Stamkos leads Predators past Wild 2-1, locking Minnesota into the West’s third seed

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over Minnesota on Saturday, locking the Wild into the third seed in the Western Conference for the playoffs.

Matthew Wood also scored and Justus Annunen made 21 saves for the Predators, 4-1-1 in their last six.

Minnesota will face the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs.

Michael McCarron scored and Jesper Wallstedt made 20 saves for the Wild, losers of two straight.

The Predators are now three points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the Western Conference’s second wild card. The Kings defeated the Edmonton Oilers earlier Saturday. Nashville has two games remaining and the Kings three.

Stamkos scored the game’s first goal with 4:59 remaining in the opening period on a wraparound tucked just inside the left post.

The goal was the 40th of the season for Stamkos, the eighth time in his career that he’s scored 40 or more.

Wood made it 2-0 at 6:34 of the second after Stamkos corralled the rebound of Nick Perbix's shot and found Wood in the slot, where he beat Wallstedt with a wrist shot.

McCarron, traded by Nashville to Minnesota prior to this season’s trade deadline, scored at 6:54 of the third to avoid the Wild’s first shutout of the season. It was his second post-trade goal.

The Wild did not dress forwards Joel Eriksson Ek and Mats Zuccarello or defenseman Jared Spurgeon for the game.

Nashville captain Roman Josi returned to the lineup after missing Thursday night’s game against the Utah Mammoth with an upper-body injury.

Wild at St. Louis on Monday night.

Predators host San Jose on Monday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL