Four Power-Play Goals, Complete Effort Leads Preds to Victory Over Avalanche

Four power-play goals got the job done - and then some.

Six tallies in total were more than enough for the Nashville Predators on Sunday night to earn a 6-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche at Bridgestone Arena. The result gets the Preds back in the win column to finish off their weekend back-to-back set - and they did so in convincing fashion. 

Ryan O’Reilly recorded four points on the night - including two of Nashville's markers on the man advantage. Steven Stamkos also tallied twice, while Filip Forsberg and Jack Drury rounded out the scoring to give the Preds their most complete effort of the season - and against one of the League’s top teams. 

“I'd say that was by far the best effort of the season,” Stamkos said. “I think we talked about searching for that type of effort - 60 minutes from [Justus Annunen] on out, penalty kill, power play, 5-on-5; that’s the way we want to play, so that's the standard. It's not going to be that way every single night. We understand that, but we’ve got to get close to that if we want to put some consecutive good efforts together.”

“We've done it in little stretches this year, but not for a full game,” Drury said of the effort. “And tonight, that was what we did. It's a really good hockey team over there, well-coached, some of the best players in the world. And if we can do it against them, there's no reason we can't do it against anybody in the League.”

Forsberg needed just four minutes into the contest to wrist one past Scott Wedgewood on the power play for a 1-0 Nashville lead, and after Cale Makar appeared to have cleared a Stamkos chance off the goal line, further review determined No. 91 had actually given the Preds their second goal of the opening period.

Nashville then added three more tallies in the second stanza - one off the stick of Drury against his former team - and a pair from O’Reilly on the power play on both occasions for a 5-0 lead. 

“The power play has been pretty good all season long in terms of percentage,” Stamkos said. “Tonight we had some good looks and we buried, and that's what the guys on the ice can do. That's what we're supposed to do when you get those chances… The guys took advantage of it tonight for sure.”

Colorado got on the board before the second stanza was out, and they added another early in the third, but Stamkos ensured there would be no miraculous comeback for the visitors when he potted his second of the night and Nashville's fourth power-play goal to finish the scoring. 

“We had 20 drivers tonight,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “Every time it was their turn to grab the wheel, they floored it. I think it sets up a little bit of what my expectations of this group were - kind of the standard we're trying to set here a little bit. We know we can't get to it every night, but we know we can do it, and we need to bring in a little bit more each night. Tonight was a great example of that.”

He had plenty of goal support, but Annunen made 19 saves in net against his former club, and Nashville’s penalty kill was perfect once again going 4-for-4 in the win. 

“I think just how hard our team can play when everyone's kind of playing the right way and on the same page,” Drury said of what impressed him most. “I think we stuck to our systems well, and then some individuals came up with some big plays and big moments, especially with special teams and goaltending, and that's a good recipe to win games.”

The Predators were rather certain they were capable of putting together a 60-minute effort like this - and they had shown it in spurts this season - but Sunday night brought a different level. 

And now? They intend on following it up as their homestand continues this week. 

“It sets the standard of what our team can do when we play the correct way,” Stamkos said. “We played together, and all aspects of the game were firing tonight again. It's tough to produce that every single night, but we understand what can happen when we do. You beat a really good team over there on the second half of a back-to-back that we traveled and they were here waiting for us. So, it was certainly a good win for us.”

“Tonight, we put it together,” Brunette said. “Now, that has to be…the standard that we can do it. I think we proved to ourselves that we can do it tonight. Now, we have to build off of it and bring it again Tuesday.”

Notes: 

Defenseman Daemon Hunt made his Preds debut on Sunday night after Nashville claimed him on waivers from Minnesota on Saturday. Hunt recorded two shots and one hit in 9:34 of ice time.

Forwards Vitali Pinchuk and Reid Schaefer, as well as defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin, were scratched against the Avalanche. 

Prior to Sunday’s game, the Predators assigned defenseman Jack Ahcan to Milwaukee after he cleared waivers.

Per NHL Stats, Roman Josi recorded his 119th career multi-assist game and surpassed Sergei Zubov (118 GP) for the fifth most by a defenseman born outside North America. He trails Nicklas Lidstrom (176 GP), Erik Karlsson (153 GP), Borje Salming (123 GP) and Victor Hedman (120 GP). 

Josi, Ryan O'Reilly and Filip Forsberg all joined teammate Steven Stamkos by reaching the 10-point mark on the season. The 2026-27 campaign marks the second time in franchise history that four players have reached a double-digit point total in Nashville’s first 11 games of a season. The other was 2019-20.

The Predators scored four power-play goals against the Avalanche, tied for their third most in a game in franchise history and most since Jan. 7, 2012.

Nashville’s five-game homestand will continue on Tuesday night when they host the New York Islanders before Washington, Tampa Bay and Carolina all come to town over the next week-plus.