Three wild takeaways as Nashville Predators left stunned in overtime at Minnesota

You can't write a script more dramatic than how the Nashville Predators and Minnesota Wild game ended last night in overtime.

The Predators came in digging deep into the reserve tank on a back-to-back and dealing with key injuries to Roman Josi, Adam Wilsby and Cole Smith. The Wild should have been the more rested team, but the Predators came ready to grind this one out until the end.

After an early power play goal in the first period by the Wild on a strike from Kirill Kaprizov, the Predators entered the first intermission feeling pretty good about their overall game. They just needed to break through for that first goal, and it came quickly after the start of the second period.

The theme of the game was the Predators had to avoid the penalty box, because at 5-on-5 they were actually taking it to the Wild. But their penalty kill, minus the injured Cole Smith, surrendered two power play goals by the Wild.

The ending to this game in overtime is just another brutal conclusion for Nashville. This team has already had their fair share of brutality late in games this season, going back to the Jonathan Marchessault empty net debacle against Montreal, or to the most recent late goal surrendered in overtime to Brock Boeser and the Canucks the night before the Wild game.

The officials deemed that the Wild goal was allowed due to Justus Annunen knocking the net off intentionally while the Wild had an imminent scoring chance. Andrew Brunette was enraged, as you would expect, by the explanation. There were split opinions all around on if it should've been a good goal.

Just pure pain if you're the Nashville Predators. Either way, here are my top three takeaways in the 3-2 overtime loss to Minnesota.

Matthew Wood is a major bright spot of offensively deprived Nashville Predators

Matthew Wood continues to impress in his rookie season, now up to three goals over his last four games, and six points overall in just eight games. He almost certainly would've started the season in the Predators lineup, but dealt with an injury from preseason and started off with the Milwaukee Admirals to get adjusted before returning to the NHL.

Wood is a key piece to the Predators mini-rebuild and youth transformation they're currently going through. He was drafted 15th overall in the 2023 draft and has basically bypassed the AHL route and gone straight from collegiate hockey to the big leagues for the Predators.

With depth being a major concern for the Predators, Wood is filling in important role on the wing. The Predators are searching for offense anywhere they can find it, and Wood is certainly evolving into a player that can be trusted, with still plenty of development ahead as a core piece for the long-term future.

Wood was efficient in his 12 minutes of ice time in this one, registering four shots on net and a blocked shot to go along with his tying goal, his third of his young NHL career of just 14 games.

This goal from Wood is just a wise and savvy play by the youngster by crashing the net. As they always say, when you crash the net, good things happen.

Steven Stamkos shows a pulse for Nashville by cranking a blast with less than second on the game clock

One of the wildest finishes you can ask for in regulation, so it's perfect that it came against the Wild and came off the stick of embattled Steven Stamkos. Just his second goal, and third point, of the season despite playing in a top-six role and the coaches doing everything they can to surround him with the weapons they have.

Despite the problems Stamkos has faced this season, this was vintage Stammer. Just a rocket of a shot past Filip Gustavsson to at least rescue the Predators to get an overtime point.

It was Stamkos' 29th goal in a Predators sweater, and his 584th goal of his NHL career. He sits third among active NHL players in career goals, only trailing Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin.

Stamkos is still 17 goals shy of tying the next player on the all-time goals list, which is Jari Kurri's 601 goals. If Stamkos can find his groove again, he has a chance to hit the 600-goal milestone in a Predators sweater, which would be cool to see.

Trade rumors have been swirling around Stamkos, even though many view his contract as being unmovable unless the Predators are willing to eat some salary and offer an extra asset for someone to take Stamkos on. However, if Stamkos can show us more of what he did there to get it into overtime, all it takes is one GM to want that extra weapon for their team's playoff run.

For the time being, Stamkos isn't going anywhere so it's best for both parties to make this work despite what the optics look like from the outside. Hopefully this gets Stamkos out of his funk for the sake of both sides.

How hot is Andrew Brunette's seat actually getting?

I'm just not buying that Brunette's seat is anything more than lukewarm right now. If GM Barry Trotz is being honest with himself and the situation, he sees the lack of elite talent on this roster and understands this is going to be a gradual process back to playoff contention.

The biggest measurement of success I can give Brunette right now is how the young talent is developing. If that continues in a positive direction, it should do wonders for his job security because it shows the vision of the future and that he's the right head coach for the job.

On the flip side, it does look bad on Brunette that veterans like Stamkos, Marchessault and Skjei just aren't anything like they were with their former teams before they signed with Nashville in the 2024 offseason.

Again, how much of that is on Trotz making bad fits with Brunette's system of play, and how much of that is on coaching? As of now, I think Trotz realizes these moves didn't work out like he had hoped they would.

Bottom line is the Predators first need to get Roman Josi back. He's probably at least two weeks away from returning, so if the Predators can keep their heads above water during that time, then we can really see what this team is made of with the Captain back in there to drive the offense.

The only way I see Brunette's seat heating up from lukewarm is if this team goes on a really bad tailspin to the bottom of the NHL standings, similar to last season, and we see no growth from the youth. That will be a bad sign and might push Trotz to make a head coaching change near the season's end.

Sitting here in November with the Predators showing some fight to their game and at least getting points to hang around the middle of the standings, Brunette is moderately safe. I wouldn't call him a lock, either. Trotz certainly needs to see steady progress.

After the overtime loss to the Wild, the Predators fall to a record of 5-6-4 with 14 points. Two points behind the wildcard LA Kings. You take away three brutal overtime losses and turn them into three extra points with those being wins, then the Predators are one point behind third-place Utah.