Preds Top 20, No. 16: Nashville's 900th Franchise Win

The Nashville Predators 2022-23 season has officially come to an end, and what a season it has been. From momentous firsts to bittersweet farewells, this year was full of memorable moments both on and off the ice.

We've already taken a look back at the Top 10 goals scored by the Predators this season. Now, we're counting down the Top 20 moments and milestones that highlighted a special season of hockey in SMASHVILLE.

We'll take our trip down memory lane in chronological order, so let's head back to late October as we continue our countdown at No. 16.

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Predators captain Roman Josi summed it up best following Nashville's 6-2 rout of the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 27 at Bridgestone Arena:

"We definitely needed that one."

The 900th win in franchise history could not have come at a more auspicious time for the Predators, who were winless in North America since returning from the 2022 NHL Global Series. After starting the season with a perfect 2-0-0 record against the San Jose Sharks in Prague, the Preds fell into a five-game skid that was finally snapped with their decisive victory over St. Louis.

Josi (1g-2a), Matt Duchene (3a) and Filip Forsberg (3a) all had three-point nights as part of a complete team effort that saw 10 different Preds players find the scoresheet. Michael McCarron, Zach Sanford and Mikael Granlund joined Josi as players who found the back of the net for the first time in 2022-23.

The Preds played a strong game in front of the net, with three of their six goals coming directly off the rebound.

"Tonight we came out really hard and tried to play physical, play in the dirty areas," McCarron, who tallied his first goal of the season in the second period. "We got a lot of goals around the net tonight, greasy goals, and those are the kind of goals that are going to get you out of a slump."

Josi's goal came on the power play, spoiling St. Louis' perfect 12-for-12 record on the penalty kill to begin the season. Sanford scored the game-winning goal against his former team on a wraparound that deflected off the skate of St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug. Sanford played four seasons with the Blues, helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2019.

"It's always fun playing these types of games," he said. "It's always fun scoring, but when you can do it against those guys, it's a little bit better."

Juuse Saros made 33 saves on 35 shots for Nashville to earn his second win of the season between the pipes.

"We came in and certainly prepared ourselves to play the way that we needed to play and to be able to come out and get rewarded," Head Coach John Hynes said following the win. "A lot of good things tonight. It was nice to see [Saros] back to be able to play the level that he can play at. It's nice that the power play got off and got on the board. I thought our penalty kill came up with some key saves… I think when you work the way that we worked, then you get rewarded. We talked a lot about getting more to the inside, getting to the net front. We got some goals in that area of the ice tonight. So I think tonight was a good recipe basically to reinforce the things that we certainly need to do and what allows us to be a good team."

Worth a click:

No. 20: Cody Glass Makes the Team
No. 19: Roman Josi's Homecoming
No. 18: Perfect in Prague
No. 17: Return of the Mustard Cat