If the Nashville Predators' identity is not built around elite scoring, the defense has to step up.
Oct 21, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators left wing Filip Forsberg (9) passes the puck against the Anaheim Ducks during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Tuesday night at Bridgestone Arena was supposed to be a homecoming of sorts for the Nashville Predators.
They had just come off a four-game road swwing through Canada, and were about to embark on a five-game homestand, their longest this season. It was also Star Wars Night against the Anaheim Ducks.
The force was not with the Preds Tuesday. After tying the game twice in the ffirst two periods, the team succumbed to a lot of the same issues that plagued them last season and have remained through seven games during this young campaign. Anaheim scored three unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory, dropping Nashville's record to 2-3-2.
Aside from lapses by the defense, turnovers and an anemic power play, another disturbing trend that has carried over from 2024-25 is the inability to score at will to break a game open.
Preds forward Steven Stamkos alluded to this following Tuesday’s morning skate prior to the Ducks game.
“We’re not a team that’s going to go out and score four or five goals every night,” Stamkos said. “I think we can all agree on that, right?”
Right, and therein lies a big reason the Preds are 0-3-1 over their last four games: their inability to take over a game and score at will to put it out of reach or keep up when their opponent does.
The “big guns”, players who are expected to put fear in the hearts of opposing defenses, have been all but silent. Stamkos, who tallied 13 fewer goals in his first season with the Predators than in 2023-24 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, has just one through seven games.
Six skaters are tied for the team lead with two goals: Filip Forsberg, Ryan O’Reilly, Nick Perbix, Michael Bunting, ErikHaula and Jonathan Marchessault, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Captain Roman Josi leads the team with five points (1-4-5).
Luke Evangelista, who signed a two-year, $6 million contract just as training camp ended, has just three points, all coming on assists.
Last season, the Preds finished 31st in the NHL in goals per game average (2.59). Through seven games this season, that figure is even lower (2.43). Ironically, that is the same average they were through seven games in 2024-25.
In analyzing the offense’s continued struggles after the loss to the Ducks, Preds head coach Andrew Brunette acknowledged a lack of execution and slow play.
“We’re a little slow to shoot pucks,” Brunette said. “Our net-front (presence) has just been OK. All the things were just a little bit off.”
While that’s true, the lack of scoring has been a problem for the Predators through 82 games last season and the first seven of 2025-26. That’s enough of a sample size to determine the Preds are not an explosive team, something Stamkos also acknowledged after practice Tuesday.
Caption:
Oct 21, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Anaheim Ducks left wing Alex Killorn (17), defenseman Olen Zellweger (51) and Nashville Predators center Steven Stamkos (91) battle for the puck during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
“We have some pretty good offensive players that want to produce and help our team win,” Stamkos said. “When you’re not helping in that regard, it’s tough… We can’t just open the floodgates and go chance-for-chance and try to win games like that. That’s not the identity of our team.”
If that’s the case, this means the Preds defense has to be consistently elite, something they haven’t been thus far this season. They’re giving up 3.43 goals per game, and while that’s lower than the 3.57 average in their 2-5 start to last season, it’s not nearly good enough to hide the team’s offensive weaknesses.
Juuse Saros has been sharp most of the season, but even he can’t carry this team every night, a fact that has been especially evident the last two games: a 4-1 loss in Winnipeg and Tuesday night's defeat to the Ducks.
General manager Barry Trotz brought in Stamkos and Marchessault prior to 2024-25 to give the Preds scoring punch. Through 89 games of that experiment, those big guns have not been firing consistently.
The Preds do not have a Mikko Rantanen, Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon to take regular command of a game. This means the constant turnovers and defensive lapses must be greatly reduced if they are to keep from remaining at or near the bottom of the Central Division.
“I think everything you go through, good or bad, you take with you,” Forsberg said following Tuesday's game. “There are certain things that we should definitely leave, even tonight, and not take with us. But, we'll get back to work tomorrow and try to tidy some of those things up and (get) back at it on Thursday.”
The fans want that. The players and coaches certainly want it. The question is, can they achieve that objective before it's too late?