A fast first period sets the tone as the Wild open with a 3-1 win over Nashville
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nick Foligno and Blake Coleman scored first-period goals, and the Minnesota Wild beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 on Thursday night in the season opener for both teams.
The Wild lost in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs last spring in five games to Colorado. After giving coach John Hynes a contract extension last month, Minnesota is targeting a third straight postseason berth.
Kirill Kaprizov also had a goal for Minnesota, which is playing 21 of its first 31 games on the road this season. Jesper Wallstedt made 19 saves.
Roman Josi scored for Nashville, which went 0 of 4 with the man advantage.
Filip Forsberg matched an NHL record with an assist on Josi’s goal, giving him at least a point in 11 straight season openers. Forsberg now has 15 points in 11 openers, tying the mark held by Viktor Kozlov (1997-98, 2008-09) and Vincent Lecavalier (2002-03 and 2013-14).
The Predators had an offseason of change with Chris MacFarland hired away from Colorado to take over as general manager and president of hockey operations. Nashville has missed the playoffs three of the past four seasons, and MacFarland made a few changes trying to retool and avoid a rebuild.
Foligno scored from the high slot off a rebound at 9:35 of the first, and Coleman made it 2-0 at 13:48 with a power-play goal. Minnesota nearly had a 3-0 lead, but Yakov Trenin’s goal at 15:05 was wiped off when Nashville won its challenge for goaltender interference for Ryan Hartman making contact with Juuse Saros, who had 27 saves.
Nashville pulled within 2-1 when Josi scored on a slap shot at 9:23 of the second.
Kaprisov helped seal the win tipping in Quinn Hughes’ shot through traffic over Saros’ stick arm at 4:42 of the third.
Up next
Minnesota hosts Boston on Saturday night for the Wild’s home opener.
The Predators host Dallas on Saturday night.
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See AP’s full NHL coverage here