Nashville (15-22-7, 37 points) beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Thursday, clinching the win with a 3-for-3 shootout performance from Gustav Nyquist, Ryan O'Reilly, and Steven Stamkos. It was the Predators' first appearance in a shootout this season.
Zach L'Heureux was suspended 3 games for a slew-foot on the Wild's Jared Spurgeon on Dec. 31. The Predators winger had to answer for the hit on Saturday.
The Wild went 3-for-3 on fights in the opening six minutes of their matchup, taking out some frustration on Nashville. However, Minnesota may have burned off all of its energy exacting revenge. With the fighting out of the way, the Predators — third from last in the Western Conference — still had a game they could win.
Marcus Foligno has put a target on the back of Zach L'Heureux in the name of retribution for L'Heureux's slew-foot of Jared Spurgeon.
The Minnesota Wild have activated star Kirill Kaprizov and captain Jared Spurgeon from injured reserve to put two integral players back in the lineup.
Matt Boldy's power-play goal 2 minutes, 28 seconds into the third period cut it back down to a two-goal game, but Forsberg scored his second of the night unassisted 16 minutes, 20 seconds into the frame, and Brady Skjei scored an empty-netter with 1 minute, 49 seconds remaining to put the finishing touches on a Predators victory.
Yakov Trenin fought L'Heureux while Marcus Foligno fought Luke Schenn two minutes into the game. Ryan Hartman joined in on the action, fighting Mark Jankowski a few minutes later. It was a busy penalty box at Bridgestone Arena Saturday night.
A generation ago, it felt like the best hope a short guy had of thriving in the NHL was in the crease. Today, the dynamic has largely flipped. Ryan Dixon takes a look at each team's undersized players in this week's Power Rankings.
Brothers Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes each collected a goal and an assist as the New Jersey Devils scored four times in the second period and rolled to a 5-0 rout of the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night in Newark,
William Wallinder was named the first star for the Grand Rapids Griffins in a 4-1 victory over the Rockford IceHogs.
After a busy seven days in the National Hockey League, the movement in ClutchPoints' NHL Power Rankings is significant in Week 17.
Spurgeon scored a goal on three shots in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Blackhawks. Spurgeon has two points over three games since he returned from a lower-body injury. The defenseman was able to get a bit of a breather in this contest since the Wild controlled play well,