It was a battle between David and Goliath at Bridgestone Arena on Tuesday. 

The last-place Nashville Predators hosted the top-ranked Colorado Avalanche. Nashville was coming off a blowout loss to Carolina, while Colorado had won 14 of its last 16. 

In a back-and-forth battle that saw the Avalanche force overtime in the final minute, it was a lone shootout goal by Ryan O'Reilly that gave the Predators the 4-3 upset victory. 

Jonathan Marchessault had the game-tying goal on the power play, which was quickly followed by Reid Schaefer's second career goal for a 2-1 Predators lead. In the third, Brady Skjei scored his first goal of the season to give Nashville a late 3-2 lead. 

Here are three takeaways from the Predators win over the Avalanche. 

Keeping pace early 

Similar to the first meeting, the Predators went down in the first two minutes of the game. In the Nov. 22 game, Nashville gave up a goal 15 seconds into the game. Tuesday, it was 72 seconds into the game, off a goal from Brock Nelson. 

However, unlike the previous meeting, the Predators' offense got going. Less than two minutes late, Jonathan Marchessault scored on the power play to tie the game up. It didn't stop there, as 1:25 later, Reid Schaefer scored his second goal of the season to give the Predators the lead.

Nashville kept the pressure on in the first period and kept pace with the best team in the league. Colorado tied the game to end the period, but Nashville looked like the better team throughout. 

The Predators managed to stay out of the penalty box in the first period and even had two power plays. It's a significant change from Nashville's past two games, where it has had 12 penalties over that stretch. 

Saros stands on his head 

The Predators had a significant fall off in the second period, getting outshot 13-5, but it was Juuse Saros who kept the game deadlocked at two. After a slow start to the game, Saros locked down and had one of his best performances of the season.

He made 39 saves on 42 shots and stonewalled the Avalanche in the shootout. Saros faced Martin Necas, Valeri Nichushkin and Gabriel Landeskog, and kept all three from finding the back of the net. 

Saros also made four saves in the overtime period, extending the Predators' game into the shootout. 

Nashville also had a hairy stretch in the second period where it struggled to stay out of the box. The Predators committed three penalties in the final five minutes of the second, but were able to kill off all three. 

Tuesday's victory was the most saves Saros has made in a game this season and the most he's swatted away since April 10, when he made the same amount of saves and faced the same amount of shots in a 4-3 shootout win over the Utah Mammoth. 

Penalties still in issue 

8 WITH 8 SECONDS TO GO🥬 pic.twitter.com/iiKIgWeFQ2

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) December 10, 2025

The Predators had a chance to close the game out in regulation, which would've been just Colorado's third regulation loss of the season. However, they were stung by penalties yet again. 

With Colorado pulling goalie Scott Wedgewood for an extra attacker and Nashville holding a one-goal lead in the final two minutes of the game, Erik Haula was called for tripping.

That put Colorado on a 6-on-4 power play for the rest of regulation. With eight seconds left, Cale Makar got Michael McCarron to bite on a backhand to forehand move, giving him an open lane. Makar fired it through traffic and it went in to tie things up. 

The Predators' penalty killers have been elite, but have been worked to the bone over the last three games. Nashville has committed 16 penalties in three games, but has only given up two power-play goals. 

It's a positive that Nashville's penalty kill has been so good, but the unit's goal is not to be on the ice as much. Tuesday's late call on Haula was the difference in ending a game that started at 8:50 p.m. CST early. 

Up next: St. Louis Blues (11-13-7) at Nashville Predators (11-14-4) on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena at 7 p.m. CST