In most instances during the NHL season, a record of 3-1-1 on a five-game road trip — and seven points gained out of a possible 10 — would be cause for celebration.

But for a Predators team desperately trying to snag the Western Conference’s second — and final — wildcard playoff spot, the events of Thursday night may prove too much to overcome.

The Preds not only suffered a 4-1 loss to Utah, surrendering the second wildcard spot to the Los Angles Kings, but Nashville also played without captain Roman Josi. After taking part in the morning skate and in pre-game warmups, Josi was scratched from the contest due to an upper-body injury.

He is listed as day-to-day for the Preds, who play Saturday against Minnesota in the first of three straight home games to finish the 2025-26 regular season.

“He is impossible to replace,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette told reporters concerning Josi, whose 54 points (13 goals, 41 assists) rank fourth on the team.

“I thought the [young defensemen] played well,” Brunette added. “[Weteran recall Jordan Oesterle] came in and gave us some good minutes. [Ryan Ufko] is getting better every game. It is nice to see [Adam Wilsby], and there’s more ice time for them. I thought they handled it pretty well.”

Josi missed 12 games earlier this season with an upper body injury and Nashville was 3-7-2 without him in the lineup.

“Obviously he’s the soul of our team, and we all know how amazing a player he is,” Predators center Ryan O’Reilly said. “Still, we all have to collectively be better, and I have to be better. When you have something like that, we’ve still got to play a much smarter, tighter game, and we just didn’t [against Utah].”

The Predators were already without defenseman Nicolas Hague, who missed his third straight game Thursday with an upper-body injury and remains listed as day to day.

Nashville (37-32-10, 84 points) sits just one point behind the Kings (33-26-19, 85 points). However, Los Angeles has four games remaining, one more than the Preds.

The Predators are also feeling pressure from behind, as Winnipeg (35-31-12, 82 points) is just two points behind Nashville and San Jose (37-34-7, 81 points) three points back. Both the Jets and Sharks have a game in hand on the Preds.

It remains to be seen whether the Predators will need to sweep their remaining three games — against Minnesota, San Jose (Monday) and Anaheim (Thursday)  — in order to make the playoffs.

But even doing that wouldn’t guarantee a postseason berth, as the Predators need the Kings to lose at least once before the season ends.

The Preds’ chances of making the playoffs are now 20.8 percent according to MoneyPuck, 17 percent according to Playoff Status and 12 percent according to The Athletic.

“We got to get the next one,” O’Reilly said of the team’s mindset. “That’s the most important game of the year. [The loss Thursday], obviously we’re upset about, but we don’t have time to dwell on it. We have to make the adjustments, get back to us and get ready to win another hockey game.”