In the midst of a season-high-tying four-game winning streak, the Vegas Golden Knights take on the NHL’s hottest team Friday night when they host the Nashville Predators in Las Vegas.
Nashville, which entered Thursday second in the Central Division, five points behind the Minnesota Wild, has won a league-best six consecutive games. The Predators swept a back-to-back in Southern California, beating Los Angeles and Anaheim on Tuesday and Wednesday to open a five-game road trip.
The six-game winning streak is Nashville’s longest since March 13-26, 2024.
“We’re rolling right now,” said Shane Wright, who scored the game-winner midway through the third period in the 4-2 victory over the Ducks. “I mean, those are great wins in tough buildings, and also tonight, a back-to-back. That’s a really good team. Great wins, and it really feels good.”
Wright also had two assists and scored his first goal with the Predators since being acquired in a trade from the Seattle Kraken on Nov. 1. He picked up an assist on a highlight-reel, between-the-legs go-ahead goal by Nils Hoglander, who drove in front of the net late in the second period to give Nashville a 2-1 lead.
“I mean, sometimes you’ve got to try something,” Hoglander said. “I did, and I was lucky the puck went in. It felt like a big goal for the team, and (we) got some energy from it.”
“I mean, that’s special,” Wright said of Hoglander’s goal. “I don’t know how he has the thought to do that. I definitely couldn’t pull it off. That’s an unreal play, and a pretty sweet goal.”
Swiss-born Roman Josi had two assists to become the fifth defenseman born outside North America to reach the 800-point milestone. With 205 goals and 596 assists for 801 career points, he joined Nicklas Lidstrom (1,142 points), Erik Karlsson (954), Victor Hedman (817) and Sergei Gonchar (811).
“Obviously, it’s a lot of fun getting a milestone like that when we get a win in a back-to-back,” the Predators captain said.
Nashville will try to continue its hot stretch against the defending Western Conference champion Golden Knights, who opened a five-game homestand Wednesday with an impressive 5-3 victory over the Utah Mammoth.
Ivan Barbashev scored twice in a 3:25 span to put the Golden Knights ahead 4-1 midway through the second period, and Brett Howden sealed the win midway through the third with a between-the-legs deflection of a William Karlsson point shot from above the right circle.
Vegas clamped down defensively again, allowing just 17 shots on goal. The Golden Knights have allowed just seven goals during their winning streak, the same number they allowed during their October winning streak.
“We did a good job getting back to our game whenever the momentum shifted,” Howden said. “We’ve been doing some good things of late. The puck hasn’t been going in but I thought we did a good job of sticking with it.”
Barbashev twice missed empty-net attempts from behind the red line that went just wide as he sought his second career hat trick.
“I thought we played really well, especially in the second period,” Barbashev said. “We kept putting the puck behind them and we got rewarded.”