Stamkos, Preds Prevail Over Lightning in Halloween Shootout

How’s that for a Halloween thriller? 

Steven Stamkos tied the game before winning it in the shootout against his former team as the Nashville Predators defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning by a 5-4 final on Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena. The result gets the Preds back in the win column and gives them their first victory past regulation in six tries this season. 

Reid Schaefer, Adam Edstrom and Jayden Struble also scored in regulation, and Justus Annunen was a perfect 4-for-4 in his first-career shootout on a day that saw the Preds go punch for punch with one of the League’s top teams. 

“It just took what, [Annunen] 83 starts to get into a shootout?” Stamkos laughed. “We had some big saves. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but I thought it was pretty solid. Some of their goals are correctable on our end, but it was a team effort tonight. Special teams played a big part. We got a big power-play goal at the end, a huge kill at the end of the game, all game, really. Sometimes that's the difference. Certainly nice to be on the winning end of a shootout so far this year. It's a great win for us.”

“I thought we played a really good hockey game,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I mean, we had 20 drivers. Everybody took their turn at the wheel and floored it. A couple mistakes that are correctable that we have to get out of it…but I thought we were the better team for the 60 minutes, and I'm glad it ended up being 65, and then the shootout, I'm glad we got on the right end of it.”

Schaefer got the scoring started when he kept it himself on a 2-on-1 and snapped a shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy for his first of the season and a 1-0 lead.

“It's a sigh of relief,” Schaefer said of his goal. “I've been waiting to kind of hear my name called [after being scratched], and I was just making sure I was ready and fortunate I scored tonight.”

The Lightning evened the score before the opening period was out, and they took the lead just 18 seconds into the middle frame. But just 27 seconds later, Edstrom went top corner for his fifth of the campaign to even the score at 2-2. 

“It speaks volumes that we're able to come back multiple times in a game like that,” Edstrom said. “They're a good mix of players that want to play a little flowy hockey and then have some heavier guys, too. We stood up good for ourselves, and two points speaks for that.”

Tampa Bay regained the lead just minutes later once more, but before the period was out, Struble went short side for his second as a member of the Preds and a 3-3 tie through 40 minutes. 

After the Lightning took the lead for the final time, it was Stamkos who converted on a power play by getting his own rebound to beat Vasilevskiy and force overtime. After the extra session solved nothing, it was Stamkos again who scored on his former teammate to give the Predators a much-desired extra point to finish off the day.

“The shootout goal, I kind of whispered to him because I know he knows [Vasilevskiy],” Brunette said of Stamkos. “I said, ‘Do you want it?’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I got it.’ That tells you all you need to know about him.”

“It’s the third year now, so it's becoming a little more normal,” Stamkos said of playing the Lightning. “It’s a big win for our group. We're fighting for our lives here and in the mix of things early on in the season. So, regardless of the opponent, it's just great to get a win.”

The fact Nashville responded every time Tampa Bay took the lead wasn’t surprising - the Preds have done that time and time again in recent seasons - but the refusal to relent remains indicative of the closeness of the group, and it was on full display on Saturday.

“They’re gritty and they're resilient,” Brunette said of his team. “We don't give in. We don't give up. We keep fighting. If it's within a game, within momentum, within a season, we keep coming at you, and that's probably the strength of our group is that resilience and that kind of culture that's built here, and that starts with the leaders. I mean, they're who they are for a reason, and it was an illustration tonight.”

The Predators will conclude their season-long, five-game homestand on Tuesday against the defending Stanley Cup champions, and things won’t get any easier as a result. But to get on the right side of a game that has gone against them so often in the early going was a refreshing change, and it might just start a new streak in Nashville. 

“It's been tough this year with the shootouts and overtime, not getting that extra point," Stamkos said. “We've been in a ton of games where we're getting points. You start getting the odd one, it starts to accumulate. That was a big win for our group.”

Notes: 

The Preds went back to 12 forwards and six defensemen on Saturday with Nic Hague, Ilya Lyubushkin and Vitali Pinchuk serving as healthy scratches. 

Per NHL Stats, Steven Stamkos scored his 246th career power-play goal to tie Phil Esposito for sixth on the NHL’s all-time list.  

Filip Forsberg has recorded multiple points for a fourth consecutive game. The only other players with a multi-point streak of four games this season: Connor McDavid (4 GP twice), Leon Draisaitl (4 GP) and Jason Robertson (4 GP).

The Predators scored three game-tying goals in a game for the first time since a 4-3 win at Utah on Dec. 29, 2025.

Nashville’s five-game homestand will conclude on Tuesday night when the Preds host the Carolina Hurricanes at Bridgestone Arena.