The Nashville Predators hosted the Minnesota Wild and new head coach John Hynes, as well as a large and very vocal group of Wild fans in the arena, tonight. The Preds’ win streak came to an end with an inglorious splat.
The Wild got out to an early start, though a Marco Rossi hooking penalty four minutes in slowed them down. Nashville had a couple of vague looks early in the power play, but didn’t really manage to seriously threaten, let alone convert. Instead, as Rossi got out of the box, he helped set up a play that ended with Connor Dewar getting one past Juuse Saros and putting the Wild on the board, 1-0.
Kirill Kaprizov shouldered Alex Carrier in the head, late and blindside, and was inexplicably only called for a two-minute minor for interference. The Preds got another chance on the power play, but again the Wild produced a strong penalty kill and escaped without consequence. The game only got chippier as the period went on, with Carrier missing.
The next goal, at 14:01, was also Minnesota’s, as Jake Middleton scored on a delayed Nashville penalty. While Nashville challenged for offside, and it was very close, the call on the ice stood and the Preds were assessed a delay-of-game penalty. Kaprizov promptly scored on the power play.
Luke Schenn and Marcus Foligno fought late in the period, over a Foligno hit on Schenn, and with the period still not over Roman Josi sent the puck over the glass with 2:07 remaining. Another scuffle broke out as Joel Eriksson Ek got a little too close to Saros, and every player on the ice got involved. Jeremy Lauzon and Dante Fabbro joined Josi in the penalty box, leaving Ryan McDonagh and Tyson Barrie as the only Preds defenders available for the next minute.
They were able to get it done, and the Preds escaped into intermission. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to take that opportunity to reset, and Saros’s night ended at 1:43 of the second when a completely unattended Patrick Maroon tipped a shot past him.
That finally seemed to give the Preds a spark, as Luke Evangelista led the way into the offensive zone and Filip Gustavsson finally had to make a few saves. Phil Tomasino also had some good looks, and for a while it looked as if Nashville might turn the tide. Unfortunately, a turnover at the offensive blueline let Dewar score again to make it 5-0 Wild just over halfway through the game.
The Preds got another power play chance late in the period, as Kaprizov headed back to the penalty box for slashing Kiefer Sherwood. While it looked better than the earlier ones, the Wild still managed to get it killed off. With just a few seconds remaining in the second, Dante Fabbro was called for hooking, and the Preds headed to intermission shorthanded and still down by five.
Nashville killed off the penalty and went on the attack, and at 2:37 Juuso Pärssinen broke Gustavsson’s shutout and got the Preds on the board. However, Nashville wasn’t able to build off of that, and despite making some heroic saves Kevin Lankinen allowed Dewar another goal. While it was reviewed for a kick, the refs decided the goal stood, and Dewar completed his hat trick, making it 6-1 Wild.
Middleton took a penalty halfway through the period, giving the Preds another power play opportunity, but again the Wild killed it off. Tomasino was called for high-sticking, and Dewar appeared to score his fourth of the night on the ensuing power play, but a successful offside review from the Preds called it back. This time, the kill was successful, but it didn’t matter; the clock ran out on the loss.