Fight Night in Nashville: Wild and Predators get three fights in the first six minutes of their match

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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JANUARY 18: Luke Schenn #2 of the Nashville Predators checks his teeth after a fight against Marcus Foligno #17 of the Minnesota Wild in the first period on January 18, 2025 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. (Photo by Casey Gower/NHLI via Getty Images)

Nashville Predators defenseman Luke Schenn checks his teeth after a fight against Minnesota Wild’s Marcus Foligno on Jan. 18, 2025, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. (Photo by Casey Gower/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators will likely meet for a hockey game at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday night. However, spectators may sometimes think they had tickets to a boxing or UFC event.

Less than two minutes into the game, the Wild and Predators mixed it up in two battles on the ice.

First, Nashville winger Zachary L’Heureux and Minnesota center Yakov Trenin dropped gloves.

According to the Wild’s broadcast, Trenin planned to go after L’Heureux as they lined up for the showdown, likely based on a previous skirmish the two had during their December 31 match. L’Heureux kicked Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon’s skate (sending him to the ground), causing an injury that has sidelined him for the past eight games.

Two seconds later, Wild winger Marcus Foligno – who said L’Heureux “should answer” for the play on Spurgeon – took on Predators defenseman Luke Schenn. Fueled by revenge, Foligno seemed to win the fight.

With that backstory, the Wild thought filling the box was worth it.

Minnesota and Nashville had time for another battle in the first period. After a goal from David Jiricek to give the Wild a 1-0 lead, Predators teammate Ryan Hartman and Mark Jankowski went at it in the ensuing showdown.

The Wild went 3-for-3 fighting in the first six minutes of their game, which took some of the frustration out of Nashville. However, Minnesota may have burned all its energy trying to get revenge. Now that the fighting is over, the Predators – third from last in the Western Conference – could win the game.

Nashville took a 4-1 lead in the second period. Colton Sissons and Filip Forsberg each scored to give the Predators a 2-1 lead after the first period. Then Steven Stamkos and Fedor Svechkov scored goals in the first two minutes of the second period.