Martin, Kemell Lead Preds Prospects to Victory Over Lightning 

Brady Martin converted on a penalty shot and added an assist to lead the Nashville Predators prospects past the Tampa Bay Lightning by a 3-2 final on Friday evening to begin the 2025 NHL Prospect Tournament.

Joakim Kemell tallied on the man advantage for the Preds, and defenseman Andrew Gibson scored what proved to be the game-winner to give Nashville a victory in their first outing of the tournament.

“The guys are all excited, and it's a little ratty early on for either team, but I thought the guys played well,” Milwaukee Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor said of the Preds prospects. “We scored a nice power-play goal. [Kemell] can really rip it. You saw what he can do. I thought a lot of guys played well, and you can see some of the younger guys were a little nervous in the first but then settled in. The nice part was, as the game went on, we started sticking together a little better, just supporting each other and cheering and activating on the bench. So, there's some good signs.”

“A little rough start there for the first 10 minutes - they're kind of all over us,” Gibson said. “The boys are just trying to get settled in, coming from the summer. It's tough to jump into a game after a summer [of not playing a real game], but it's good to get the win, and the guys are happy. We brought it together at the end and had a really good second and third.”

After the Lightning struck first in the opening period, Martin found Kemell at the top of the right circle on a power-play opportunity, and the Finnish winger snapped a beautiful shot top shelf to even the score at 1-1.

“Kemmy is ready for that next opportunity,” Taylor said of Kemell. “Whatever that means, right? Whether that's an elite player in the American League or it's a player in the National Hockey League, he's been with us for a while. He's trying to show that he's ready for that next opportunity. He's a very young player, still - we always forget that with him - but that shot, I thought he competed really hard today. I thought he showed some good leadership, physicality, killing penalties. I thought he was one of our better forwards, and he should be. It's his third year here, and it's his time to shine.”

In the middle frame, Martin was impeded on a breakaway and awarded a penalty shot, and the fifth overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft went wide to the right before cutting back to the slot and neatly placing a shot to the low blocker side to give Nashville a 2-1 advantage through 40 minutes.

“I didn't know what I was going to do,” Martin said of his shot. “I was kind of just coming in, and I was going to deke, but then the ice was kind of bad, so I was like, I'll just shoot it. And kind of just eyeballed it, I guess.”

Martin and Kemell played on Nashville’s top line along with Reid Schaefer, and the two goal scorers seemed to show some early chemistry, whether at even strength or on the power play.

“Two guys with great shots, great hockey sense,” Gibson said of Martin and Kemell. “It's pretty gross seeing them together, obviously, Kemmy being older and Marty being younger. You know, Marty's probably following a bit in his footsteps, and he's going to look up to him. So, it's good to have them on the line together.”

In the case of Martin, the highly touted centerman settled in nicely - much like the rest of his teammates - and certainly made an impact in his first game since Nashville called his name in the Draft last June.

“He played really well,” Taylor said of Martin. “He's a young kid, it’s his first time [playing for the Preds], and obviously he's a high pick, and then there's a lot of pressure with that. But I thought he settled in, played well. He's competitive… I thought Brady played very well for his first kind of pro type of camp. He definitely looked like a guy that might have played in Milwaukee already with some maturity… I thought Brady was right there as well, so it looked like he's got some maturity to his game.”

Tampa Bay tied the score midway through the final frame, but with less than seven minutes to play in regulation, Gibson’s shot from the right point found a way through traffic and into the twine to give the Preds their final lead of the night.

From there, Nashville killed off a penalty and held off a late push from the Lightning to collect the win and start off the tournament just how they’d hoped.

“They had some looks late, and it was a little hairy there, but I thought we did a good job,” Taylor said. “The guys really want to win. When you're in these scenarios, you want to do well. The guys bond together. They've been together for a while through drafts and development camps and the rest of it. So, it's a fun place to coach, and there's not a lot of pressure to it. We just want to enjoy and make sure everybody gets an opportunity.”

Notes:

Joakim Kemell, Reid Schaefer, Ryder Rolston and Jack Matier all served as alternate captains for the Preds prospects on Friday.

Goaltender Ethan Haider started in net for Nashville before Jakub Milota took over just over halfway through the contest, and both netminders only surrendered one goal apiece in the win.

The second of three games for the Preds prospects comes Saturday afternoon when they face the Carolina Hurricanes at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed live on NashvillePredators.com, and stay tuned to @PredsNHL on social and @brooksbratten on X for the latest updates all weekend long.