The Nashville Predators got an important Central Division win after defeating the Minnesota Wild Thursday night 3-2 in a hard fought game.
Predators head coach Andrew Brunette knew it was going to be a challenging game last night against the Minnesota Wild, and it lived up to those expectations.
"We knew it'd be a hard game," Brunette said after the road win. "We knew that we'd be fighting for inches all night."
It was also game with big momentum swings. The Predators outshot the Wild 11-6 in the first period but couldn't get any of those chances past Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson. Penalties by the Predators resulted in a power play goal for Joel Eriksson Ek, his ninth power play goal of the season, in the second period.
"I think the second we got in a little penalty trouble — self inflicted — and lost a little bit of momentum," Brunette said of the second period.
After going down 1-0, the message in the Nashville locker room during the second intermission was clear.
"We knew we just wanted to play the same as the first," defenseman Alexandre Carrier said. "Playing fast, be in their face, put the puck deep and go on the forecheck."
Carrier tied the game early in the third period, and Filip Forsberg's tip in goal gave Nashville the 2-1 lead less than a minute later. Roman Josi added one more before another penalty closed the gap late as Matt Boldy scored on the power play. A final push by the Wild couldn't net a game tying goal, and the Predators got a big road win and a little bit more space from the Wild in the standings.
"I think there's a lot of teams that are kind of clogged in that zone of being four points away from each other," Brunette said after the win.
"Tonight was a four point swing. We know they'll be breathing down out neck all year. They're a really good hockey team, and to come in here, it's a hard place to play. I know that firsthand on both sides of the puck and both sides of the dressing room, so it was a big one for us."
The win felt good to the Predators who lost 6-1 at home to the Wild on November 30, a loss that ended a six game win streak.
"When you lose that game at home, I think it was 6-1, so it felt great to show up and battle," Alexandre Carrier said. "Everybody was chipping in. Yeah. Great win."
Captain Roman Josi agreed when he was asked how happy he was to win.
"Very satisfied. I thought we played a pretty good game."
The Predators hope to carry the positives from this Central Division win into their game Saturday afternoon against the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers defeated the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday night and extended their current win streak to fifteen games.