The Preds got out to a good start in this pivotal Central Division matchup. While the Wild’s Connor Dewar drew first blood, against the flow of play, at 9:51 of the first period, the Preds responded promptly and immediately with a pair of goals eight seconds apart from Yakov Trenin and Cole Smith, putting Nashville up 2-1 less than a minute after Dewar’s goal.
The game slowed down after that, coasting gently into the first intermission with a few back-and-forths, but emerged from intermission having heated up in terms of temper, if not speed. Ryan O’Reilly and Zach Bogosian exchanged hostilities a few minutes in and both took a seat for roughing, then Marcus Johansson took a hooking penalty and the Preds got a power play.
The Wild, and goalie Filip Gustavsson, handled the power play well, and got a chance of their own when Alex Carrier grabbed Mats Zuccarello. Despite some fantastic passing, the Preds and Saros were able to handle it. However, as Carrier emerged from the box, a mass scuffle broke out, which even included Zuccarello taking a swing at Michael McCarron from the bench.
Zuccarello and McCarron were the only ones penalized for that scuffle, but before their penalties had expired Jeremy Lauzon and Jake Middleton dropped the gloves over a hit Lauzon threw, with Middleton and McCarron jeering at each other from their respective boxes. Just as McCarron and Zuccarello emerged from the sin bin, Filip Forsberg slashed Jonas Brodin and headed in.
Again the Preds were able to kill it off, and got another chance of their own when Tommy Novak drew an interference penalty. This time, Nashville made it count, with Forsberg collecting a great pass from Roman Josi to make it 3-1 at 17:55.
Tempers continued to flare higher for the remaining 2:05 of the period, but no further penalties were assessed. 1:32 into the third period, Josi crashed the net and scored on a perfectly-placed shot almost from the goal line itself. Moments later, Carrier took another penalty, and the Preds headed back to the kill.
Between Joel Eriksson Ek jabbing Juuse Saros in the mask with his stick, and an accidental collision between Jonas Brodin and Cole Smith that sent both players flying and left Smith slow to get up, the penalty kill was an eventful two minutes, but ended with no further score by either team.
O’Reilly increased the Preds’ lead at 8:03 when Gustav Nyquist spotted a perfect setup. The Wild counterattacked, and Saros had to make several saves without his stick. Kirill Kaprizov almost had a goal at one end, and Luke Evangelista almost had one on the breakaway at the other, but Kaprizov missed the net and Gustavsson made a great save on Evangelista.
However, Evangelista was able to set Ryan McDonagh up for a goal just a minute or so later, making it 6-1 with 6:03 to go. The crowd rose to their feet, cheering, as the final minute ticked down and time ran out.