Neal will play against the Predators for the first time since then at Bridgestone Arena on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-TN, NHL.TV).
"It's a little bit weird for sure," Neal said. "Any time you come back to the team you used to play for and you walk into the opposite dressing room, the opposite way and doing everything, it kind of feels, like, backwards. But no, it's great memories. Good to be back."
Neal has been through the process of facing his former teams before, after he was traded from the Dallas Stars and the Penguins, but he said that experience doesn't make this situation in Nashville easier.
He had spent three seasons with the Predators, and had 41 points (23 goals, 18 assists) in 70 regular-season games and nine points (six goals, three assists) in 22 Stanley Cup Playoff games last season.
"It never gets easy," Neal said. "It's just really fresh here. It feels weird, like I said. Seeing the guys, it was nice to see them. I hadn't seen them in a while."
For Neal, the memories of the Stanley Cup Final and what could have been remain fresh in his mind, and he still owns a house in the Nashville area. Neal doesn't know what his emotions will be like once the game begins.
"I went home last night," he said. "It's just weird. It's hard to explain unless you go through it. You come back and you just feel like you're doing your normal thing, but you're not playing for the [Predators] anymore. You're on a different team. It'll be weird. It never gets easy, even though I've done it before. It's still tough."
Neal has 21 points (13 goals, eight assists) in 27 games this season and has helped lead the Golden Knights to a 17-9-1 record that has them in second place in the Pacific Division.
"It's been awesome, a lot of fun," Neal said. "The team came together really quickly obviously, so everyone's enjoying it, playing hard for each other. We're getting better as the season goes along and I like where we're at right now."
