What a relief the Nashville Predators must feel after a 6-3 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 26.
Not only did the Predators end their three-game losing streak, they followed up an abysmal loss to the Florida Panthers with an impressive effort against a top Eastern Conference opponent.
And they did so with an unusual spark of offense, scoring a season-high six goals.
Facing a 2-1 deficit heading into the third period, the Predators (7-12-4, 18 points) exploded for five goals against the Red Wings (13-10-1, 27 points), including the go-ahead score by Ryan O’Reilly with 5:46 remaining. It’s the most goals the Predators scored in a period since 2019.
Nick Blankenburg, who scored one of those five goals, said the win was a testament to Nashville’s perseverance.
“There’s no quit in this team,” Blankenburg told reporters at Little Ceasars Arena after the win. “We’ve seen that throughout this year, but that was huge for us. We said we just need one game to kind of get us going.”
Blankenburg scored the game-tying goal at the 2:05 mark of the third, sneaking in behind the defense, taking a pass from O’Reilly and beating goaltender Cam Talbot.
“I saw (Patrick) Kane slow down a little bit and obviously (O’Reilly) can make that play, so I just thought I would bust through,” he said. “I kind of got poked a little bit, so I thought I’d take it to my backhand and put one in.”
SHEEEEESH BLANKS 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/mV1euYu3vp
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) November 27, 2025
Blankenburg, who is from the Detroit area, said he had 50-100 friends of the family at the arena.
“I know my mom invited a lot of people,” he said “I’m not really that nervous before too many games, but tonight I was just like, ‘Just get through the first couple shifts.’ “
Nashville has a long climb out of the bottom of the league − they remain in eighth place in the Central Division.
“It feels like we’ve been in a million games like that, where we’re having trouble getting that second goal to put the game away,” Predators coach Andrew Brunette said. “Tonight we stuck with it and it was nice to get rewarded.”
Nashville (7-12-4, 18 points) will visit the Chicago Blackhawks on Nov. 28 (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).
Alex Daugherty is the Predators beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Alex at jdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow Alex on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @alexdaugherty1. Also check out our Predators exclusive Instagram page @tennessean_preds.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nick Blankenburg declares ‘no quit’ in Predators after beating Red Wings
