{"id":551112,"date":"2026-04-12T12:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551112\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T12:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T12:39:17","slug":"preds-stay-within-1-point-of-kings-with-tight-win-over-wild-field-level-media-professional-sports-content-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551112\/","title":{"rendered":"Preds stay within 1 point of Kings with tight win over Wild – Field Level Media – Professional sports content solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist for the Nashville Predators in a 2-1 win against the visiting Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Matthew Wood also scored and Justus Annunen made 21 saves for Nashville (38-32-10, 86 points), which stayed within a point of the Los Angeles Kings for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

The Predators have two games left and the Kings have three.<\/p>\n

Michael McCarron scored and Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves for Minnesota (45-23-12, 102 points), which came in four points behind the Dallas Stars for second place in the Central Division.<\/p>\n

The Predators took a 1-0 lead at 15:01 of the first.<\/p>\n

Stamkos pulled the puck out of a corner in the Minnesota zone, then passed it from below the goal line to Luke Evangelista. He passed it back to Stamkos, who scored on a wraparound for his 40th goal of the season.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the eighth time Stamkos has reached the 40-goal mark in his 18 NHL seasons.<\/p>\n

Nashville stretched the lead to 2-0 at 6:34 of the second.<\/p>\n

Wallstedt saved a shot from the right face-off circle by Nick Perbix and the rebound fell at the feet of Stamkos, who made a short backhand feed to Wood that set him up for a score from the inside edge of the right circle.<\/p>\n

McCarron scored on a rebound off Jonas Brodin\u2019s shot to cut it to 2-1 at 6:54 of the third period.<\/p>\n

With the Wild nearly locked into their playoff spot, they rested forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Jared Spurgeon.<\/p>\n

Nashville captain Roman Josi returned to the Preds\u2019 blue line after he was a late scratch in Thursday\u2019s 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth because of an upper-body injury.<\/p>\n

Annunen was coming off a 5-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, the first shutout of the season for Nashville.<\/p>\n

\u2013Field Level Media<\/p>\n

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