Game Recap: Wild 3 Predators 1

Blake Coleman scored the game-winning goal in his Minnesota Wild debut, a 3-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Thursday.

It was the season opener for each team.

Kirill Kaprizov and Nick Foligno also scored, and Jesper Wallstedt made 19 saves for the Wild.  

"When they come under pressure, you want to have the poise under pressure," Minnesota coach John Hynes said. "I thought we did a good job. There's always going to be momentum swings in the game. That's another component of when a team comes to press. I thought we managed the puck well."

Roman Josi scored to open his 16th season with the Predators, passing David Legwand (15) for the most in franchise history. Juuse Saros made 27 saves.

"I thought we came out really good," Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. "Then, we got into some penalty trouble. ... They're calls that are going to happen if you're reckless with your stick. A little bit of the summer recklessness got us there a little bit and took the momentum from us."

Foligno put Minnesota ahead 1-0 at 9:35 of the first period. A rebound off a shot from Michael McCarron was slowed by diving Nashville forward Matthew Wood to the high slot, where Foligno collected it for a wrist shot glove-side.

Coleman made it 2-0 on a power play at 13:48, taking a pass from Bobby Brink and going backhand-forehand over Saros' right pad from in tight.

Coleman had been acquired from the Calgary Flames along with defenseman Olli Maatta for three NHL draft picks and defenseman Jake Middleton on July 2.

"It's nice to see new guys come in and, I think, get their footing right away and help the team win a game," Hynes said.

Yakov Trenin appeared to extend the lead to 3-0 with a shot in off the left post at 15:05, but the goal was overturned after the Predators successfully challenged that Ryan Hartman interfered with Saros.  

"It was a lot of sloppy, sloppy puck play from our side," Nashville forward Filip Forsberg said. "Obviously, they got those two goals pretty early and then it was a little bit uphill from there."

Josi cut the deficit to 2-1 at 9:23 of the second period. Forsberg sent the puck into the right face-off circle, where Josi one-timed it from a sharp angle off Wallstedt's glove just three seconds after a power play expired.

"We'll look at some things tomorrow, work on some things we can do better," Josi said. "We've got to wash this tomorrow after we look at it and focus on Saturday (against the Dallas Stars). ... I don't think it was a lack of urgency. I think we made some mistakes that we have to get out of our game, but I thought the urgency was there."

Coleman had a chance to score again after taking a pass from Matt Boldy on a 2-on-0, but was denied by a pad save from Saros at 11:33.

Kaprizov pushed the lead to 3-1 at 4:42 of the third period by tipping a point shot from Quinn Hughes.  

"I thought, overall, it was a pretty solid game for us," Hynes said. "Nashville made the push and scored right at the end of that power play. I thought we managed the game well in the second period and then I really liked our third period."

NOTES: With an assist on Josi's goal, Forsberg has at least one point in each of his past 11 season openers (15 points; five goals, 10 assists), tying Vincent Lecavalier (11 games from 2002-03 to 2013-14) and Viktor Kozlov (11 games from 1997-98 to 2008-09) for the longest streak in NHL history. ... Kaprizov has at least one point in each of his seven season openers since entering the NHL in 2020-21 (11 points; two goals, nine assists). ... Defenseman Jonas Brodin tied Mikko Koivu (15) for the second-most seasons played for the Wild behind defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who extended his record to 17 seasons. ... Hughes had his 10th assist in a season-opening game to tie John Carlson and Mark Howe for the fifth-most by a United States-born defenseman in NHL history, behind Gary Suter (16), Ryan Suter (12), Phil Housley (11) and Justin Faulk (11).