The penultimate game - and the final home contest - before the Olympic break has arrived for the Nashville Predators, and they’ll host the Minnesota Wild tonight for a 7 p.m. CT puck drop at Bridgestone Arena. This evening’s contest, which is also Luke Bryan bobblehead night, is the third of four meetings between the division rivals; the Preds defeated the Wild in overtime on Dec. 23.
After dropping a pair of games in overtime, the Predators have come back to win their last two outings, including just the second four-goal comeback in franchise history with a 6-5 victory over St. Louis on Monday night. Now, with just two games to go before a three-week hiatus, the Preds are intent on winning the week once more.
“If we can win this week, I like where we're at,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said Monday night. “I like where our game is. I like the belief in our group. I love that we've been battle tested and we've been resilient, and we know what hard is, and we've overcome hard a lot of different times. That’ll be really crucial down the stretch. But again, we need stuff out of this week here to get ourselves into that feeling going into the stretch drive.”
Monday’s triumph followed an emotional start to the day with Predators General Manager Barry Trotz announcing his plans to retire with the search for a new GM now underway. Trotz will remain in his role as GM until a successor is found.
The Predators did not practice on Tuesday. Defenseman Andreas Englund was reassigned to Milwaukee (AHL) on Tuesday afternoon.
The Good Guys:
Steven Stamkos and Ryan O’Reilly each tallied twice, and Roman Josi recorded four assists in Monday’s 6-5 victory as the Preds scored five unanswered goals after being down 5-1 early in the second period. Justus Annunen stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief to earn the win.
O’Reilly hit the 20-goal mark on Monday, and he continues to lead the team with 53 points. Filip Forsberg has 23 goals and 45 points, while Stamkos has 27 goals and 41 points. Luke Evangelista, who added three more helpers on Monday night, has 34 assists and 41 points as well. Josi has 10 goals and 37 points from the back end. Juuse Saros is 21-17-4 in net; Annunen is 5-6-2.
The Opposition:
Minnesota has won four in a row, including a 4-3 overtime decision against Montreal on Monday. Kirill Kaprizov leads the Wild with 32 goals and 69 points, followed by Matt Boldy with 29 goals and 58 points. Defenseman Quinn Hughes has 50 assists and 55 points this season with Vancouver and Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson is 19-9-6 in net; Jesper Wallstedt is 14-5-4.
All-Time Meetings:
The Preds are 48-29-(5)-12 all-time against the Wild, including a 29-10-(2)-5 mark at home. Nashville is 5-2-3 in the last 10 meetings vs. Minnesota and 4-1-0 in the last five at Bridgestone Arena.
Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette played six seasons for the Wild from 2001-04 and 2008-11, posting 321 points (119g-202a) in 489 games. He also previously served as an assistant coach (2014-16); special assistant to the GM (2016-17); assistant general manager (2017-18); and director of player personnel (2018-19) for Minnesota.
Assistant Coach Darby Hendrickson played parts of four seasons for the Wild from 2000-04 and served as an assistant for Minnesota from 2010-24.
Wild Head Coach John Hynes served in the same role for the Predators from 2019-23, while Minnesota forwards Ryan Hartman (2018-19), Vinnie Hinostroza (2024-25) and Yakov Trenin (2019-24) previously played for Nashville.
Nashville Notables:
The Predators enter Wednesday’s game with a 20-11-2 record (42 points) in their last 33 games dating back to Nov. 26. In that span, Nashville’s 20 wins are tied for the second-most (Colorado) in the Western Conference, trailing only Minnesota (21).
Steven Stamkos scored his 608th and 609th career goals on Monday and surpassed Dino Ciccarelli (608) for 20th on the NHL’s all-time list. Stamkos became the 11th player in NHL history to score 100 career game-winning goals.
Roman Josi recorded his fourth career four-assist game, which matched the most by an active defenseman (Victor Hedman, Morgan Rielly and Quinn Hughes).
Milestone Watch:
Michael Bunting is one game from 400 in his NHL career.
Jonathan Marchessault is three assists from 300 in his NHL career.
Brady Skjei is three points from 300 in his NHL career.
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.)
