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Filip Forsberg tallied twice, and the Nashville Predators scored a season-high six goals to defeat the Minnesota Wild by a 6-2 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result gives the Preds their third straight victory and a three-game win streak for the first time since October.

Forsberg’s power-play goal in the opening period was his 81st career goal on the man advantage - a Preds franchise record - while Colton Sissons, Steven Stamkos, Fedor Svechkov and Brady Skjei also scored for Nashville on an emotional night in the Music City.

“It was fun,” Preds defenseman Luke Schenn said. “Obviously, a lot of emotion in the building, and the crowd was awesome right from the get go, even in warmups. I mean, there's just lots of energy… Everyone came out and brought energy tonight and played the right way. We played together as a team.”

“I'm really proud of them,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of his club. “They showed how tight of a group they are. They're going to stick up for each other, protect each other. Like I said, I'm not surprised, but it was good to see them all come together.”

The Preds emphasized a better start from the drop of the puck compared to Thursday’s outing, and although Minnesota got the game’s first goal from David Jiricek, Nashville responded with a pair of markers - one each from Sissons and Forsberg - for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. The first period also featured three fights between the division rivals, with Zach L’Heureux, Schenn and Mark Jankowski all dropping the gloves as the Predators stuck up for one another and then some.

“You're extremely proud of them coming together,” Brunette said. “To me, hopefully this is a little bit of a defining moment that kind of kick starts us here. We've been playing better the last six weeks, and something like that actually makes your group even tighter.”

“I thought we all stuck up for each other,” L’Heureux said. “It was a great team win. All four lines [were] pulling, and it's fun. It's been a good week for us, so we just want to keep going and keep doing the little things that we're doing right that are helping us win games.”

The Preds continued to do just that, and in the second stanza, Stamkos and Svechkov padded the lead for Nashville with goals just 54 seconds and 2:07 into the period past Marc-Andre Fleury. Although Minnesota got back to within two early in the final frame, Forsberg and Skjei made sure the Preds earned a win to finish off the season series with Minnesota with two more goals late in regulation.

“It was a great effort pretty much the whole game,” Forsberg said. “I thought we came ready to play. Obviously, we knew it was going to be physical. It always is against these guys, and I thought we answered that really well. You know, [we] didn't get down when they scored. We just bounced right back, and got obviously a huge goal from [Sissons] pretty quickly after, and we didn't really look back from there.”

Forsberg now has goals in five consecutive outings, and his play has continued to directly lead to success for his club that now has wins in five of their last seven overall.

“Well, Fil just decided nobody was going to take the puck off him tonight,” Brunette said. “And when he does that, and he gets on these kinds of rolls…it's fun to watch, and I'm sure for the crowd and for his teammates. It was really good. He kind of grabbed everybody on his back, and, like I said, it's his way of sticking up for his teammate.”

And Forsberg was more than happy to send the home crowd back out into the Nashville night on a high from the most emotional victory of the season.

“People were excited for the game,” Forsberg grinned. “I’m sure the sales on Broadway were probably good going into it, and we didn’t disappoint any of the bar owners and sent them back happy again, so it was good.”

Notes:

Defenseman Adam Wilsby returned to the Nashville lineup on Saturday after missing seven games due to an upper-body injury. Forward Kieffer Bellows and defenseman Spencer Stastney were scratched against Minnesota.

Forsberg’s goal was also his 200th career power-play point. He became the fourth active Swedish player to reach the mark (min. 1 GP in 2024-25), behind Erik Karlsson (301), Victor Hedman (273) and Mika Zibanejad (242).

The Predators will conclude their five-game homestand on Tuesday when San Jose comes to town before jetting off to California to finish a home-and-home set with the Sharks.