“It was an unbelievable performance for him,” Marchessault said of Stamkos. “That’s why he’s a special player who came here, and he was doing it the past 16 years and still doing it. So it’s all in his honor. And we’re definitely lucky to have him. I know how it is sometimes to get through adversity, and you just stick with it, and goal scores will always be goal scores, so good for him.”

“[I’m] happy for him,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said of Stamkos. “You know, I’ve said all year, the effort has always been there. It’s been a hard year, and a lot of our veteran guys [felt] expectations that we talked a lot about… The effort was there, and it’s nice to see him get rewarded. There hasn’t been a whole lot of things that made us feel really good through the course of the season. To see a guy get a hat trick and pass Mike Bossy at home [in an] overtime win, I mean, those are moments in the game that you always remember. I’m really happy for him.”

As for how Stamkos viewed the milestone? After quipping it took him “700 more games” to reach that goal total than Bossy, the veteran forward said he’ll look forward to the day when he can reflect on a moment like that.

“I think when you hit whatever that round number is, it’s pretty cool, but it is truly hard to fully embrace it while you’re in the middle of it,” Stamkos said. “I think that’s something that you gear towards. It motivates you a little bit. But I think when it’s all said and done, those are the moments when that day comes and you stop playing hockey, and you look back on it, and you share those memories with your family, with your friends, all the people that have helped you achieve any milestone as a player. I think that’s when it kind of hits home the most.”

With less than 20 games to go in the regular season, and the NHL Trade Deadline now in the rearview, the Preds are setting their sights on finishing strong and feeling good about their game. Saturday’s effort was another step in that direction, but on a night like this, there’s even more reason for optimism on what’s ahead.

“We all want to feel good about ourselves, whether that’s first and foremost, collecting wins and gearing towards something, trying to create that culture, that atmosphere,” Stamkos said. “It’s been a tough year. It is what it is… It’s not a position you want to be in, certainly not one that we expected to be in. So, you can use that as motivation too.

“Let’s play the year out hard and gear toward whatever is next, and that’s all you can do. You’ve got to go out there and play, whether you want to finish out the season strong individually or to build off something to feel good about in the summer. Collect the wins so you feel a little better about yourself. It’s certainly not going to change the disappointment with how the year is gone, but it can help.”

Notes:

Preds forward Jakub Vrana and defenseman Jordan Oesterle both made their Nashville debuts on Saturday night after being claimed on waivers on Thursday. Vrana recorded two shots on goal in 12:12 of ice time; Oesterle has one shot and one blocked shot in 16:27.

Per NHL Stats, Steven Stamkos became the third active player with 100 multi-goal games, joining Alex Ovechkin (178 GP) and Sidney Crosby (103 GP).

Stamkos recorded his 14th career hat trick, passing Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and John Tavares (all w/ 13) for sole possession of the third most among active players, behind Alex Ovechkin (32) and David Pastrnak (18).

With their two-game homestand now complete, the Preds will head west to California next week to meet San Jose on Tuesday, followed by dates in Anaheim and Los Angeles as the trip concludes.