The Nashville Predators will close out 2024 tonight in Minnesota for a New Year’s Eve tilt against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center at 7 p.m. CT. This evening’s contest is the second of three meetings between the division rivals this season; the Preds fell to the Wild in overtime last month.
Nashville began its current back-to-back set with a 3-0 loss in Winnipeg last night that saw the Preds play a tight game for most of the night until the Jets recorded a pair of power-play goals late in regulation to seal the victory. Now, the Preds will look to take the good from that effort and translate it tonight in Minnesota to close out the year.
“[It’s a] back-to-back, obviously, and against one of the better teams in the League as well, so it's a great challenge,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said following last night’s loss. “I think we need to learn from today. [Tonight] is another good offensive team. We’ve got to play well defensively again, [be] hard to play against and just find a way to win, not find a way to lose, and we’ve got to go out and do it [tonight].”
Vinnie Hinostroza made his Predators debut on Monday night after being recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Saturday; the forward recorded one shot and two hits in 11:27 of ice time. Defenseman Justin Barron was Nashville’s lone scratch against the Jets.
The Good Guys:
Filip Forsberg leads the Preds with 30 points (9g-21a), followed by Jonathan Marchessault (13g-13a) with 26 points and Josi (7g-17a) with 24 points. Steven Stamkos has 11 goals and 22 points on the season; Ryan O’Reilly (8g-13a) has 21 points. Juuse Saros, who took the loss last night in Winnipeg, is 8-16-6 in net; Justus Annunen is 8-5-0 overall.
The Opposition:
Minnesota has lost five of its last seven games, including a 3-1 defeat courtesy of the Ottawa Senators last Sunday. Kirill Kaprizov, who has been injured and did not play Sunday, leads the Wild with 23 goals and 50 points. He’s followed by Matt Boldy with 13 goals and 31 points, and then Marco Rossi with 12 goals and 29 points. Fiilp Gustavsson is 16-6-3 on the campaign; Marc-Andre Fleury, who is appearing in his final season, is 6-3-1.
All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 46-28-(5)-11 all-time against the Wild, including an 18-18-(3)-6 record on the road.
The Predators are 2-1-1 in their last four games against the Wild; they are 5-2-3 in their last 10; and 2-1-2 in their last five on the road.
The Predators have won 14 of their last 20 games vs. the Wild, a stretch that included a seven-game win streak from March 27, 2018-Oct. 24, 2019. Nashville allowed two-or-fewer goals in six of those seven wins.
Notables Versus Minnesota:
Brady Skjei has tallied five points (3g-2a) in 15 career games against Minnesota. The Lakeville, Minn., native, played at the University of Minnesota (2012-15), posting 27 points (8g-19a) in 109 games.
Ryan O’Reilly has accumulated 38 points (19g-19a) in 57 career games against the Wild. His 19 goals are the most he has scored against a single franchise. He has points (3g-2a) in his last four games against Minnesota.
Roman Josi has 41 points (16g-25a) in 45 career games against Minnesota. He has points in 13 of his last 14 games vs. the Wild (11g-10a), including a nine-game point streak from Oct. 3, 2019-Feb. 19, 2023 (8g-5a). Josi has points (2g-6a) in four consecutive contests against Minnesota.
Filip Forsberg scored his first career NHL goal on Oct. 8, 2013 vs. Minnesota. Forsberg’s 18 goals against the Wild are the third-most he’s scored against a single opponent in his NHL career.
Tommy Novak (St. Paul, Minn.) played four years for the University of Minnesota from 2015-19, winning back-to-back regular-season Big Ten titles in 2016 and 2017.
Gustav Nyquist played three regular-season games and five playoff contests for Minnesota in 2022-23.
Head Coach Andrew Brunette played six seasons for the Wild from 2001-04 and 2008-11, posting 321 points (119g-202a) in 489 games. He also previously served as an assistant coach (2014-16); special assistant to the GM (2016-17); assistant general manager (2017-18); and director of player personnel (2018-19) for Minnesota.
Assistant Coach Todd Richards served as head coach of the Wild for two seasons from 2009-11.
Wild Head Coach John Hynes served in the same role for the Predators for parts of four seasons from 2020-23.
Minnesota forwards Frederick Gaudreau (2016-19), Ryan Hartman (2018-19) and Yakov Trenin (2019-24) were previous members of the Predators.
Watch & Listen:
Coverage for tonight’s game begins at 6:30 p.m. CT with the Predators LIVE! pregame show on FanDuel Sports Network South, hosted by Lyndsay Rowley. Play-by-play announcer Willy Daunic and analyst Chris Mason will have the call on the television side.
Max Herz and Hal Gill will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network. The game will also be broadcast in Spanish on El Jefe which airs on 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM and 810 AM. (El partido también se transmite en español por El Jefe en 96.7 FM, 105.3 FM y 810 AM.)
