Nashville Predators center Steven Stamkos (91) celebrates scoring in overtime against the Minnesota Wild on December 23, 2025 at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn. BAILEY HILLESHEIM/ICON SPORTSWIRE

Andrew Brunette is an Ontario native and a die-hard Toronto Blue Jays fan.

To use a baseball analogy, Brunette batted .500 on miracle turnarounds in his first two seasons as head coach of the Nashville Predators. The 2023-24 team reeled off a franchise record 18-game point streak to make the playoffs, but last season’s group got stuck in the NHL cellar.

Can this year’s Predators (16-16-4) really make a playoff push despite their awful start?

Nashville was the worst team in the league a month ago. However, with 10 wins in their last 14 games – including a dramatic 2-1 overtime road victory against the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 23 – Brunette and his players are flipping the narrative.

“We’re not where we want to be, but we’re trying like heck to get there,” Brunette said after a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers on Dec. 21. “We are going through the process and building something. We talk about building an identity, and we’re starting to, but the finished product isn’t quite there yet. So we’ve got to stack these games.”

The anatomy of a turnaround

The Predators bottomed out with an embarrassing 8-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Nov. 24 at Bridgestone Arena. At the time, Nashville held a 6-12-4 record and the league’s lowest points percentage (.364) and fewest goals per game (2.32).

Then something clicked.

Fueled by an improved offense and stellar goaltending from Juuse Saros, the Predators beat struggling teams like the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues and earned marquee wins over the Detroit Red Wings, back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers and top-ranked Colorado Avalanche.

“It was pretty dark there for a while,” Predators center Ryan O’Reilly said on Dec. 21. “It wasn’t fun by any means. It was tough … It took a lot longer than we thought, but it’s starting to come. We’re still in this fight. We’re going to keep going.”

The Predators have the third-most wins (10) and fourth-highest goals per game mark (3.57) in the last month, suddenly making them one of the league’s hottest teams.

Nashville Predators head coach Andrew Brunette looks on during the third period against the Minnesota Wild on December 23, 2025 at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul, Minn. BAILEY HILLESHEIM/ICON SPORTSWIRE

The Stamkos effect

As Steven Stamkos has turned around his season, so have the Predators.

The seven-time NHL All-Star was not impactful through 22 games, scoring just four goals with one assist. But over the last 14 games, he’s tallied a team-high 11 goals plus six assists.

Stamkos leads the league with five game-winning goals in December, including three straight punctuated by his OT winner at Minnesota off a perfectly placed centering pass from Erik Haula. His nine goals this month are tied for third most in the NHL behind only Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon.

And it’s not just Stamkos by himself. O’Reilly (32 points), Filip Forsberg (29 points) and Luke Evangelista (25 points) are also performing at peak levels to drive the Predators offense, which is having success on the rush and the power play.

“We’re just working, and that’s the most important thing,” Stamkos said after beating the Wild. “We’ve found some lines that have done well chemistry-wise. It’s just a fun feeling right now.”

That pass by Erik Haula 😮

Steven Stamkos finishes it off to give the Predators some OT revenge at Minnesota.

Nashville has won 10 of its last 14. Unreal.pic.twitter.com/6F5eUuapaB

— Russell Vannozzi (@RussellV_MSP) December 24, 2025

The sustainability question

Of course, there’s still a chance Nashville’s recent hot stretch is a flash in the pan.

The Predators left themselves little margin for error by struggling for the first six weeks of the season. One key injury or a brief losing streak could derail their progress.  

“I think it’s fairly sustainable,” general manager Barry Trotz told 102.5 The Game’s “DMase, Vingan & Daunic” on Dec. 23. “In this league, as soon as you say something like that, it can go south in a hurry. I think we’re building our game … Knock on wood, we can stay fairly healthy and fairly consistent.”

Colorado (27-2-7), Dallas (25-7-6) and Minnesota (22-10-6) are in firm control of the Central Division, but Nashville entered the NHL holiday break just three points behind the Utah Mammoth (18-18-3) for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference with three games in hand.

Amazingly, the Predators appear to be back in the postseason hunt for now.

“We know what we have to keep doing, but at the same time, we can’t really look at the standings too much,” Forsberg said. “We just have to keep stringing good performances together, and the results are going to come.”

Follow Russell Vannozzi on X/Twitter @RussellV_MSP. For the latest Nashville Predators stories, be sure to sign up for the Main Street Nashville email newsletter.