Stars hold off Predators in opener to spoil Stamkos, Marchessault debuts

NASHVILLE -- Mason Marchment scored twice for the Dallas Stars, who spoiled the debuts of Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault for the Nashville Predators with a 4-3 win at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

Stamkos (four years, $32 million) and Marchessault (five years, $27.5 million) each signed with Nashville when free agency began on July 1.

“I thought we played pretty solid,” said Stamkos, who played his first 16 NHL seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning. “I mean, you look at the shots, the chances, the overall game was there. It’s just that’s a very good team over there and you give them a couple quality, grade-A chances like we did, it’s in the back of your net. And before you know it, you’re down three goals against a really good hockey team.”

Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, and Logan Stankoven had three assists for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 33 saves.

It was the season opener for each team.

“I think in the first period we were a little sloppy, but after that I thought in the second period we were really good,” Marchment said. “We played our game and showed it. I thought even in the third we shut them down pretty well. They got a couple looks, but good teams are going to get those. I thought we played pretty well for the first game.”

Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist, and Marchessault had two assists for the Predators. Scott Wedgewood allowed four goals on 20 shots in his debut for Nashville. He started in place of Juuse Saros, who is day to day because of a lower-body injury.

“Just prepare to play if it came to that,” Wedgewood said. “So, just a couple days out, just put my mind in the position to start and whether [Saros] was ready or not, it was just kind of think about [starting] until the last minute. And then, obviously, I got the nod kind of last night. I prepared this morning and went about my business.”

Dallas scored all four of its goals in the second period.

Hintz gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 2:05 on a wrist shot from the left circle off a backhand pass from Stankoven.

“You want to start off on the right foot,” Stankoven said. “It’s a long season. So, if you can kind of get those wins early, there’s going to be lots of ups and downs and some tough stretches, you want to make sure you can get every point that you get a chance at.”

Jason Robertson scored 19 seconds later with a one-timer from the slot on the rush to extend it to 2-0.

Forsberg cut it to 2-1 at 3:30 with a power-play goal, scoring on a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Marchessault.

“I thought we had some good movement,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “We had some good looks. I still think our entries could use a little bit of work. We got a little bit sloppy with pucks and forced some things, but I think that comes with a little bit of the synergy and the cadence of it. But you could see the skill.”

Marchment made it 3-1 at 8:03 with a wrist shot on the power play. He then pushed it to 4-1 at 18:15 by scoring from the left circle.

“It’s game one,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “A lot of things to work on for everybody, but a tough rink to come into against a really good team. I thought we were in full control of that game at 4-1. We gave them a little bit of life there in the third, but that’s all a learning process for us. I thought they pushed hard like we knew they would in their home opener, a lot of new guys in the lineup, something to prove. I thought for the most part we played a smart road game, and our goalie was really good.”

Tommy Novak cut it to 4-2 at 4:37 of the third period on a forehand-to-backhand move on the breakaway.

Ryan O'Reilly made it 4-3 at 18:25 with a wrist shot from the right circle.

NOTES: Forsberg became the first player with a point in nine consecutive season-opening games since Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin (both nine games from 2008-09 to 2016-17). … Stankoven had an assist on each of the Stars’ first three goals. He became the second rookie in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to record three points in the team’s season-opening game, joining Roland Eriksson (four assists on Oct. 6, 1976). … Marchment became the first player in Stars history to score two goals in multiple season-opening games (also two against Nashville on Oct. 10, 2022). … Dallas forward Mavrik Bourque did not play because of an undisclosed injury.