Wild even one score against Predators, but another gets out of hand

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jan 18, 2025

Published in Hockey

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Wild settled the score but fumbled the game.

After three fights in 4 1/2 minutes — the first in response to the slew foot that still has captain Jared Spurgeon sidelined — the Wild blew an early lead and got rolled, 6-2, by the Predators on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena for their third straight loss.

Nashville took over after the rough stuff, led by veteran scorer Filip Forsberg (two goals and assist), captain Roman Josi (two assists) and goaltender Juuse Saros (27 saves), as the Predators continue their second-half reclamation under coach and former Wild player Andrew Brunette.

This was Nashville’s first win in three games vs. the Wild, and the lingering bad blood was addressed soon after puck drop.

Spurgeon remains out with the lower-body injury he suffered in the previous meeting after he was slew-footed into the boards on New Year’s Eve by Predators rookie Zachary L’Heureux, who was suspended three games. L’Heureux also answered to the Wild, with Yakov Trenin (a longtime Nashville forward until late last season, when he was traded to Colorado before signing with the Wild in the offseason) fighting L’Heureux just 1:54 into the first period during L’Heureux’s first shift.

Then Marcus Foligno and Luke Schenn dropped the gloves after the next faceoff for their second bout of the season.

During the ensuing truce, the Wild opened the scoring on David Jiricek’s first goal with the team since he was acquired in a Nov. 30 trade from Columbus for four draft picks, including a first-rounder. The defenseman skated into the Predators’ end on a 2-on-1 rush with Matt Boldy and uncorked a blistering shot off the post and in behind Saros at 6:23.

Another fight broke out after the following faceoff, this time between Ryan Hartman and Mark Jankowski, to give both teams more crowded penalty boxes than benches.

But Nashville quickly refocused on the puck instead of punches.

Colton Sissons delivered the equalizer 1:59 after Jiricek’s goal, one-timing in a rebound off Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s stick.

While Brock Faber (in his first game since missing four from getting elbowed) was in the penalty box for roughing — guess who? — L’Heureux after L’Heureux collided with Marco Rossi, Forsberg capitalized on the power play with 2:31 to go in the first when he whiffed on a one-timer but buried the do-over by poking in a loose puck from a Jake Middleton stick block.

Only 54 seconds into the second, Steven Stamkos got loose behind the Wild for an uncontested redirect off Forsberg’s heads-up pass.

The Predators continued to punish the Wild defense, scooping up a turnover and feeding Fedor Svechkov in the slot at 2:07 to move ahead 4-1.

Not until the third period did the Wild retaliate, at 2:28 on the power play when Boldy flung his 18th goal into a mostly empty net since Brady Skjei bumped into Saros and Saros never recovered in time to face the shot. The power play went 1 for 4, although the Wild could have gotten another chance had a high stick against Jiricek been called later in the period. Nashville was 1 for 3.

Forsberg wrapped up his three-point performance with a second goal at 16:20 before Skjei dumped the puck into an empty net with 1:49 left.

Aside from Faber, the Wild also had winger Jakub Lauko back in action after he sat out 15 games with a pesky muscle injury.

But the Wild, who were delayed 5 1/2 hours arriving in Nashville on Friday night because of a mechanical issue with their airplane, were still down another player: Filip Gustavsson wasn’t feeling well and the Wild called up Dylan Ferguson under emergency conditions to back up Fleury, who had 32 saves.

Their road trip concludes Monday afternoon at Colorado.