Wild even one score against Nashville, but another gets out of hand

NASHVILLE – The Wild settled the score but fumbled the game.

After three fights in 4½ minutes — the first in response to the slew foot that still has captain Jared Spurgeon sidelined — the Wild blew an early lead and got rolled 6-2 by the Predators on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena for their third straight loss.

“It took some tempo away,” Yakov Trenin said, “and it was physical. Not hockey, and then [they] kind of switched to hockey quicker than us.”

Nashville took over after the rough stuff, led by veteran scorer Filip Forsberg (two goals and two assists), captain Roman Josi (two assists) and goaltender Juuse Saros (27 saves) as the Predators continue their second-half reclamation under coach and former Wild player Andrew Brunette.

This was Nashville’s first win in three games vs. the Wild, and the lingering bad blood was addressed soon after puck drop.

Spurgeon remains out with the lower-body injury he suffered in the previous meeting after he was slew-footed into the boards on New Year’s Eve by Predators rookie Zachary L’Heureux, who was suspended for three games. L’Heureux also answered to the Wild, with Trenin (a longtime Nashville forward until late last season, when he was traded to Colorado before signing with the Wild in the offseason) fighting L’Heureux just 1:54 into the first period during L’Heureux’s first shift.

“When the accident happened, I was there, and he didn’t drop it,” Trenin said. “So, I thought it was going to be right to continue that.”

Then Marcus Foligno and Luke Schenn dropped the gloves after the next faceoff for their second bout of the season, what Foligno called a mutual decision.

The two chatted during warmups, but they weren’t talking about their future tussle: Schenn wanted to know what was in store for L’Heureux.

“Just a fight,” Foligno said. “Get it out of the way. Handle it the right way, the old-school way. Don’t let these things linger and get a chippy contest. Kudos to that kid, and good job by Trenny.”

Trenin hadn’t fought in almost a year, and he still received a welcome back message from the Predators during the second period.

“We’re a close group, and you need to show that character,” Foligno said. “We don’t want anyone messing with our players, and it just brings the group closer together. So, it’s what you need down the road, and Yak did a great job.”

During the ensuing truce, the Wild opened the scoring on David Jiricek’s first goal with the team since he was acquired in a Nov. 30 trade from Columbus for four draft picks including a first-rounder. The defenseman skated into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 rush with Matt Boldy and uncorked a blistering shot off the post and in behind Saros at 6:23.

“That was a good play by Bolds, 2-on-1, and I just decided to shoot it,” Jiricek said. “I’m glad it went in.”

Another fight broke out after the following faceoff, this time between Ryan Hartman and Mark Jankowski, to give both teams more crowded penalty boxes than benches.

But Nashville quickly refocused on the puck instead of punches.

Colton Sissons delivered the equalizer 1:59 after Jiricek’s goal, one-timing in a rebound off Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s stick.

While Brock Faber (in his first game since missing four from getting elbowed) was in the penalty box for roughing — guess who? — L’Heureux after L’Heureux collided with Marco Rossi, Forsberg capitalized on the power play with 2:31 to go in the first when he whiffed on a one-timer but buried the do-over by poking in a loose puck from a Jake Middleton stick block.

“We were right in the good positions,” Trenin said. “But awareness and stick detail should be better.”

Only 54 seconds into the second period, Steven Stamkos got loose behind the Wild for an uncontested redirect off Forsberg’s heads-up pass.

The Predators continued to punish the Wild defense, scooping up a turnover and feeding Fedor Svechkov in the slot at 2:07 to move ahead 4-1.

“Usually we got good box-outs, good plays there, good sticks,” Foligno said of the front of the net. “It just seems we were a little step behind; 50-50 pucks we just seemed to be a little hesitant right now. Gotta clean that up.”

Not until the third period did the Wild retaliate, at 2:28 on the power play when Boldy flung his 18th goal into a mostly empty net since Brady Skjei bumped into Saros and Saros never recovered in time to face the shot. The power play went 1-for-4, although the Wild could have gotten another chance had a high stick against Jiricek been whistled later in the period — a “missed call,” coach John Hynes said he was told. Nashville was 1-for-3.

Forsberg wrapped up his three-point performance with a second goal at 16:20, getting on the end of a Wild faceoff win and sending a backhander by Fleury, before Lakeville native and former Gopher Skjei dumped the puck into an empty net with 1:49 left.

“Not our game,” Trenin said. “We should be better than that.”

BOXSCORE: Nashville 6, Wild 2

Aside from Faber, winger Jakub Lauko also returned after he sat out 15 games with a pesky muscle injury.

But the Wild, who were delayed 5½ hours arriving in Nashville on Friday night because of a mechanical issue with their airplane, were still down another player: Filip Gustavsson wasn’t feeling well and the Wild called up Dylan Ferguson under emergency conditions to back up Fleury, who had 32 saves.

Their road trip concludes Monday afternoon at Colorado.

“We gotta act fast,” Foligno said. “You don’t want this to slide. We got some guys back. It’s always tough when you come back from injuries and you get a game in you. I think Fabes got better as the game went on, things like that.

“We hope that those guys, Lauko and him, can pick up speed and help us out and get a balanced lineup again.”