March 5, 2026; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi (59) skates with the puck during a game against the Boston Bruins during the first period at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images Now that the NHL’s trade deadline passed last Friday, players from teams like the Nashville Predators and Seattle Kraken have only one thing on their minds.
“Stay strong for the playoffs,” Nashville captain Roman Josi said.
The Predators sit three points behind Seattle for the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference ahead of Tuesday’s game in Seattle. Kraken is ready for the game.
“We talked about it, this is the team moving forward,” Josi said. “I think we were in that position three years ago where we sold a few pieces and tried to make the playoffs. And this year is no different. We want to push, we’re right there. We’ve got some big games ahead, that hasn’t changed (since the trade deadline) and our goal is still to make the playoffs.”
The Predators opened their five-game road trip with a 3-2 loss at Buffalo on Saturday despite goals from Zachary Leur and Matthew Wood, 2021 and 2023 first-round picks, respectively. Juuse Saros made 21 saves.
“I thought we played good hockey. It was a really tight battle,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “Unfortunately, we had to go into the third period chasing that goal. I thought we were in a really good position to play. We lost a little bit of momentum in the second, and we made a few little mistakes, but we showed up at the end and didn’t go in. There were a lot of good things in the game. It was kind of a playoff-type game where there wasn’t a lot of space.”
The Predators have lost four of their last five games (1-3-1), but the Brunettes were encouraged by their performance against a Buffalo team that was among the hottest in the league.
“We’re in it,” Brunette said of the playoff race… “It would have been nice to get some points out of (Saturday). This group stays resilient. We’ll come back and we know we’ll have a big game against the team we’re chasing on Tuesday, so we’ll get some rest. A lot of good things in this game, kind of a recipe for loaded points, and we’ll take that recipe with us.”
Steven Stamkos leads the Predators with 30 goals, two more than Philip Forsberg, and Ryan O’Reilly has a team-high 60 points (22 goals, 38 assists).
The Kraken lost their second straight game at home against league-leading Colorado on Thursday, dropping to 2-2-0.
Seattle was without forward Frédéric Gaudreau and defenseman Ryan Lindgren in Saturday’s 7-3 loss to Ottawa due to illness sweeping through the locker room.
The Kraken fell further short due to a scary incident late in the first round.
After Seattle’s Eeli Tolvanen checked the Senators’ Nick Cousins in front of the Kraken bench, the Ottawa forward lost his balance and ended up with his right leg up. I caught Jaden Schwartz’s face as he skated by. Schwartz left blood dripping on the ice for several minutes before skating straight to the locker room. Schwartz did not return and was ruled out for Tuesday’s game.
“Obviously we had some bad weather and we lost some pieces with Jaden going down,” Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour said. “But no matter what happens or not, this is the best time to play hockey. This is why you play. And obviously, I think we here have to learn pretty quickly that we deserve to be in the position we’re in and we have to show up.”
–Field level media
