After falling behind early, the Nashville Predators scored four unanswered goals to sail past the Vegas Golden Knights, 4-2, on Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena. 

Among the comeback efforts, Steven Stamkos scored off a one-time shot on the power play for his 600th career goal. He joins Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby as the only three active NHL players with 600 career goals. 

On the season, Stamkos has 26 points (18 goals, eight assists) in 39 games. In the month of December, Stamkos has 14 points (11 goals, five assists) in 16 games. 

Nick Perbix netted his third goal of the season to get the Predators on the board, 2-1. Stamkos' one-time shot tied the game. Reid Schaefer gave Nashville their first lead of the game, tipping in a shot from Brady Skjei. 

Michael Bunting tipped in a shot from Nick Blankenburg on the power play to add insurance. It was Bunting's 10th of the year. 

Justus Annunen picked up his third win of the season and second straight, making 29 saves on 31 shots. 

With the win, Nashville moves to fourth place in the Central Division with 40 points and continues to chase down the San Jose Sharks for the final Wild Card spot, who defeated the Minnesota Wild in a shootout and now have 43 points. 

The Predators have a quick turnaround, facing the Kraken in Seattle on Thursday at 9 p.m. CST. 

As the calendar year 2025 comes to a close, the Buffalo Sabres are riding high on a nine-game win streak as they were set to take on the Dallas Stars in Dallas for a New Year's Eve game. But regardless of how that game turns out, the Sabres have given new GM Jarmo Kekalainen quite the conundrum – does he use Buffalo’s trade assets to bulk up and push for a playoff spot, or does he focus on the long-term and find a way to get better beyond this season?

We think the answer to that question is crystal clear: If we were running the Sabres, we’d be looking to get over the hump this season and end the Sabres’ Stanley Cup playoff drought at 14 years. 

While it does make sense to trade with the long haul in mind, Buffalo desperately needs the psychological boost that a playoff appearance would bring to the franchise and its long-suffering fan base. And given that Kekalainen will have approximately $8.73-million to play with by this year’s March 6 trade deadline, he’ll be wasting it if he holds onto it or spends it on a longer-term asset.

Brace Yourselves, Sabres Fans: One Way Or Another, 2026 Will Be A Fascinating, Feast-Or-Famine Year For BuffaloPlayoffs or bust: The Buffalo Sabres face a stark 2026 – either they make a thrilling, successful Stanley Cup playoff push, or they continue a decade-and-a-half-long playoff drought and management blows up their roster. It's going to make for compelling Sabres hockey.

Now, maybe there’s a way Kekalainen can address both his team’s short-and-long-term needs via trades this season. But if there’s going to be a priority for Buffalo, it has to be on the here and now. Kekalainen needs to send a message to his players, and that message has to be that they need to seize the day and rise further up the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division standings. 

As it stands at the moment, the Sabres are just one standings point behind the back-to-back Cup-champion Florida Panthers, and Buffalo has one game in hand on Florida. Imagine what it would mean for the Sabres to be the team that pushed the Panthers out of a playoff position. That alone would make Buffalo fans giddy with glee. 

But now imagine the other side of that competitive coin – imagine the crushing blow that would come if the Sabres finished one or two points out of a post-season spot. It would be another devastating chapter for a franchise that has had far too many of them.

Here's Why Sabres' Next Stretch Could Decide Whether Buffalo Makes Or Misses The Playoffs The Buffalo Sabres' Stanley Cup playoff hopes hinge on a brutal upcoming schedule. Can they survive facing top NHL contenders after their current winning streak ends?

Sabres fans may differ with our perspective, and that’s OK. There’s a case to be made that this organization has to focus on where it will be a year or two from now. But we think Kekalainen has to prioritize this season, because right now, there’s no question this Buffalo team is in dire need of something tangibly positive. And Sabres supporters aren’t going to get that if their team falls short of the playoffs. 

In 2026, the goal for Buffalo couldn’t be clearer. It’s playoffs-or-bust for the Sabres, and Kekalainen has to do everything in his power to get them to hockey’s biggest tournament this spring.

LAS VEGAS -- The Golden Knights lost for the sixth time in seven games when they squandered a first-period 2-0 lead and lost to the Nashville Predators 4-2 on Wednesday.

The Golden Knights dropped to 4-2-0 all-time when playing on New Year's Eve.

Vegas captain Mark Stone opened the scoring for the Knights when he notched his 10th goal of the season during a power play early in the first period.

The goal was seemingly fitting hours after he was named to Canada’s Olympicroster, along with teammates Mitch Marner and Shea Theodore.

Ben Hutton made it 2-0 less than four minutes later, swinging momentum in full favor of the Knights.

The Predators weren't intimidated in the least, however, as they scored three unanswered goals and never looked back, adding a fourth goal in the second period to provide the final margin.

During the Knights' latest skid, they're allowing the league's sixth-highest 3.83 goals per game, having given up 29 goals in the six games.

"We can evaluate that any way you want," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Is it the goalie not fighting to find the puck, or we're not getting in the shooting lanes or not boxing out? There's usually a product of those things. So that's what's happening.

"We're not giving up."

KEY MOMENT

With Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar in the penalty box for an extended period of time after being called for cross-checking and roughing, Michael Bunting's goal at the 11:52 mark gave Nashville its 4-2 lead and seemingly drained the fight from the Knights.

"Kolesar gets involved with one of their guys and their benches ... that's an automatic penalty when you're in a scrum from the bench," Cassidy said. "So I think they blew that call, to be perfectly honest. They get a power-play goal out of it."

KEY STAT

298 - Defenseman Brayden McNabb played in his 298th straight game, the 13th longest active ironman streak in the NHL, dating back to March 30, 2022. That streak is now in jeopardy, however, after McNabb was involved in an unfortunate - and violent - neutral zone collision with Nashville's Michael Bunting in the second period. McNabb was down for a while, but upon getting to his feet, he went straight down the tunnel and didn't return.

"Talk about things that altered the game, that particular instance and what happened transpired after us, very disappointed in how we ended up on the wrong end of that on a blatant interference on Nabber," said Cassidy, who offered no details on McNabb's injury other than that it's upper body.

WHAT A KNIGHT

Paval Dorofeyev finished with two assists and now has at least one point in eight of the last 10 games. Dorofeyev, who has 10 points in the last 10 games (4 goals, 6 assists), ranks sixth on the team with 28 points (15 goals, 13 assists).

UP NEXT: The Golden Knights open a three-game homestand that will drop the puck on 2026, with a game against the St. Louis Blues.

PHOTO CAPTION: Nashville Predators defenseman Brady Skjei (76) clears the puck away from Vegas Golden Knights right wing Reilly Smith (19) during the third period at T-Mobile Arena.

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