{"id":523369,"date":"2026-03-26T07:25:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T07:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/523369\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T07:25:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T07:25:36","slug":"focused-predators-take-on-devils-squad-finally-finding-their-footing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/523369\/","title":{"rendered":"Focused Predators take on Devils squad finally finding their footing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NHL:Mar 19, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators center Jonathan Marchessault (81) passes the puck during the first period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images <\/p>\n

The Nashville Predators are playing their best hockey when it matters most.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the New Jersey Devils might be out of the playoff race but look to continue their recent surge by keeping the host Predators from extending a season-high winning streak to six games Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Poised to return to the playoffs following a disappointing 2024-25 campaign, the Predators (34-28-9, 77 points) currently own the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference — three points ahead of Los Angeles. Nashville has totaled 20 goals during a five-game winning streak that’s come during this final stretch of the regular season.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the Predators rode a five-goal first period to win 6-3 over visiting San Jose.<\/p>\n

“We know the standings,” said Nashville forward Jonathan Marchessault, who had three assists against the Sharks and has 10 in the last nine contests.<\/p>\n

“We took care of business (Tuesday), and we’ve got to focus on the next game.”<\/p>\n

Nashville has also outscored its opponents 19-8 during a four-game home winning stretch.<\/p>\n

“Every game from here on out, it’s going to be a playoff-type game for us, and the points are so important,” said Nashville defenseman Brady Skjei, who recorded a goal and three assists in the last four games.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Predators star Filip Forsberg recorded a goal with two assists on Tuesday. He has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) during the five-game winning streak. Forsberg scored in Nashville’s 3-2 overtime loss at New Jersey on Jan. 29.<\/p>\n

The Devils (36-32-2, 74 points) sit near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings and are 11 points out of the final wild-card spot. However, New Jersey is 8-3-0 since Feb. 28 and has totaled 23 goals while winning four of the last five.<\/p>\n

Jack Hughes scored twice, while Jesper Bratt and Dougie Hamilton each notched a goal with an assist as the Devils improved to 2-1-0 on a five-game road stretch with Tuesday’s 6-4 victory at Dallas, with four of those scores coming in the opening frame.<\/p>\n

“Things (have) started clicking a little by us, just relaxing and just playing our game,” said Bratt, who has seven goals and 13 assists in the last 18 games.<\/p>\n

“We’re just kind of dialing it in as a group,” he said. “That kind of shows in the flow of our game.”<\/p>\n

With eight goals in the last eight games, Hughes has recorded at least 20 for a fifth straight season. He’s posted two goals and three assists in four career games at Nashville.<\/p>\n

New Jersey’s Jake Allen (2.68 goals-against average, .906 save percentage) has won two of three starts since losing four in a row. Teammate Jacob Markstrom (3.10 GAA, .884 save percentage) has won six of his last eight starts despite allowing at least three goals in each of the last six.<\/p>\n

Nashville veteran Juuse Saros has a 2.51 GAA and .924 save percentage amid his 4-0-1 stretch. Backup Justus Annunen, meanwhile, has yielded just nine goals (1.82 GAA) with a .938 save percentage in winning three of his last five starts.<\/p>\n

Fellow Predators star Steven Stamkos has recorded four of his team-leading 35 goals in the last three games.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

–Field Level Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mar 19, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators center Jonathan Marchessault (81) passes the puck during the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5119],"tags":[5,2409,231,5281,4,2410],"class_list":{"0":"post-523369","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nashville-predators","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nashville","10":"tag-nashville-predators","11":"tag-nashvillepredators","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-predators"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116294289816766660","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}