Oct 9, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Nashville Predators center Ryan O’Reilly (90) celebrates with his teammates after scoring a goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the third period at Bridgestone Arena. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
Coming into Thursday’s season opener at Bridgestone Arena, the Nashville Predators hadn’t lost at home to the Columbus Blue Jackets since March 30, 2019, a span of nine games.
That streak was stretched to 10 following Thursday night’s 2-1 victory. It may not have been pretty, but the Predators are already off to a better start than this time last year, when they dropped their first five games in 2024-25.
“Columbus is a really good team,” Preds head coach Andrew Brunette said following the win. “They’re fast, they’re big. I thought we were a little nervous. We had a lot of guys, that was their first Opening Night in a Predator jersey, whether they’re young kids or guys that just came in the lineup… I thought we settled down in the third. I thought it was by far our best period.”
Here are three top performances from Thursday’s win.
The New Dad Lights The Lamp
Fatherhood apparently agrees with Michael Bunting.
Just two weeks ago, the 30-year-old Predators forward welcomed his son Bo into the world. Prior to Thursday’s season opener, Bo took the gold walk at Bridgestone Arena.
Bunting scored the Predators’ first regular-season goal of 2025-26 later that evening, putting them in the lead 1-0 at the 6:45 mark of the opening period.
Bunting took the puck off a turnover, but his first shot was blocked by a Columbus defender, then bounced off another. Linemate Erik Haula fed the puck back to Bunting, and his second try went over the shoulder of Columbus goalie Jet Greaves. Haula was credited with the lone assist.
At 10:08 of the first, Bunting went to the penalty box for slashing, but former Predator Dante Fabbro also went off for interference at the same time, creating a 4-on-4.
Bunting’s goal put him four shy of 100 for his NHL career. He was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins with a fourth-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft for Tommy Novak and Luke Schenn last March.
Bunting also lit the lamp in the Predators’ last meeting with Columbus, an 8-4 loss last Apr. 1. After the Blue Jackets took a 4-1 lead in the second period, Nashville scored two goals within 43 seconds of each other. Bunting cut the deficit to 4-2 at 5:43, then Justin Barron narrowed the gap to 4-3 at 6:26.
Here’s to a great start of 2025-26 for the new dad, on and off the ice.
Ryan O’Reilly Gets The Game-Winner
Last season, the Predators ranked 18th in the NHL on the power play. On Thursday, they went 1-for-4, but that goal was a big one. It came from Ryan O’Reilly to put the Preds ahead 2-1 in what would eventually be the game-winner.
At 16:41 of the third period, O’Reilly took a pass from Filip Forsberg down low, showed some adept stick-handling skills before firing a high backhand past Greaves.
Forsberg picked up the assist, giving him a point in 10 consecutive season-opening games dating back to 2016-17. He’s only the fifth player in NHL history to accomplish that milestone.
“It’s a good feeling,” O’Reilly said of Thursday’s win. “It wasn’t pretty at times out there. They had some momentum, and we got caught on our heels, but still, to find a way to win, to kind of stay with it… It’s so important to establish that right away and get that first win. It’s definitely a great game to build on.”
O’Reilly was on a power-play unit with Forsberg, Roman Josi, Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. They had great puck movement on that particular shift. It’s definitely something they can build on.
Juuse Saros Slams The Door
In last season’s loss to Dallas on Opening Night, Predators goalie Juuse Saros didn’t play due to an injury. The Stars scored all four of their goals in the second period off backup Justus Annunen, and Nashville fell 4-3.
Saros was in net Thursday, and made the most of his season opener. He had several key saves in the first period after the Predators had grabbed a 1-0 lead. One was on Kirill Marchenko on a wraparound attempt going left to right.
Saros was up to the task all night, stopping 38 of 39 shots. The Blue Jackets outshot Nashville 28-18 through 40 minutes before the Predators won the third period advantage 13-10.
“Obviously, he’s the backbone of our team,” Forsberg said of Saros. “And then for two periods, we relied on him a lot, too, a lot more than we…want to on a regular basis. But that’s why he’s here. That’s why he’s ours and not someone else’s. He’s one of the best, if not the best.”
The Blue Jackets almost went ahead 2-1 with 17 seconds left in the middle frame after Mathieu Olivier put one in after Saros partially saved a previous shot by Damon Severson. However, the goal was disallowed after video review for goalie interference.
Saros’s previous performance against Columbus was forgettable. He saved 19 of 26 shots over two periods in the 8-4 loss last April before giving way to Annunen.
Thursday, the Predators saw the vintage Saros. If the club has any hope of a turnaround in 2025-26, it starts with Saros being consistent throughout the grind of a season.
