Heading into Thursday’s game against St. Louis, Predators forward Steven Stamkos needed 10 goals to reach 600 in his NHL career.
By the time the third period rolled around, some of the Bridgestone Arena faithful must have been wondering whether he might just hit the milestone that night.
It was that kind of performance for Stamkos, who tied his career high with four goals — all scored in the first two periods — in a 7-2 rout of the Blues that gave Nashville (12-14-4) its sixth win in eight games.
Stamkos’ outburst marked just the fourth time in franchise history that a Predators player had scored four goals in a game, as he joined Filip Forsberg, Eric Nystrom and Rocco Grimaldi in the club’s record book.
The Preds’ win came two nights after Nashville downed the Colorado Avalanche, who have the most points in the NHL.
“A lot has to go right to have a night like that, but I just tried to build on the last game,” Stamkos said on the FanDuel Sports Network. “I thought we had a big win against a really good team. We got some momentum. We got some confidence, and we talked about putting another good effort here … It was nice to contribute.”
It was almost as if Stamkos, who recorded his 15th career hat trick, couldn’t help but score goals in the win.
Just over halfway through the second period, for instance, Stamkos carried the puck into the slot and tried to deliver a one-handed pass to teammate Matthew Wood by the net. But the puck never reached Wood, as it bounced off a Blues defender and slid past goalie Jordan Binnington for a 5-1 Nashville advantage.
“A player of his caliber, his pedigree, when the puck is following him around, which it has been of late, you know good things are going to happen,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette told reporters.
“He got a little bit of energy from [the goals], and he just took off. He’s been playing like that pretty much the last little stretch of games, which is fun to see, and it’s fun that it’s going in.”
The Preds got big contributions from several other players as well.
Forward Luke Evangelista collected a career-high three assists, giving him 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) in his last nine games. Roman Josi, Nick Blankenburg, Fedor Svechkov and Matthew Wood each recorded a pair of assists as well.
But the night belonged to Stamkos, who now has eight goals in his last eight games and has taken over the team lead with 12 scores in 30 contests.
This kind of scoring has been a long time coming for Stamkos, whose signing with Nashville before the 2024-25 season came with great expectations, given his decorated resume and two Stanley Cups.
He’s had to deal with plenty of frustration since then, as neither Stamkos nor the Predators had performed well enough.
But Stamkos has consistently drawn praise for how he’s managed to stay professional and positive during tough times, which is why so many were pleased to see him pump home one goal after another against the Blues.
“The way he approached every day is actually really remarkable,” Brunette said. “He’s handled it [by staying upbeat]. It hasn’t been easy for him because he’s a proud guy. He’s a [future] Hall of Famer.
“But he didn’t bring anybody down. He tried to lift everybody around him. So when you see nights like [Thursday], it kind of touches your heart a little bit because I understand how hard that is.”