Apr 16, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (74) blocks the puck against the Dallas Stars during the second period at Bridgestone Arena. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images The approach of Opening Night is typically met with the eager anticipation of a new season. No matter how a team performed the previous year, all eyes are fixed on what could lie ahead. As the Nashville Predators [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/nashville-predators]prepare to open their 2025-26 season against the Columbus Blue Jackets [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/columbus-blue-jackets]Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, they hope to permanently put the demons of a subpar 2024-25 behind them. They also hope to change their recent fortunes of Opening Night performances. The Predators are 14-11-1 all-time on Opening Night, the 15th-best record in the NHL among active teams dating back to 1997-98. They post a 10-5-1 mark in 16 home openers. Recently, however, Opening Night hasn’t been particularly kind to the Preds. They are just 2-3 over the past five openers, their two victories coming against the San Jose Sharks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/san-jose-sharks]at a neutral site in the 2022-23 season opener and in 2021 against the Blue Jackets in a season abbreviated by COVID-19. Here's a look back over the past five season openers. 2024: PREDATORS FALL SHORT AGAINST DALLAS Last season’s opener against the Dallas Stars [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/dallas-stars]featured the debuts of Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei. The excitement surrounding the Predators’ three big off-season free agent acquisitions came crashing back to earth following a 4-3 Oct. 10 loss to Dallas. The Preds got behind after Dallas scored all four of their goals in the second period. A valiant comeback effort fell short and started the team on a five-game losing streak to begin the season. Starting goaltender Juuse Saros did not play due to a lower-body injury, so backup Scott Wedgewood got the start in net. Filip Forsberg tallied a power-play goal and two assists, while Marchessault recorded two assists in his Predators’ debut. The Preds never fully recovered and finished 30-44-8 for the season, missing the playoffs. 2023: PREDS FALL IN TAMPA Oct 10, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Nashville Predators center Ryan O'Reilly (90) is congratulated after he scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period at Amalie Arena. Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/445aa5bb-5f45-46a7-bb89-bb92e3b03554.jpeg] Oct 10, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Nashville Predators center Ryan O'Reilly (90) is congratulated after he scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period at Amalie Arena. Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images The season before didn’t go much better for the Predators in the opener, falling 5-3 in Tampa Bay against the Lightning [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/tampa-bay-lightning]. Ryan O’Reilly scored in his first game as a Predator, while Forsberg collected two assists. That gave Forsberg at least a point in eight consecutive season openers, the longest active streak in the NHL at that time. Nashville put on a furious rally late in the 2023-24 season and earned a playoff spot before losing to the Vancouver Canucks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vancouver-canucks]in the first round. 2022: PREDATORS ATTACK THE SHARKS In their 2022-23 season opener, the Preds dominated in a 4-1 triumph over San Jose. The game was played in Prague as part of the NHL Global Series in front of a crowd of 16,648 at O2 Arena. Kiefer Sherwood tallied a goal and an assist, Nino Niederreiter had a goal while Ryan McDonagh picked up an assist. All three were making their Predators debut: Sherwood and Niederreiter signed as free agents in the off-season and McDonagh was acquired in a trade from the Lightning. That season, Nashville failed to qualify for the post-season, finishing fifth in the Central Division with a 42-32-8 record. OCTOBER 2021: KRAKEN MAKE HISTORY AGAINST PREDATORS Oct 14, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators center Mikael Granlund (64) is congratulated after a goal during the third period against the Seattle Kraken at Bridgestone Arena. Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/13f8f8b2-2362-4ace-aeb3-03039ffdbdf0.jpeg] Oct 14, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators center Mikael Granlund (64) is congratulated after a goal during the third period against the Seattle Kraken at Bridgestone Arena. Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images The Seattle Kraken [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/seattle-kraken]spoiled the Preds’ 2021-22 opener with a 4-3 win at Bridgestone Arena. The victory was the first in Kraken history, and it came on the road. Mikael Granlund collected a goal and two assists for Nashville, and Saros stopped 22 Seattle shots. The Preds trailed 4-2 late in the third period before Granlund lit the lamp with 42 seconds left, but it was too little, too late for a Preds comeback. In 2021-22, the Predators went on to finish fifth in the division with a 45-30-7 mark. They were swept by the Colorado Avalanche [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/colorado-avalanche]in the first round of the playoffs. JANUARY 2021: PREDS WIN AT HOME IN ODD SETTING The Blue Jackets, whom the Predators will face Thursday, came to Bridgestone Arena for an Opening Night game to start what was technically the 2020-21 season. It was a much different setting than any season opener in Preds history. For one thing, the game was played in January 2021, not October 2020. Also, the only fans allowed in the stands were family members of the players and police officers who responded to a bombing in Nashville the previous Christmas. This was during the aftermath of COVID-19. Despite local health officials allowing a 15 percent seating capacity for January games, the Predators chose to err on the side of caution and limit arena capacity. Nashville won the game 3-1. The Preds held Columbus to just three shots in the third period. They proceeded to take the next game against the Blue Jackets 5-2 to sweep the opening two games between the teams in Nashville to begin the season. In a shortened 56-game campaign, Nashville finished 31-23-2, good for fourth in the Central. In the playoffs, they were eliminated in six games by the Carolina Hurricanes [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/carolina-hurricanes]in the first round. LOOKING AHEAD The Predators hope history will repeat itself against Columbus on Thursday, when four rookies will be in the lineup. The expectations of this season are more tempered than they were this time a year ago, but a season-opening victory would already put the club ahead of last year, when they started 0-5.
