On Fan Appreciation Night, the Predators sent the Smashville faithful into the offseason with at least five reasons to smile.
Nashville defeated the Dallas Stars by a 5-1 final on Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena to close out the 2024-25 campaign with win No. 30 on the season. Jordan Oesterle, Jakub Vrana, Justin Barron, Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O’Reilly all tallied for the Preds, while Juuse Saros made 29 saves in net for the win.
The Predators wanted nothing more than to finish the season with not only a victory for themselves, but for their fans. They delivered in the finale, and that “no quit” attitude shone through right to the final horn.
“It was a good, complete game,” O’Reilly said. “We did a lot of things well and they had momentum at times, but we were able to get it back. Everyone worked tonight. I thought the way we tracked was good. We were hard to play against, and it's nice to give the fans something to cheer about. Obviously, it's been a tough year, and we haven't done what we wanted to, but they've supported us the whole year, and it's nice to kind of have, I guess, a good taste in your mouth leaving this.”
“It's a great feeling,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We haven't had too many good feelings this year, especially to do it at home in front of our fans against one of the best teams in the League… When it [would’ve been] easy to pack it in this time of year, we didn't quit. We didn't give up. And again, I appreciate the effort from the guys, because I've been on a lot of teams that never made the playoffs, and a lot of those teams, we didn't put the effort in that this group has. So, I think that's a really good building block for us going forward.”
Dallas needed just 16 seconds of regulation time for Mason Marchment to give the visitors a 1-0 lead, but Nashville took over from there.
Oesterle’s point shot hit a Stars defender on the way past Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger to tie the game at one, and less than a minute later, Vrana redirected Oesterle’s shot into the cage to give the Preds their first lead of the night.
Barron converted on a feed from Evangelista in the dying seconds of the opening frame to put the Predators up by two, and they kept pushing in the second stanza. First, Marchessault snapped home a shot from the right circle, and at the midway point of the period, Filip Forsberg found O’Reilly for a power-play goal and a 5-1 lead through 40 minutes of play.
That was plenty of insurance for the Preds as Saros stood tall the rest of the way, and the Smashville faithful delivered one final standing ovation for a bittersweet ending to the 26th season of Predators hockey.
“It was great to get some goals,” Forsberg said. “[Saros] played great, for him too, it was a big game. When you look back at it, obviously, you try to remember this feeling of a good feeling to end the season, and certainly not the season we wanted, start to finish. But we'll take the positive of tonight and try to hold on to that.”
“We finished the season strong, and we talked a lot about trying to build the culture here the last couple months, even though we weren't in a great spot in the standings,” Barron said. “I thought we played hard right till the end of the season.”
The Predators would have much preferred to be preparing for a playoff series at this juncture, but in a season no one saw coming, Nashville never quit.
At the very least, they’ll now head into the offseason feeling a bit better about themselves thanks to a final victory and one more night at home that ended with a salute to their most loyal supporters.
“This is such a great building to play in,” O’Reilly said. “Even when things were going really bad there, we weren’t winning, the fans still showed up and supported us. And this is why it's one of the best places to play in the League. Just that the fans, how much they keep coming out for us, the building’s always exciting. It's loud, people are into the games and that's something we definitely really appreciate, because we know it wasn't pretty there. But we appreciate the fans and all the support that they've been giving us.”
“They've been great,” Brunette said of the fan support. “[I’ve been in and out of this building over the course of all 26 seasons], and they've always appreciated an effort. And I know Predators Hockey has had some of its ups and downs and maybe didn't make the playoffs, but I always felt in this building, if you worked, you competed, they were behind you. It was nice for them to get a win here, and it was a pretty loud building here tonight. It's a special place to play. I'm glad we gave them something.”
Notes:
Prior to Wednesday’s game, the Preds reassigned defenseman Ryan Ufko to Milwaukee after he made his NHL debut on Monday. Defenseman Andreas Englund returned to the Nashville lineup after missing Monday’s game due to illness.
Filip Forsberg finished the season as Nashville’s leading scorer with …. Points to pace the team in scoring for the fifth time - a new franchise record.
The offseason has now begun for the Predators with players and management expected to address the media in the coming days. From there, Nashville will look forward to the Draft Lottery and the 2025 NHL Draft in late June when they’re guaranteed to have a Top-5 selection for the first time since 2013.
The 2025-26 NHL season begins on October 7.
