Only Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Gonchar have more.
But in the extra frame, it was Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon who played hero, scoring with under a minute left in OT to send the Preds off with just one point.
“It was kind of a back-and-forth game, and I thought we did some really good things,” Josi said. “You wish to be on the other side at the end, but that's obviously a really good team, and we went back and forth with them.
You wish to get two, but you still got points in the last five games. Every point matters.”
That’s the mindset this team has to carry, because the margin for error is razor-thin right now. Nashville is very much in the playoff mix, but every game - and every point - is critical down the stretch.
“We're definitely battling for our life in the past couple of weeks and months,” said forward Jonathan Marchessault. “It's at that time of the year for us; it's catching up and playing playoff hockey a little bit.”
The Preds have one more test before the Olympic break: a road tilt in Washington on the second night of a back-to-back. And they know what’s at stake.
“These points matter more to us than anyone in the League,” Evangelista said. “We know the position we're in.
We just got to give it our all for three more periods. Find a way to scratch out two points.
These are huge, huge games for us.”
Quick Hits:
- Reid Schaefer was recalled from Milwaukee before the game and suited up for his 26th contest of the season.
- Defenseman Nic Hague returned to action after missing time with a lower-body injury.
- Ozzy Wiesblatt and Justin Barron were healthy scratches.
- Steven Stamkos continues to climb the all-time power-play goals list.
His first-period tally tied him with Brendan Shanahan (237) for seventh all-time and pushed him past Mario Lemieux.
So, while the Preds didn’t get the full two points they wanted, they showed enough grit to claw back and earn one - and in this playoff race, every point counts. Now it’s on to Washington, where they’ll look to empty the tank before the Olympic pause.