There was a game between the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators Saturday night in Nashville, Tenn., but that ultimately wasn't the main event. Retribution was on deck.
The Wild (27-15-4) were determined to even the score for Zach L'Heureux's slew-foot of Jared Spurgeon on New Year's Eve. That meant there was no shortage of hand-to-hand fighting, three in the first seven minutes to be exact, but ultimately, that didn't translate to the scoreboard in a brutal 6-2 loss to the Predators (16-22-7) in Nashville.
David Jiricek struck first for the Wild, scoring his first goal of the year 6 minutes, 23 seconds into the game. But the Predators scored the next four, getting goals from Colton Sissons and Filip Forsberg, who scored on the power play, in the first period, and goals from Steven Stamkos and Fedor Svechkov in the second period.
Matt Boldy's power-play goal 2 minutes, 28 seconds into the third period cut it back down to a two-goal game, but Forsberg scored his second of the night unassisted 16 minutes, 20 seconds into the frame, and Brady Skjei scored an empty-netter with 1 minute, 49 seconds remaining to put the finishing touches on a Predators victory.
The Wild were outshot 37-29, with Marc-Andre Fleury making 32 saves to keep it from getting totally out of hand. Juuse Saros made 27 saves for the Predators.
The Wild return to action Monday afternoon when they host the Colorado Avalanche for a 2 p.m. puck drop at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
