Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 48F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Mostly cloudy with showers and a few thunderstorms. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 48F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Updated: April 11, 2026 @ 7:22 pm
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over Minnesota on Saturday, locking the Wild into the third seed in the Western Conference for the playoffs.
Matthew Wood also scored and Justus Annunen made 21 saves for the Predators, 4-1-1 in their last six.
Minnesota will face the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.
Michael McCarron scored and Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves for the Wild, losers of two straight.
The Predators are now three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the Western Conference’s second wild card. The Kings defeated the Edmonton Oilers earlier Saturday. Nashville has two games remaining and the Kings three.
Stamkos scored the game’s first goal with 4:59 remaining in the opening period on a wraparound tucked just inside the left post.
The goal was the 40th of the season for Stamkos, the eighth time in his career that he’s scored 40 or more.
Wood made it 2-0 at 6:34 of the second after Stamkos corralled the rebound of Nick Perbix's shot and found Wood in the slot, where he beat Wallstedt with a wrist shot.
McCarron, traded by Nashville to Minnesota prior to this season’s trade deadline, scored at 6:54 of the third to avoid the Wild’s first shutout of the season. It was his second post-trade goal.
The Wild did not dress forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello or defenseman Jared Spurgeon for the game.
Nashville captain Roman Josi returned to the lineup after missing Thursday night’s game against the Utah Mammoth with an upper-body injury.
Wild at St. Louis on Monday night.
Predators host San Jose on Monday night.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Dave Cohen said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.