This was never going to be just another stop on the schedule. The Predators Vs Senators matchup in Ottawa on October 10 brought Nashville’s three-game trip through eastern Canada to a close, and it arrived with a little extra bite: a fresh debut, a roster wrinkle and a team still trying to prove it can start faster than it has been doing.
Nashville entered the game after a rough but revealing swing through Toronto and Montreal. The Predators dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to Toronto on Tuesday, then responded with a 5-2 win over the Canadiens on Thursday. Ottawa, for its part, came in off a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia on Thursday, which meant both teams had reason to believe they were finding some rhythm. That is the key word here. Rhythm. Not perfection. Not control. Just enough order to keep the trip from turning messy.
A debut worth watching
Andrew Brunette said Jayden Struble would make his Predators debut in Ottawa, and that alone gives this game a sharper edge than the average October fixture. The 25-year-old defender arrived from the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night, with Nashville sending Vegas’ second-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft the other way. Brunette also described Struble as a physical defender who will add mobility and a hard-to-play-against quality to the backend. That is the sort of profile coaches love to talk up because it is practical, not decorative.
And Nashville could use practical. Ryan O’Reilly made the point plainly after the win in Montreal, saying the Predators wanted to get off to a better start and needed to engage right away rather than drifting onto their heels. That is not subtle criticism. It is a veteran telling you the obvious: this team cannot keep making a habit of slow openings and expect clean nights from start to finish.
Not pretty, but maybe useful
Brunette admitted as much after the Montreal game, saying the wins are not always going to be pretty, but he was proud of the way the group stuck together and kept good energy on the bench. That matters, because Nashville’s trip had already shown both sides of its personality. The overtime loss in Toronto hinted at the danger. The two-goal win in Montreal suggested the group can still recover and respond.
Now the Predators get their first of two meetings with Ottawa this season, and the timing is interesting enough on its own. This is the kind of game that tells you whether the earlier road results were a genuine step forward or just a brief correction. A split trip is fine. A finished trip with momentum is better. A finished trip with a debut, a new defensive body and a clearer sense of urgency is better still.
For Nashville, that is the real test in Ottawa: not whether the game looks glamorous, but whether it looks organized. The Predators have already shown they can survive a wobble, and they have already shown they can recover from one. What they need now is the next layer — a sharper start, fewer giveaways and a performance that makes this road trip feel like progress rather than a collection of separate moods.
