NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Another win in the bag for the Tampa Bay Lightning after they took on the "Smashville" Predators Saturday night at the 2022 NHL Stadium Series game.
Steven Stamkos sank the winning goal in the third period leading the Bolts to beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 to spoil the first outdoor game in Music City. Stamkos also had two assists.
Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist, and Brayden Point scored the first goal as Tampa Bay became the NHL’s 27th franchise to finally play an outdoor game.
The Bolts now have won four straight to pull within a point of Atlantic Division leader Florida.
“I know one team wins the game, but I don’t know how anybody in the end can leave on a downer after the event that was put on,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of the entire night, according to The Associated Press. “It was exceptional.”
Tanner Jeannot and Filip Forsberg each were able to score a power-play goal for Nashville, which dropped to 0-2 in outdoor games, the media outlet reports.
The Predators also snapped a two-game win streak.
“Obviously, we wanted to send people over to Broadway happy, and now I guess a couple will be, at least the Lightning fans,” Forsberg said, according to AP. “But it was a great atmosphere. I thought the game was a hard-fought game all the way to the end. Two power-play goals each, the one 5-on-5 goal for them was obviously the decider.”
The NHL always knew it would hold an outdoor game in Music City. It was just a question of timing.
This is the second outdoor game for the Predators, who played in the 2020 Winter Classic in Dallas, and the first for the Lightning.
It just took the NHL time to bring an outdoor game to a city that hosted its All-Star Weekend in 2016 and saw tens of thousands of fans in the streets during the 2017 Stanley Cup Final. Steve Mayer, the NHL's chief content officer, said Nashville had been on the league's radar for years.
“Just the way this city responds to a big event, the way the fans are into the Predators, this was a no brainer,” Mayer said. "It was just a matter of when.”
