The NHL’s top team was no match for Ryan O’Reilly and the Nashville Predators on Friday night.
The veteran centerman recorded his seventh career hat trick, and Juuse Saros made 39 saves in net to lead the Preds past the Colorado Avalanche in a 7-3 final at Ball Arena. The result gives the Preds a pair of victories to conclude their four-game season series with the Avs and hand Colorado their first home regulation loss of the campaign.
Michael Bunting, Filip Forsberg, Steven Stamkos and Michael McCarron also tallied on the night as the Preds produced a statement win to start their two-game trip.
“Obviously a great win for us,” O’Reilly said. “I thought everyone competed, everyone played hard tonight. At times, they had their momentum, and ‘Juice’ came up with some huge saves for us. But to give that team their first regulation loss here is something to be proud of. We can compete and play with any team, beat any team this League when we're all working together. So, it was good to see. I thought everyone made an impact tonight and found a way to get it done.”
“I thought we had a really good start, and there were up and down moments in that first half of the game, but I thought our guys came out and played a real solid team effort in the third period,” Preds Associate Head Coach Luke Richardson said on behalf of Head Coach Andrew Brunette, who was dealing with shingles during Friday’s game. “We wanted to show not just ourselves, but everybody else in the hockey world, where our team has come from the beginning of the year, and it's a long way. I thought a lot of maturity and leadership got us through that game tonight.”
O’Reilly needed only 30 seconds into the contest to take a feed from Forsberg and roof a backhand shot past Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood for a 1-0 lead. The Avalanche answered less than a minute later, but O’Reilly soon added his second of the night when his centering feed banked off the stick of Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard to get the lead back for Nashville.
Brock Nelson potted his second of the evening for the Avalanche before the opening period was out, but in the second stanza, O’Reilly completed the hat trick when he tipped a Luke Evangelista shot into the twine for a 3-2 advantage.
“It's awesome,” Forsberg said of O’Reilly’s effort. “He does everything. He’s first out the door on the penalty kill, he's taking all the big faceoffs and clearly producing as well. He leads the team in points, and then a big game for him against his old team is fun to watch.”
Bunting padded that lead when he deposited a beautiful saucer pass from Stamkos top shelf to give the Preds a 4-2 lead through 40 minutes.
Colorado got back to within one early in the third, but that was as close as the home team got. Forsberg sniped a shot on the power play late in the period to give Nashville their fifth of the night before Stamkos and McCarron added empty-netters to make sure there was no doubt.
And although Nashville potted seven in the win, they very much appreciated the 39-save effort from their netminder.
“Especaily in that middle part of that second period, they're kind of taking it to us a little bit on the power play, and he stepped up with some massive saves,” Forsberg said of Saros. “And that's why he’s one of the best, if not the best, in that way.”
The next test will come in quick order when the Preds travel to Vegas to face the Golden Knights on Saturday night, but on the heels of Friday’s win in the Mile High City to leave them just one point out of a Wild Card spot, the belief in the Nashville locker room has never been higher - and rightfully so.
“I think it should give us that belief,” O’Reilly said of the win. “When we're all pulling the rope together, five guys on the ice are working, communicating, we can compete with anyone. And tonight, that was a great team we beat… We’ve got a tough one tomorrow that we have to kind of shift the focus. But, I know for the group, you can kind of tell it's a confidence building win there. That’s something we can lean on.”
“Right from our goaltending out, it's just been superb,” Richardson said. “And I think we have trust in each other, right from the back all the way to the front right now, and our special teams are starting to really kick in, and that was very noticeable tonight as well. I'm just proud of what this group of guys have done, and they believed in themselves, and they've really taken to heart what the coaches have tried to implement… This is the best game plan for them, and they're really going out and executing it every night. So, it's fun to watch.”
Notes:
Prior to Saturday’s game, the Preds recalled defenseman Andreas Englund from Milwaukee (AHL), but the defender did not dress against Colorado. Defenseman Adam Wilsby (lower-body, day-to-day) did not play on Friday, but blueliner Nic Hague returned to the Nashville lineup after missing Tuesday’s game due to illness.
Per NHL PR, Ryan O'Reilly became the fourth different Predators player to score a hat trick at age 34 or older, following Steven Stamkos (Dec. 11, 2025 & March 8, 2025), Steve Sullivan (Dec. 14, 2009) and Jason Arnott (Feb. 28, 2009).
The Predators (Ryan O’Reilly & Steven Stamkos) became the fifth team in the past 10 years to have multiple players age 34+ score a hat trick in the same season. They joined the 2021-22 Capitals (Alex Ovechkin & T.J. Oshie), 2021-22 Penguins (Evgeni Malkin & Sidney Crosby), 2018-19 Sharks (Joe Pavelski & Joe Thornton) and 2015-16 Canucks (Daniel Sedin & Radim Vrbata).
The Predators will conclude their back-to-back trip Saturday night in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights before returning to Nashville for a three-game homestand next week.
