NHL

Nashville Predators at Minnesota Wild

· National Hockey League
Final
3 - 5

Rossi has two goals, Wild net season-high three power-play goals to beat Nashville 5-3

Zachary L'Heureux slew-foots Jared Spurgeon

Mats Zuccarello, Jonas Brodin and Declan Chisholm also scored for Minnesota, which won for the third time in four games. Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists and Filip Gustavsson made a season-best 43 saves and added an assist.

Colton Sissons, Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan O’Reilly scored for Nashville, which had a season-high 46 shots on goal. Justus Annunen stopped 33 shots.

Rossi scored with the man advantage in the third period for a 5-3 lead. Zuccarello and Chisholm had second-period power-play goals as Minnesota finished 3 for 6 with the man advantage. The Wild were 0 for 13 on the power play in their last five games and 1 for 17 in their previous eight. The Predators penalty kill entered the game tied for first in the NHL at 85.7%.

Takeaways Predators: Nashville lost seven of eight December road games and is now 3-13-4 away from home. Only Chicago has more road losses with 14.

Wild: Minnesota lost another key player to injury. Leading scorer Kirill Kaprizov missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury, and captain Jared Spurgeon left early in the second period Tuesday with a lower-body injury.

Key moment Spurgeon was injured when the defenseman was slew-footed by Zachary L’Heureux and crashed right leg first into the end boards. Spurgeon did not put any weight on the leg as he was helped off the ice by trainers. L’Heureux received a five-minute major and a match penalty.

Key stat Minnesota won for the 15th time this season when scoring first, tying Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg for the second most in the NHL. Florida has 16.

Up Next Nashville is at Vancouver on Friday night. Minnesota is at Washington on Thursday night.

Regular Season Series

MIN leads series 2-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 7:54 Marco Rossi Goal (13) Deflected, assists: Mats Zuccarello (14), Jonas Brodin (9)
Goal 1st Period 11:00 Colton Sissons Goal (3) Deflected, assists: Brady Skjei (9), Nick Blankenburg (1)
Goal 1st Period 15:14 Jonathan Marchessault Goal (14) Slap Shot, assists: Steven Stamkos (12)
Goal 2nd Period 6:19 Mats Zuccarello Goal (8) Wrist Shot, assists: Joel Eriksson Ek (9), Filip Gustavsson (1)
Goal 2nd Period 8:57 Jonas Brodin Goal (4) Wrist Shot, assists: Marcus Foligno (9), Marco Rossi (18)
Goal 2nd Period 12:01 Ryan O'Reilly Goal (9) Wrist Shot, assists: Gustav Nyquist (8), Brady Skjei (10)
Goal 2nd Period 17:08 Declan Chisholm Goal (2) Slap Shot, assists: Ryan Hartman (4), Marcus Johansson (10)
Goal 3rd Period 7:07 Marco Rossi Goal (14) Poke, assists: Joel Eriksson Ek (10), Brock Faber (15)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/nsh.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originNSH https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/min.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originMIN
9 Blocked Shots 13
19 Hits 14
3 Takeaways 3
46 Shots 38
0 Power Play Goals 3
1 Power Play Opportunities 6
0.0 Power Play Percentage 50.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
28 Faceoffs Won 36
43.8 Faceoff Win Percent 56.3
11 Giveaways 18
8 Total Penalties 5
25 Penalty Minutes 16

Game Information

Xcel Energy Center

Location: Saint Paul, MN
Attendance: 19,145 | Capacity:

2024-25 Central Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Winnipeg 28 12 58 2
Minnesota 26 11 56 4
Dallas 25 13 51 1
Colorado 25 16 51 1
St. Louis 19 19 42 4
Utah 17 15 41 7
Nashville 13 21 33 7
Chicago 14 25 30 2
Full Standings