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Win No. 1 for the Nashville Predators came 9,590 days ago. They’ve added 999 since then.

Steven Stamkos tallied twice as Nashville defeated the Vegas Golden Knights by a 5-3 final on Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena to give the Predators their 1,000th regular-season win in franchise history.

Filip Forsberg, Justin Barron and Ryan O’Reilly also tallied for Nashville, and Jonathan Marchessault added an assist as he faced his former club for the first time in a satisfying, milestone victory.

“It was definitely a special game for me,” Marchessault said. “It was weird to see everybody on the other side. Those are all guys that I really love, and we have a special bond with the whole organization there. But, just to see everybody perform and the next-man-in mentality, [it was] just really a good overall game, honestly..”

“It was great,” Stamkos said of the win. “I thought the details of our game were on. I thought it was an extension of most of last game too, against a really good opponent. And this time, the pucks went in the net early and gave us some confidence and life. We knew they were going to push. Obviously, they probably didn't play their best, but we weathered it, and Big Juice [Justus Annunen] was good at the end when he needed to be, and it's a good win for our group.”

Just as they did on Saturday night, the Preds dominated play in the early going, but on this occasion, they had something to show for it. Stamkos got Nashville’s first of the evening when he slid a loose puck past a sprawling Ilya Samsonov, and then Forsberg struck less than three minutes later for his 299th career tally right off an offensive-zone faceoff.

Nashville extended its 2-0 lead in the middle frame when Barron blasted home his first as a member of the Preds, and then Stamkos got his second of the night just after a power play had expired to give the home club a 4-0 advantage.

Before the second stanza was out, Vegas got on the board with a pair of goals from Pavel Dorofeyev, and he added one more for the hat trick in the third, but that was as close as Vegas came. Annunen shut down the Knights the rest of the way, and O’Reilly iced things into the empty net with less than two seconds remaining to beat the top team in the West.

“The first 35 minutes, I thought they were really good,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of his team. “Obviously we are where we're at. We gave up that one goal that was self-inflicted on a nothing play, and can feel the air kind of give out a little bit. We had a big kill at the end of the second period, and they're a really good team… We haven't won a lot this year. We haven't closed a lot of games, so it's a good experience for us to go through and get out of it.”

For Stamkos and Marchessault, who both signed with the Preds during the summer, they’ve only been here for a handful of the 1,000 victories - but it hasn’t taken long to realize what this organization and this sport mean in Nashville.

“[This team has had] a lot of success in the past,” Marchessault said. “It's one of the best places to play in the League, and it's been for a lot of years. So, we definitely feel privileged to be in the organization. And yeah, just happy to be part of that [milestone].”

“Anytime you can be part of something cool like that, it's special and, and I know this franchise and the fan base, they come out and support us through thick and thin,” Stamkos said. “Obviously, I just got here, but the fan base has been good, and in a year that hasn't been great. So if anything, it was nice…to get that in front of them. They deserve that, for sure.”

And then there’s Brunette, who scored the first goal in the first win in club history way back in 1998 - and who was behind the bench for No. 1,000.

“It’s really amazing, actually, to be part of two different big events in different ways,” Brunette said. “I’ve been really grateful for my career to be able to do some certain things, and that definitely is one. You go through this hockey life that I've gone through, and you sometimes look back…every day this year, you're looking forward, but to be part of that is really special, and I think I'm very grateful for having that opportunity, and the people that let me have that opportunity. So, it couldn't have come at a better time with what's going on tomorrow, with David [Poile] and Pekka [Rinne] and Shea [Weber being inducted into the Preds Golden Hall]. I know there's a lot of alumni in the building, and I hope everybody feels a little better about the Nashville Predators tonight when we go home.”

Notes:

Nashville’s lineup remained unchanged on Tuesday night from the previous outing with forward Kieffer Bellows serving as the lone healthy scratch for the Preds.

Per NHL Stats, Nashville won its 1,000th game in franchise history and became the 27th franchise to reach the milestone. The Predators (2,020 GP) became the second-fastest franchise to reach the milestone behind the Flyers (2,018 GP).

Steven Stamkos registered his 99th career multi-goal game. Stamkos can become the 26th player in NHL history to record 100 multi-goal games and would join Alex Ovechkin (177) and Sidney Crosby (103) as the only active players to achieve the feat.

Nashville’s five-game homestand continues on Thursday night when the Chicago Blackhawks come to town - and the Predators honor David Poile, Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne as the inaugural class of the Preds Golden Hall with a special ceremonial puck drop.