The Preds returned from the All-Star break and ensuing bye week tonight, facing a Coyotes team that had narrowly lost their own first game back.
Nashville got off to a slow start, not pushing too hard offensively but by and large doing a decent job at limiting what the Coyotes could generate offensively as well. As the period continued, they started to look a little better-coordinated, but still struggled to get going. Matt Dumba did not make himself friends with a pair of big open-ice hits on Tommy Novak and Yakov Trenin, and the Preds had to weather a long shift in the defensive zone, but they came out the other side.