Nov 8, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson (21) drives towards the goal as Nashville Predators defenseman Nicolas Hague (41) defends during the second period at Bridgestone Arena. Alan Poizner-Imagn Images

It took 17 games for defenseman Nicolas Hague to score his first goal as a member of the Nashville Predators. Through the first eight games to start the season, the 6-foot-6, 240-pound left-shot defender was on injured reserve after suffering an upper-body injury during the Preds’ pre-season opener.

Hague had one assist coming into Saturday afternoon’s contest against the Dallas Stars at Bridgestone Arena on Filip Forsberg Bobblehead Day.

When the 26-year-old Hague finally netted his first goal as a Predator after nine games and 168 minutes of ice time, he wasn’t celebrating after the game. The Predators had just lost another one-goal game and suffered their fourth straight loss.

“There are no moral victories,” Hague said simply when asked about his goal following Saturday’s 5-4 loss to Dallas.

Indeed. The Preds had their chances, but defensive lapses, failing to convert on four of five power-play opportunities and a sluggish first period resulted in their sixth one-goal loss 17 games into another disappointing start.

Hague’s goal came at the 4:43 mark of the second period after the Stars had taken a 2-1 lead on a Roope Hintz goal. Hague took a feed from Nick Blankenburg at the left point and put a shot past Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger glove side to tie the game at two. Erik Haula earned the secondary helper.

The very first GOLDEN Haguerbomb 🤩 pic.twitter.com/CcyErpYrQ5

— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) November 8, 2025

Hague picked up his second assist of the season just 27 seconds later when Ryan O’Reilly fed Forsberg, who scored a goal on his Bobblehead Day to put the Preds in the lead 3-2.

The lead was short-lived, as Dallas tied the game before Steven Stamkos netted a power-play goal to put Nashville back in front, only to see it slip away with two goals by the Stars in the span of 47 seconds.

“We weren't good enough from the start,” Hague said. “Just too many costly mistakes and they compound now and came back to bite us today.”

For the game, Hague logged 22:21 of ice time with two shots on goal and a +1 rating. He came into the day with one assist through eight games.

The Preds acquired Hague last June from the Vegas Golden Knights along with Vegas' own conditional third-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft in exchange for forward Colton Sissons and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon.

Hague then signed a four-year, $22 million contract with the Preds. at his introductory press conference in July, he expressed a desire to be a more offensive-minded defender.

"I think there's more to give [in my game] offensively," Hague said in July. "In juniors, I was an offensive guy, and when I came into the NHL, there's a heavy focus on defending in this league. You're not going to make it anywhere if you do that."

In 373 career NHL games, Hague has recorded 86 points (21-65-86) with a +17 rating. The Preds were looking to get younger and stronger on defense, qualities Hague possesses.

Every bit of scoring touch Hague can add will certainly be a bonus, however, especially when so many close games have been lost early in the season.

Hague would feel better if his goals led to more actual victories, not moral ones.

"We're not going to outscore everybody every night," Hague said Saturday, echoing the same sentiments of Steven Stamkos a couple of weeks ago. "We gotta button it up... I'd rather win 1-0 , but you're going to have those (high-scoring games). We gotta grow up and mature a little bit as a group."

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Kirill Marchenko(7,8) and Dmitri Voronkov(6) scored the goals for Columbus, while Elvis Merzlikins 21 of 25 Vancouver shots in the loss.  

This wasn't the best outing for Merzlikins, who gave up the game-winner with five minutes left. The goal was one he will definitely want back. 

The first line of Dmitri Vorokov, Adam Fantilli, and Kirill Marchenko was the only noticeable line on the ice for the Blue Jackets. Between the three of them, they combined for 8 points, 14 shots, and were a plus-3. 

The second line of Miles Wood, Sean Monahan, and Kent Johnson were noticeable for negative reasons. The three of them had zero points, 4 shots, and were a minus-6. 

The Jackets are now 0-3 on their current five-game road trip. 

First Period - 0-0 - SOG 11-8 in favor of Columbus

The first five minutes of the first period was fairly back and forth, with Vancouver getting the better of the scoring chances. The Jackets got their first power play when Lukas Reichel went off for hooking Del Bel Belluz. The Canucks killed the penalty, but the Jackets did get a few good looks. Lankinen made a pair of saves to turn the CBJ away. 

Cole Sillinger was called for holding Quinn Hughes with just over three minutes left in the period. Columbus killed the penalty off with ease, as Elvis Merzlikins had to make zero saves on the Canucks man advantage. 

Overall, it was a very good period for the Blue Jackets with lots of good pace. It seemed as though they were ready to play, and it showed. The Jackets had more scoring chances, high danger scoring chances, and had a higher Fenwick and Corsi. A very good period on the road for the Blue Jackets. 

Second Period - 2-2 - SOG 13-8 in favor of Columbus

Just 1:06 into the second, Sean Monahan drew a high sticking call against Conor Garland which gave the Jackets a power play. Vancouver would kill it off, but again, Lankinen made two saves to keep the game scoreless. 

Jake DeBrusk scored the first goal of the game at the 5:28 mark of the second. But just over a minute later, Kirill Marchenko scored to tie the game, and 7th of the season. The goal was assisted by Dmitri Voronkov and Denton Mateychuk. It extends Kirill Marchenko's point streak to seven games. 

Mathieu Olivier was given a game misconduct at the 7-minute mark for boarding Elias Pettersson. It was a very dangerous play, as Pettersson had no clue that Olivier was coming for him. The Blue Jackets killed off the penalty, giving Vancouver very few good looks at Merzlikins. 

With 6:58 left in the period, Dmitri Voronkov scored his 6th goal of the season when he jammed one into the net from in close on Kevin Lankinen. The goal was assisted by Marchenko and Fantilli. 

Drew O'Connor tied the game with 57 seconds left. Somehow, he wasn't called for crosschecking when he absolutely decked Dante Fabbro and then scored. Very questionable no-call on that sequence. 

The Jackets again played a very good road period. 

Third Period

The third period saw both teams playing four-on-four for a little over a minute, which would end without a goal. 

Conor Garland scored to make it 3-2 with just under 14 minutes left, in what felt like a back-breaking goal. Despite how well the Blue Jackets have played in this game, this goal just felt like it was going to be the game-winner. Luckily, it wasn't. 

Kirill Marchenko scored his second goal of the night when he took a pass from Dmitri Voronkov to tie the game at 3. It was a beautiful setup from Voronkov, Fantilli, and Damon Severson. 

With 5:45 to go, Brock Boeser scored, in what could be described as a very soft goal. It put the Canucks up 4-3. 

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Kirill Marchenko scored two goals and had an assist. He now has a seven game points streak.
• Dmitri Voronkov scored a goal and had 2 assists.
• Denton Mateychuk had an assist and was a plus-2.
• Adam Fantilli had two assists and five shots.
• Elvis Merzlikins stopped 21 of 25 Canucks shots.

Team Stats

• The Jackets power play went 0/2.
• The Columbus PK stopped two Canucks power plays.
• Columbus won 59.6% of the faceoffs.

Up Next: Columbus takes on the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, Nov. 10th. They will wrap up their Western swing with a matchup against the Seattle Kraken.

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Shortly after the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers left the building after their game on Saturday afternoon, both organizations got the bad news that Mel Bridgman had passed away at the age of 70.

Bridgman had strong ties to both organizations. He was the first GM in Senators history, but was better known for his playing career, starting with the Flyers. who chose him first overall in the 1975 NHL Draft. That was unusual since they'd just won back-to-back Cups. They acquired the pick by trade, and it was the only time in history that the Flyers have picked first overall.

Bridgman went on to play his first 462 NHL games in a Flyers sweater, and also played for the Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings, and Vancouver Canucks. He finished his career with 701 points across 977 regular-season games from 1975 to 1989. Bridgman also never backed down from a scrap and took on all comers, a perfect fit for the Broad Street Bullies, posting 1,625 career penalty minutes.

Two years after retiring as a player, that's when Ottawa entered the picture.

Without much experience at all, the Senators hired him as their first GM. With expansion draft rules much different from what they are now, new teams in those days were set up to fail with a 100 percent guarantee. In fact, with Bridgman only two years removed from playing, he could have jumped into action with the Sens and wouldn't have been their worst player.

Some expansion draft day issues also hampered Bridgman and the Senators, as the club famously had laptop troubles. But Bridgman's only NHL entry draft went better, yielding the very talented Alexei Yashin, still the only Senator in history to be nominated for the Hart Trophy.

The Senators issued this statement on social media:

The Ottawa Senators are saddened to learn that Mel Bridgman has passed away.

After a stellar playing career in the NHL, Mel served as our first general manager when we returned to the NHL for the 1992-93 season. He presided over our inaugural entry draft, where the club selected Alexei Yashin with the second overall selection.

The Ottawa Senators organization sends its deepest sympathies to Mel’s loved ones at this difficult time.

The Flyers also issued a statement:

The NHL Alumni Association announced Bridgman's death on Saturday. The cause of death was not disclosed.