Preds Extend Win Streak to Seven With Shootout Victory Over Vegas

Juuse Saros kept them in it, and Roman Josi finished it off. 

Ryan O’Reilly tallied twice, and the Nashville Predators came back to beat the Vegas Golden Knights by a 3-2 final in a shootout on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena. The result sees the Preds extend their win streak to seven games on a night where their goaltender stole the show. 

Saros made 40 saves, and after O’Reilly found the back of the net twice in regulation - including the game-tying goal with 10 minutes to play - Filip Forsberg and Josi scored in the shootout to give the Preds a hard-earned extra point. 

“It's obviously impressive we found a way to get it done,” O’Reilly said. “‘Juice’ was outstanding. That first half of the game they dominated us, but ‘Juice’ kept us in it. He made some huge saves....the amount of shots they had, it was impressive. We hung on...there were chances for us to break, but we kept fighting. Eventually, [we] turned the momentum, and [I] thought we had a great third period. We had some great chances there that we could have taken in regulation. But all in all, we hung on, found a way to win, and that's that's a great one.”

“Our goaltending - I thought it was excellent tonight,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “‘Little Juice’ kept us hanging around. I didn't love our first 25 or 35 minutes of the game. I thought the last 25 [minutes], and maybe through overtime, looked more like us, and he kept us and gave us an opportunity to get a goal and get at least one point.”

The Preds scored the game’s first goal when O’Reilly finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play with Mavrik Bourque and Steven Stamkos, but Vegas evened the score before the first period was out. 

In the second stanza, the Golden Knights took their first lead of the evening with a 4-on-4 goal, but that was the last time they beat Saros. O’Reilly’s second of the night tied the game on a play that saw the centerman walk out from the corner and snap one top shelf on Adin Hill, a play O’Reilly had practiced earlier on Friday at the morning skate. 

“I wanted to work on just some goal line stuff - we're kind of struggling down there, and we probably took 20 reps of just me attacking off the goal line, and we were laughing,” O’Reilly said of the session. “Obviously, [I] find a way to bury one on them there. So, it's nice, but it's one of those things; you put the work in something, and you get rewarded for it.”

Then, after overtime solved nothing, Saros stopped three of four Vegas shooters before Josi ended it to send the Preds out of Sin City with seven straight victories. 

“Going into that third period only down one, you could just feel that we're going to find a way,” O’Reilly said. “It's just the guys, the new experience and the guys that we've added, you can tell just bring that life and confidence with us. We just found a way to come together as a team and stick with it...no one went on their own page or tried to do it themselves. We stuck to it and built it, and it's something that’s impressive to see. But, we’ve got to keep it rolling too. We have to keep that mindset and be cleaner.”

Nashville’s roadtrip will continue on Sunday in San Jose, and while the confidence in the room remains high, they’re far from satisfied. Even so, the Preds keep finding ways to win, and they’d love to collect another victory once more. 

“Fight for the feeling,” Brunette said of how the Preds can keep the streak going. “I think it's such a great feeling - probably the best feeling in the world. We get another road game on Sunday, and just try to maybe capitalize on the week here.”

Notes: 

Nashville’s lineup remained unchanged on Tuesday night with Jonathan Marchessault remaining out with a lower-body injury. Defensemen Nic Hague and Ilya Lyubushkin were scratched. 

Per NHL Stats, Roman Josi (0-1—1) boosted his 2026-27 totals to 2-21—23 and matched Sergei Zubov (3-21—24 in 1995-96) for the second most assists through 20 games in a season by a defenseman born outside North America. Josi is one away from tying Borje Salming (1-22—23 in 1976-77) for the most. 

Josi (2-21—23) became the first Predators player with 21 assists through 20 games in a season and the third with at least 23 points, following Filip Forsberg (11-14—25 in 2023-24) and Steve Sullivan (7-18—25 in 2006-07). 

The Predators recorded their seventh comeback win of the season to extend their winning streak to seven games for the sixth time in franchise history and first since Feb. 17 – March 2, 2024 (8 GP).

The Preds will now head back to California to face the San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening before concluding their five-game trip on Tuesday night in Minnesota.