The Nashville Predators held up despite being tore down in a handful of trades all thanks to their youth.
Nashville [28-26-8] collected their first win of the month against the Boston Bruins with a 6-3 finish. It's their first three-plus-goal deficit win since a 7-3 upset against the Colorado Avalanche in January.
Matthew Wood scored two, Filip Forsberg tallied a goal and two assists, and Juuse Saros stopped 20 of 23 shots.
Tonight saw four call-ups from the Milwaukee Admirals in the lineup starring Reid Schaefer, Joakim Kemell, Ryan Ufko, and Fedor Svechkov. His second NHL game, Ufko recorded an assist off of Forsberg's power play marker in the second period. Svechkov also notched an assist in his return.
The team looked strong day in and day out despite missing veteran center Ryan O'Reilly in the lineup. Center Erik Haula had a lot to say about Thursday's effort.
"[The guys were] pretty remarkable," Haula said. "This time of year, is not fun. There's moving parts. There's been guys here a long time, guys get called up. Just interesting things but it just shows that we're proud. We're going to battle to the end and whatever happens we'll give it our all."Nashville Predators YT
Nicolas Hague got the party started at 6:07 in the first period with a crease crawler on the power play. A shot from the blueline ultimately made its way to the paint where it slowly made its way underneath Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
Entering the second period on a 5-on-3 penalty kill, Nashville looked to remain in the lead. After serving a minor penalty, Wood left the box and found Nick Perbix on a breakaway and with a pass, Wood one-timed to put them up by two. Geekie cut the lead four seconds into Boston's power play at 16:30. Haula scored his 10th at 9:42 and Forsberg scored his 28th at 7:23 to make it 4-1.
Wood extended it to 5-1 with his second of the night and 12th of the season. It's his first two-goal performance since his hat-trick back in November against the Rangers. The rookie now has three goals and four points in his last five games. He's now the youngest forward in Preds history to score a goal on the PP, PK, and 5v5 at 21 years and 27 days old.
"It was a great play (in reference to his first)," Wood said. "I didn't expect to get a short-handed one this year but it's nice and it was a great play by [Perbix] and it was a fun one."Nashville Predators YT
Charlie McAvoy scored Boston's second 6:05 into the final stanza and Viktor Arvidsson brought it within two at 4:28. With the Korpisalo pulled, Luke Evangelista got an open net and scored the sixth and final goal of the night. Forsberg's primary assist marked his third point of the night and 53rd of the season.
Yesterday's win was in part the result of a massive youth presence on the ice. With four veterans off the team and one out with injury, the youngsters filled in their shoes and got to work. Five players below 25 years old recorded at least a point in the win. Kemell and Schaefer both had one shot on goal, putting up whatever they can to help give Nashville momentum.
"I think they dug in, played the system, and brought some energy," Haula said. "Solid game and I'm sure they'll keep on getting better.""Nashville Predators YT
"It's a huge opportunity for a lot of guys," Wood said. "Me personally, I just wanted to try to show what I have and give it my best for the team and also for myself. I thought a lot of guys played an unbelievable game tonight."Nashville Predators YT
If this is what's to come for Nashville after the Trade Deadline, fans showed be excited. It reminds me a lot of the big sell in 2023 and the young guns like Tommy Novak and Evangelista stepped up and even outperformed some of their veteran linemates.
The Predators will look to continue this energy heading into their evening road game against the Buffalo Sabres this Saturday. A team full of youth energy, the two will clash and figure out who's got the better future.