Nashville has played eight overtime games, and has figured it out

The Nashville Predators defeated the Las Vegas Golden Knights to win their seventh game in a row. This marks their longest win streak since March of 2024. While not much has changed structurally, the team looks more fluid and might be past an apparent mental fog caused by frustration from a recurring bad dream.

After 13 games into the season, Nashville was near the bottom of the league standings. Points are already hard enough to come by, but the Predators made a habit of leaving more potential points for their rankings on the table.

While sitting at 4-4-5, Nashville looked like an entirely different team. The number that sticks out in that record is the five. At that point in the season, Nashville had more overtime losses than any other team in the league. Well, they had more overtime appearances than any other team in the league. It was actually the same number. In five attempts, Nashville lost every time a game went to overtime or a shootout.

Since that point, the Predators have not lost a game. That is not because they started avoiding the seemingly toxic extra frames. In fact, they have been winning the overtime games now as well. Nashville is now 11-4-5 on the season, and during its current hot spell, the Predators have appeared in 3 more games that went beyond regulation.

The early-season curse of overtime woes seems to have been broken. On Oct. 31, Nashville sparked its current run with a shootout win over the Lightning, with Steven Stamkos scoring the game-winner. Just two games later, Stamkos came up clutch once again. On Nov. 5, Stamkos put the Predators on top with a goal against the Avalanche in overtime.

Nashville's most recent overtime outing and biggest scare to their win streak so far was in Friday night's thriller against the Golden Knights.

The Predators tied the score late in the third period and held on to take the game into overtime. An extra five minutes was not enough time to get the job done. Another shootout was in order, but this time Stamkos missed on his attempt. They had to look elsewhere, especially after Las Vegas scored on its second attempt.

In rounds 3 and 4, Nashville's two most reliable and tenured skaters took the ice. First, Filip Forsberg took his shot and evened the odds, keeping the game alive. Once the Golden Knights missed on their fourth-round attempt, it was all but over. team captain Roman Josi stepped up and nailed the game-winner

So what exactly changed that has allowed Nashville to start winning these games? Well, the fact that it's eight overtime appearances, tying for the most in the league, likely plays a role. For as frustrating and painful as the early-season overtime losses may have been, they may have actually made the team more competent and prepared while under pressure. The Predators are a team forged in fire.

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