Finally, after the most exciting offseason in Predators franchise history, Opening Night has arrived.
Nashville will host the Dallas Stars tonight at Bridgestone Arena for a 7 p.m. CT puck drop as the 2024-25 season begins, the 26th campaign in Preds history. The Central Division rivals are each starting their 82-game slate this evening, and both clubs have high expectations with the first outing just hours away.
The Preds made the most notable splash in NHL free agency last July as General Manager Barry Trotz signed forwards Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, as well as defenseman Brady Skjei, to multi-year contracts. Factor those additions in with a group that already made plenty of noise last season, and anticipation for a fresh campaign is notable, to say the least.
“We’ve got the pieces in this group to have success,” Preds Alternate Captain Ryan O’Reilly said. “The ultimate goal is to win the Cup, and I think we have a belief that we can. We have the pieces for it, but there's so much work that has to go into it. It’s not just something you have to want. It's going to be the details, and the effort we play with day in and day out will result in us competing for it. So, I think as a group, we have belief. We know the players that we have here, and we know we can do something special, but our focus is on the day-to-day in the first game and go from there.”
The Predators will certainly have quite a test right from the start against Dallas, and they wouldn’t have it any other way on Opening Night.
“It's great for us,” Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of facing the Stars. “I mean, arguably the best team in the NHL last year in the regular season. They don't give you a whole lot. It's going to be a hard game if we don't have our intensity up and we don't play the right way. It’ll be like the last time we played them in here. So, I think for us, we know that there's still probably some scar tissue…and hopefully we're ready to go here on Thursday.”
“It's a great test,” Preds defenseman Alexandre Carrier said. “It's exciting though. You want to play those games, right? You don't want a boring first game. So, it's going to be challenging, and we always get a good matchup against them. It's always tight, too. So, I'm excited to see them.”
Following Wednesday’s practice, the Predators announced goaltender Juuse Saros is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Saros was on the ice for practice, as were netminders Scott Wedgewood and Matt Murray, the latter of whom was recalled from Milwaukee (AHL) on Wednesday morning.
Brunette said on Wednesday that at the moment, he was unsure who will start in the opener, and Saros added he was feeling better Wednesday than he was on Tuesday.
The Opening Night festivities at Bridgestone Arena get underway at 3 p.m. CT with a Plaza Party, followed by the annual Preds Player Gold Walk at 4 p.m. Arena doors open at 5 p.m. prior to puck drop at 7 p.m. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets for Opening Night.
Last Time Out:
After Nashville’s anticipated preseason finale against Tampa Bay, which was set to be played last Monday night, was canceled, a 5-3 loss on Saturday against Carolina ended up as the last tuneup prior to Opening Night for the Preds.
Tommy Novak finished with a goal and two assists on the night, while Mark Jankowski and Cole Smith also found the back of the net in the loss. Saros stopped all 12 shots he faced in the first period, while Wedgewood surrendered four goals in the final two frames.
Nashville finished the preseason with a 2-3-0 record, including a 6-0 win over Tampa Bay on Sept. 28 and a 6-4 victory against Carolina on Oct. 2.
The Good Guys:
Forward Filip Forsberg led the Predators last season with 48 goals - a team record for a single season - and 94 points, just two off of the all-time franchise mark. Captain Roman Josi tallied 23 goals and 85 points, while forward Gustav Nyquist recorded 23 goals and 75 points.
Stamkos had 40 goals and 81 points while captaining Tampa Bay last season; Marchessault led Vegas with 42 goals and 69 points, and Skjei added 13 goals and 47 points from the Carolina blueline in 2023-24.
Saros went 35-24-5 with a .906 save percentage last season; Wedgewood posted a 16-7-5 record with Dallas in 2023-24.
The Other Guys:
The Stars went to the Western Conference Final in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs where they fell to Edmonton in six games.
Jason Robertson led the Stars with 80 points (29g-51a) last season, and Wyatt Johnston paced the team with 32 goals. Roope Hintz recorded 30 goals and 65 points on the campaign, and former Preds forward Matt Duchene added 25 goals and 65 points in his first season with Dallas. Joe Pavelski, who was second on the Stars with 67 points, retired during the offseason.
Goaltender Jake Oettinger went 35-14-4 in net for Dallas. Netminder Matt Murray, who signed with the Predators over the summer and was recalled to Nashville on Wednesday, posted a shutout in his only appearance with the Stars last season.
All-Time Meetings:
The Predators are 50-52-(1)-5 all-time against the Stars, including a 31-21-(1)-2 record at Bridgestone Arena.
This is the first of four contests between the division opponents this season. The teams will also play their season finales against each other on April 10 at Bridgestone Arena. This will only be the second time that the Predators have begun and concluded the season facing the same opponent (CBJ, 2012-13).
The 2023-24 regular season series was split two games apiece, 2-2-0. The road team won every game in the season series, including the Predators defeating the Stars twice within one week in January (Jan. 6, 4-3; Jan. 12, 6-3).
The Predators are 21-16-1 in their last 38 games against the Stars and 6-6-0 in their last 12 home contests against Dallas.
Notables Versus Dallas:
Steven Stamkos has tallied 28 points (17g-11a) in his last 22 contests against the Stars. Stamkos scored in Game 3 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final against Dallas after returning from an injury that kept him out of the entire postseason up to that point. He became the first player since 1940 to score a goal while making his first postseason appearance in the Stanley Cup Final.
Scott Wedgewood played the previous three seasons with Dallas. He posted a 28-16-11 record, a .909 save percentage and a 2.87 goals-against average during that span.
Roman Josi owns 36 career points (12g-24a) vs. the Stars, the second-most against a single opponent in his NHL career. Since entering the league in the 2011-12 season, Josi has recorded the seventh-most points and fourth-most assists against Dallas among all active skaters.
Ryan O’Reilly’s 22 career assists against Dallas are tied for the 10th-most by an active skater.
Filip Forsberg has 15 goals and 28 points in 41 career meetings with Dallas. His 15 goals against the Stars are his fourth-most against an individual team in his career and are tied for the eighth-most by an active skater since his rookie season 2012-13.
Milestone Watch:
Luke Schenn is two points from 200 and four games from 1,000 in his NHL career.
Gustav Nyquist is two goals from 200 in his NHL career.
Filip Forsberg is two games from 700 in his NHL career.
Tommy Novak is five points from 100 in his NHL career.
Watch & Listen:
Tonight’s home opener will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN+ and Hulu with Bob Wischusen and AJ Mlezcko on the call.
Voice of the Predators Pete Weber and Jay More will call the game on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network, with pregame, postgame and intermission coverage by Max Herz beginning one hour before puck drop. 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.)
