Nashville Predators at Utah Hockey Club NHL Predictions

2025-12-29 • Delta Center

Utah Hockey Club 3 - 4 Nashville Predators

🚨 Upset Loss (73% underdog)

📊 Pre-Game Predictions

Win Probability

UTA: 72.6%

NSH: 27.4%

Expected Goals

UTA: 3.21

NSH: 2.82

Total Goals

Median: 6.3

Over 5.5: 58%

Over 6.5: 46%

🥅 Goalie Matchup

UTA

Vitek Vanecek - 2-9-1 | 0.879 SV% | 2.92 GAA

NSH

Juuse Saros - 15-13-3 | 0.897 SV% | 2.93 GAA

Stat	UTA	NSH
Season SV%	0.879	0.897
Last 5 SV%	—	—
SV% vs Opponent	—	—
GAA	2.92	2.93

Last 5 / vs opponent shown when available in goalie stats. Confirmed goalie row used when available; otherwise current projected starter is shown.

Goalie Game Metrics

Team	Goalie	SA	Saves	GA	SV%	xGA	HD Faced	GSAx
UTA	Vitek Vanecek	26	22	4	84.6%	2.78	3	-1.22
NSH	Juuse Saros	31	28	3	90.3%	3.75	2	0.75

SA uses shots on goal plus goals. xGA, high-danger faced, and GSAx use modeled scoring attempts against. GSAx is xGA minus goals against.

Head-to-Head History

Model accuracy in this matchup: 71% • UTA at home vs NSH: 1-2

Date	Score	Winner	Model Pick
2026-04-09	UTA 4 - 1 NSH	UTA	UTA
2026-01-24	NSH 2 - 5 UTA	UTA	UTA
2025-12-29	UTA 3 - 4 NSH	NSH	UTA
2025-10-11	NSH 2 - 3 UTA	UTA	UTA
2025-04-14	NSH 3 - 7 UTA	UTA	UTA

Shot Quality by Period

Period	Team	Shots	High Danger	xG
1	UTA	18	1	1.61
1	NSH	9	0	0.45
2	UTA	17	1	1.06
2	NSH	13	1	0.84
3	UTA	17	0	1.07
3	NSH	15	2	1.48

Shots are modeled attempts: shots on goal, goals, and missed shots. Blocked shots are excluded. High danger is xG >= 0.20.

🎯 Shot Chart

📈 Post-Game Analysis

Prediction Result

❌ Incorrect

Confidence: 72.6%

Total Goals

Actual: 7.0

Expected: 6.0

Score Breakdown