Oct 23, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators center Ryan O’Reilly (90) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the second period at Bridgestone Arena. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
After breaking a four-game skid Thursday, the Nashville Predators were looking to keep their momentum going Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings on Hispanic Music Heritage Night at Bridgestone Arena.
It took 60 minutes of regulation, an overtime and nine rounds of a shootout, but the Preds prevailed 5-4. Ozzy Wiesblatt netted the winner in the shootout to give Nashville its second consecutive win.
The nine-round shootout was the third-longest in Preds history, per NHL PR. Their longest occurred on March 27, 2010 (11 rounds), followed by 10 rounds on Feb. 2, 2010.
Ryan O’Reilly collected two goals, while Filip Forsberg and Cole Smith each lit the lamp for the Preds.
Adrian Kempe, Joel Armia, Corey Perry, and Trevor Moore scored for the Kings.
It’s been an emotional past couple of months fir Wiesblatt, who lost his brother Orca to a vehicle accident, so his shootout winner was an emotional moment for everyone.
It was a milestone night for Preds defenseman Brady Skjei, who skated in his 700th career NHL game. Saturday was also the return of forward Jonathan Marchessault from a lower-body injury, and the Preds debut of defenseman Nicolas Hague.
The bad news concerns Preds captain Roman Josi, who is listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Here are three takeaways from an exciting win.
The Preds’ Offense Got Warmer
Last week, Steven Stamkos said scoring four or five goals wasn’t the Preds’ identity. In other words, offensive slugfests weren’t their style.
So who were these Preds? Through 40 minutes, they traded goals with the Kings. After Juuse Saros lost his stick and Adrian Kempe put LA ahead 1-0 at 7:27 of the opening period, Ryan O’Reilly came right back for the Preds 1:30 later for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.
Filip Forsberg put Nashville in front 2-1 36 seconds into the middle frame off a beautiful pass from Matthew Wood.
A minute later, Joel Armia tied things up for the Kings, then Corey Perry put them ahead 3-2 at the 5:24 mark.
Cole Smith worked his magic for the second consecutive game to tie the score 3-3 at 7:12, putting in another slow-motion goal like the one Thursday against Vancouver. Smith now has three goals on the season.
After Trevor Moore reclaimed the lead for LA, O’Reilly netted his second of the night.
Nashville seemed to lose steam in the third period, and the Kings heavily outshot the Preds 40-25 for the game. But there was no quit in the Predators in this one, as they refused to allow the Kings to keep any momentum they tried to build.
It’s probably best not to get too ramped up over this punch-for-punch display, but the Preds will take it now and then to stay competitive.
Hague Finally Makes Debut
When Preds general manager Barry Trotz traded for defenseman Nicolas Hague from the Vegas Golden Knights last June, he was expecting the 6-foot-6, 240-pound blueliner to add both size and youth to the back end.
After Hague suffered an injury in Nashville’s first pre-season game, that expectation was put on hold. Hague was placed on injured reserve, but finally made his Preds debut against the Kings.
The 26-year-old left-shot defenseman began practicing with the team Oct. 20. On Saturday, he was paired with Adam Wilsby.
Hague logged 21:11 of ice time against the Kings, taking one shot on goal and picking up a secondary assist on O’Reilly’s second goal.
It may take a little time to get the rust off, but Hague should provided some much-needed muscle for a defense that can use more grit.
The Preds Stayed Away From Needless Penalties
In the opening period of Thursday’s win over the Canucks, the Predators accumulated 10 minutes worth of penalties, including a couple of high-sticking infractions.
Good thing the penalty-kill units have been stellar for the season, or the game might have turned out differently. Vancouver had one of the top power plays in the NHL, but they couldn’t register a goal against a Preds PK that came into Saturday sporting an 89.3 kill percentage (20-for-23).
For the most part, the Preds stayed away from the unnecessary infractions against LA. They went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill to continue their amazing run.
While the Preds power play still did not register a goal (they came into the night 2-for-27), it only got two opportunities against an LA penalty kill that was 28th in the NHL. Once again, the special teams were a mixed bag.
