The Nashville Predators will aim to extend their win streak to six games when they host the New Jersey Devils tonight for a 7 p.m. CT puck drop at Bridgestone Arena. This evening’s contest is the second and final meeting between the two clubs this season after the Preds fell in Newark in January.
Since that time, the Predators have collected plenty of points, and they continue to occupy the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference with 34 wins and 77 points overall. Tuesday’s victory over San Jose put Nashville seven points ahead of the Sharks, and now, they’ll look to add to that total once more.
“It's huge,” Preds defenseman Brady Skjei said Tuesday of beating the Sharks. “We know that we're playing them three times coming down the stretch, and they're right behind us in the standings. I mean, every game from here on out, it's going to be a playoff type game for us, and the points are so important. We know where each other are in the standings, and we really wanted to have a good first, and clearly, we definitely did.”
Nashville’s lineup remained unchanged in Tuesday’s win with Ozzy Wiesblatt and Justin Barron serving as healthy scratches against the Sharks. The Predators did not practice on Wednesday.
The Good Guys:
The Predators scored five goals in the first period of a game for just the second time in franchise history as they defeated San Jose by a 6-3 final. Filip Forsberg, Matthew Wood, Roman Josi, Luke Evangelista, Skjei and Steven Stamkos all tallied for Nashville, and Juuse Saros earned the win in net.
Ryan O’Reilly (24g-42a) has the team lead with 66 points, just one point ahead of Forsberg who now has 33 goals to his credit. Stamkos has 35 goals for the eighth time in his career and has 57 points on the season. Evangelista has 39 assists and 49 points, while Roman Josi has 12 goals and 48 points from the backend. Saros is now 26-19-7 in net; Justus Annunen is 8-9-2.
The Opposition:
The Devils have won four of their last five games, including a 6-4 victory in Dallas on Tuesday night. Jack Hughes, who scored the gold-medal winning goal for Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics, has 20 goals and co-leads the Devils with 57 points, along with Jesper Bratt (18g-39a) who has 57 points as well. Nico Hischier has 24 goals and 53 points on the season. Jacob Markstrom is 21-16-1 in net for New Jersey; Jake Allen is 14-16-1.
All-Time Meetings:
The Preds are 21-12-(0)-7 all-time against the Devils, including an 8-7-(0)-5 mark at home. Nashville is 6-3-1 in the last 10 meetings versus New Jersey and 3-2-0 in the last five at Bridgestone Arena.
Nashville posted a 14-game point streak against New Jersey from Oct. 13, 2015-Jan. 26, 2023, going 11-0-3.
Nashville Notables:
Nashville scored five goals in a single period for just the 10th time in franchise history on Tuesday night and five in the first period for only the second time (Feb. 28, 2009 vs. Detroit).
Steven Stamkos scored his 35th goal of the season on the power play; it is the fourth time in Predators history a player has scored at least 35 goals in a campaign.
Nashville’s penalty kill on home ice is fourth-best in the League at 82.9 percent, and the team has scored a power-play goal in 19 of its last 27 games.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for this evening’s contest begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley and Hal Gill. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic, analyst Chris Mason and rinkside reporter Kara Hammer will have the call on the television side.
Voice of the Predators Pete Weber and Jay More will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network, with pregame, postgame and intermission coverage by Max Herz beginning one hour before puck drop. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM. (El partido también se transmite en español por El Jefe en 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM y 810 AM.)
