With six minutes left in the second period and the Nashville Predators tied 2-2 with the Seattle Kraken, ryan ufko weaved through traffic and tucked the puck behind goaltender Joey Daccord to put Nashville ahead 3-2. That finish delivered Ufko’s first NHL goal and immediately shifted the scoreboard momentum in the second period.
Ryan Ufko first NHL goal
Ryan Ufko’s score came after he took the puck from Jonathan Marchessault near the blueline, danced around two defenders and deked Joey Daccord for the finish that made it 3-2 in the second period. The clip posted by the Predators captured the sequence in full on March 11, 2026, and the play doubled as Ufko’s second NHL point after his assist on Filip Forsberg’s power-play goal on March 5. The pattern suggests Ufko’s on-ice vision and puck skill—already visible in that assist—translated cleanly to a goal-scoring chance at the NHL level.
Predators take 3-2 lead
The goal put the Nashville Predators ahead in a game that had been tied 2-2, altering the immediate game flow in the second period. The figures from Ufko’s background reinforce why that mattered: he led the Milwaukee Admirals with 11 goals and 33 assists in 50 games this season, a stat line the organization has repeatedly turned to when asking a rookie defenseman to make plays under pressure. The pattern suggests Nashville turned to a player carrying AHL production into a pivotal NHL moment to create offense from the blue line.
Dekes past Joey Daccord
Joey Daccord was the goaltender who surrendered the shot after Ufko’s dekes; the play finished with a tucked puck to create a 3-2 edge. Ufko, 22, made his NHL debut on April 14, 2025, skating 15: 37 in a 7-3 loss to the Utah Mammoth, and his first goal now joins that debut and his March 5 assist as early-career milestones. The figures point to a quickening trajectory: a mid-April debut, a first assist on March 5 and a first goal on March 11, 2026 show a rookie defenseman moving from NHL entry to tangible contributions.
What remains open is whether ryan ufko will assume the significant blue-line role for the Nashville Predators after Nick Blankenburg was traded to Colorado Avalanche for a fifth-round pick. If the team gives Ufko sustained minutes down the stretch, the Admirals-leading totals of 11 goals and 33 assists in 50 AHL games suggest he could provide consistent puck movement and occasional scoring from the right side of the defense.
