NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Steven Stamkos rediscovered his scoring touch with a four-goal outing Thursday night, and it’s no coincidence that the Nashville Predators‘ trajectory is suddenly pointing up.

After a slow start to the season, Stamkos now has eight goals in his past eight outings, which coincides with the Predators going 6-2 over that stretch following a 7-2 win over the St. Louis Blues.

“I’m going to have to remember what I ate for breakfast. When you get to my age sometimes you forget,” said the 35-year-old, who opened the season with four goals in his first 22 games. “Sometimes you feel the legs are feeling light and tonight, when you score one early in the game, I think that’s the feeling you have. And it was nice to contribute in a big win for our group.”

The four-goal outing was the second of Stamkos’ 18-year career. He previously scored four times in a 7-4 win at Edmonton on Dec. 14, 2023, while with the Tampa Bay Lightning. And he became just the fourth Predators player to score four times, joining Filip Forsberg and Rocco Grimaldi (both in 2021) and Eric Nystrom (2014).

Stamkos opened the scoring 8:22 in by batting in his own rebound on a 2-on-1 break. He made it 2-0 less than three minutes later by converting a rebound in front after Jordan Binnington stopped Roman Josi’s initial shot from the blue line.

He then completed his 15th career hat trick with a shot from the high slot that deflected in off the skate of Blues defenseman Justin Faulk 12:06 into the second period. And his fourth goal made it 6-2 and came 3:27 later, when Josi’s shot deflected onto Stamkos’ stick in front, from where he backhanded it in behind Binnington.

It was his 102nd career multigoal game, the third-most among active players behind only Alex Ovechkin (181) and Sidney Crosby (110). And he became the first player age 35-or-older with a 4-goal game since Anze Kopitar in 2023.

Stamkos, the No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft, also is closing in on becoming the 22nd player to reach 600 goals. Stamkos now has 594, leaving him seven short of matching Jari Kurri.

“It’s a little surreal, to be honest, when you look at the history of this league and how many great players there’s been,” he said of the milestone.

What mattered more was the win.

In his second season in Nashville, Stamkos was part of the Predators’ 2024 offseason major spending spree that failed to pan out with the team missing the playoffs last season. Nashville (12-14-4) followed by getting off to a slow start to this season before its recent run inching the team closer into contention.

“It hasn’t quite worked out the way that we wanted to in terms of the success we’ve had as a team. But we’re rolling right now,” Stamkos said. “I think we’re playing some hockey that people probably expected us to play, and expected of ourselves. And we want to keep that going.”

Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.

The dates for the first nine-game SEC schedule were released on Thursday, and all eyes are on Sept. 19, when Lane Kiffin and LSU return to Ole Miss after Kiffin’s dramatic exit for Baton Rouge.

Among other marquee games scheduled for 2026: Georgia travels to Alabama on Oct. 10 after they split two matchups in 2025: Alabama won in Athens and Georgia won in Atlanta in the SEC title game.

On Nov. 14, Arch Manning returns to his home state of Louisiana with Texas to face LSU, as former USC and Alabama colleagues Steve Sarkisian and Kiffin face off.

The following week, on Nov. 21, Kiffin leads LSU into Knoxville against Tennessee, which also was jilted by Kiffin after one season in 2009.

Kiffin is one of six SEC coaches in new places: Pete Golding at Ole Miss, Will Stein at Kentucky, Ryan Silverfield at Arkansas, Alex Golesh at Auburn and Jon Sumrall at Florida.

Stein debuts in the SEC’s first league matchup on Sept. 12, when Alabama travels to Kentucky. There are two other marquee matchups that week, when Oklahoma travels to Michigan and Ohio State visits Texas. The following week, Alabama gets a home rematch against Florida State, who beat the Tide in Week 1 of the 2025 season, and Sumrall and Golesh meet in the first Florida-Auburn game on the Plains since 2011.

On Rivalry Week, Texas at Texas A&M remains on Friday, Nov. 27, but the Egg Bowl moves to Saturday, with Mississippi State facing Golding and Ole Miss in Oxford, along with the Iron Bowl, with Auburn visiting Alabama.

The new format also allows for some new fan experiences. On Sept. 26, Texas visits Neyland Stadium and Tennessee for the first time in history for a battle for UT supremacy. On Oct. 17, Kentucky visits Oklahoma for the first time in 46 years, and the Sooners travel to Mississippi State for their first-ever meeting. Texas A&M rekindles an old Big 12 rivalry against Oklahoma in Norman, the first time the two have met since 2011.

In order to work out the new scheduling rules, some teams will play road games for a second straight year against the same team, like Arkansas, which returns to Texas, and Texas A&M, which returns to Missouri.

The additional conference game has limited the amount of programs playing smaller teams in nonconference matchups in Week 12, traditionally a tune-up game before rivalry week. This year, there are just four such games on Nov. 21: Alabama (UT-Chattanooga), Auburn (Samford), Ole Miss (Wofford) and Mississippi State (Tennessee Tech).

The league also sought to preserve three annual rivalries for each team, with the remaining six games rotating among the remaining schools. Each team will face every other SEC program at least once every two years and every opponent in a home and away over a four-year span.

As part of the restructured schedule, the league said each school will be required to schedule at least one Power 4 opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Notre Dame.

The top two teams in league standings based on winning percentage will play in the SEC Championship in Atlanta on Dec. 5.

Former Michigan football coach Sherrone Moore, who remains in custody as a suspect in an alleged assault, is expected to appear in court for arraignment on Friday, the Pittsfield Charter Township (Michigan) Department of Public Safety announced Thursday.

The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office told ESPN that it does not expect a decision Thursday on whether to file criminal charges against Moore. Authorities have yet to release details about Moore’s arrest, other than to say that he remains under investigation.

Moore was incarcerated at the Washtenaw County Jail on Wednesday, just hours after he was fired as the Wolverines’ football coach for having what the school said was an “inappropriate relationship with a staff member.”

“The matter involving Mr. Moore remains under active investigation by law enforcement, and as a result, we do not expect charging decisions or an arraignment today,” Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Liz Mack said Thursday. “Mr. Moore remains in custody at the Washtenaw County Jail.”

Pittsfield police released a statement Wednesday night saying they responded at 4:10 p.m. to the 3000 block of Ann Arbor Saline Road “for the purposes of investigating an alleged assault. … A suspect in this case was taken into custody. This incident does not appear to be random in nature, and there appears to be no ongoing threat to the community.”

Moore was initially detained by police in Saline, Michigan, on Wednesday and turned over to authorities in Pittsfield Township “for investigation into potential charges.”

Michigan fired Moore on Wednesday following an investigation into his conduct with a staff member.

“U-M head football coach Sherrone Moore has been terminated, with cause, effective immediately,” the school said in a statement. “Following a University investigation, credible evidence was found that Coach Moore engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.”

The university initially investigated Moore this fall after receiving a tip about the situation but did not find credible evidence of wrongdoing, a source told ESPN. More information came forward Wednesday that the source said was “overwhelming” and led to Moore’s immediate dismissal.

Moore, 39, spent two seasons as Michigan’s coach after serving as the team’s offensive coordinator.