The Nashville Predators staged some late-game and overtime heroics to pull out a win in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday in Sweden. Can they use it as a spark to get going?
Nov 14, 2025; Stockholm, SWEDEN; Nashville Predators center Steven Stamkos (91) in action in front of Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs (37) in a Global Series ice hockey game at Avicii Arena. Per Haljestam-Imagn Images
If there’s one thing that has eluded the Nashville Predators through the first 19 games of this season, it’s consistency.
A positive sign here, a win there, has ended up turning to false hope. After Friday’s 2-1 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opener of the 2025 NHL Global Series in Stockholm, Sweden, the Preds find themselves languishing in seventh place in the Central Division with a 6-9-4 record.
Steven Stamkos, who notched the golden goal in overtime Friday, addressed the lack of consistency after the game.
“We’ve talked about in the past about maybe letting (the game) slip away and not sticking to it,” Stamkos told reporters. “Obviously, tonight (Friday), we did it right down to the wire… I thought it was the first time in a while that we stuck with it the whole time, and we got rewarded.”
Stamkos has been on a roller-coaster ride himself since coming to Nashville prior to the 2024-25 campaign. The overtime game-winner Friday was only his fourth goal this season. In the Preds’ Nov. 4 overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild, Stamkos tied the game with 0.3 seconds to play in regulation, only to have the Wild score on a controversial goal in overtime for the victory. Until that night, Stamkos had just one other goal for the season.
Such has been the story for the Preds as a whole, but Stamkos believes Friday’s emotional win might be just the spark the club has been waiting for.
“We’re in a position where we need wins,” Stamkos said Friday. “You obviously hope you’re in a better position, but we’ve decided to use this as something that can spark the season… It certainly lightens the mood going into the next game when you get the first one. Now, you just try to be greedy and get both.”
The Predators played a solid game against the Penguins, but have done so numerous other times only to come away with a loss. Moments like Filip Forsberg’s game-tying goal at 18:50 of the third period and Stamkos’s game-winner have been few and far between.
“We had some good chances,” Preds defenseman Brady Skjei said after the game. “We didn’t score like we wanted to, but if we keep playing like that, pucks will find their way in the back of the net.”
Easier said than done, as this season and all of last has shown. After failing to make the playoffs in 2024-25 following the acquisitions of Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Skjei, the Preds find themselves in a similar position on the eve of their final day in Stockholm: near the bottom looking up.
The Preds have had fun and a relaxing time while in Stockholm. Forsberg has flourished in front of fans in his home country and will skate in his 800th career NHL game when he steps on the ice at Avicii Arena for Sunday's contest.
As enjoyable as the week in Stockholm and Friday's win have been, head coach Andrew Brunette knows his team can't afford to get too high or too low.
“What we’ve tried to do with both the good and bad is wipe it and get back to work,” Brunette told reporters on Saturday. “We’re not in a position to take a day off or a night off. We need as many points as we can get right now. It’s a good feeling, now we’ve got to build on that feeling and try and get on a little bit of a run.”
Whether that can happen is the question, the elephant in the room. The Preds have to start somewhere, and they can only live in the present. A sweep in Sweden won’t get them back in the playoff chase, but a loss won’t ultimately end the season.
However, if this team is to make a statement and light that spark Stamkos was referring to, now is the time.
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