At long last, Steven Stamkos scored his first goal as a member of the Nashville Predator, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Predators to their first win of the season as they fell, 5-2, to the Detroit Red Wings Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators took an early 1-0 lead courtesy of Luke Schenn, who beat Detroit goalie Alex Lyon glove side with a shot from the blue line just moments after being honored in a pregame ceremony for playing in his 1,000th NHL game.
Related: Luke Schenn Reaches 1000 Games, Brother Will Soon to Make History
Colton Sissons appeared to extend Nashville’s lead to 2-0 just minutes later, but the play was ruled offside after a coach’s challenge and the score remained 1-0. Vladimir Tarasenko evened things up for Detroit at 13:26 of the first period with a wrist shot from the face-off circle that beat Juuse Saros to make it 1-1.
The Red Wings took their first lead of the game early in the second period with a power-play goal from Dylan Larkin. With Predators defenseman Marc Del Gaizo in the box for hooking, Saros blocked the original shot from Alex DeBrincat before Larkin buried the rebound to make it 2-1. Del Gaizo was making his 2024-25 season debut with Nashville after being recalled from the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals prior to Saturday’s game.
The Red Wings gradually began to dictate the pace in the second period, but the Predators were gifted a 5-on-3 advantage at the end of the frame when Gustav Nyquist drew back-to-back penalties from Moritz Seider and Ben Chiarot. With Seider in the box for holding at 18:30 and Chiarot joining him 26 seconds later for tripping, Nashville had more than a minute on the two-man advantage to end the period but still managed to come up empty.
Stamkos, who had yet to record a point in his first season with the Predators, came close to potting a goal on the 5-on-3 power play, but Lyon’s impressive stick save preserved the one-goal lead for Detroit heading into the second intermission.
Steven Stamkos is stopped by Alex Lyon’s incredible stick save. Stamkos still has yet to score for the Predators.
It’s getting a little absurd at this point. pic.twitter.com/cb4y7Ylhr0
— Alex Daugherty (@AlexDaugherty1) October 19, 2024
Stamkos got his revenge, however, 32 seconds into the third period. With Nashville still on the two-man advantage, Stamkos fired a vintage one-timer from the circle past Lyon to tie the score at 2-2.
Andrew Copp responded quickly for Detroit, though, and tied things back up at 3:29 when he deflected a shot from Joe Veleno that trickled past Saros to put the Red Wings back on top.
Simon Edvinsson and Copp each scored into the empty net in the final 90 seconds of regulation for the 5-2 final.
With the loss, the Predators lose the season series with Detroit 0-2 and fall to 0-5-0 to start the season for the first time in franchise history.
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