Andrew Brunette on Predators Loss to Flames: "They Exposed Us"

The Nashville Predators were hoping to get a home win over a Western Conference team Thursday night but found themselves outplayed by the Calgary Flames in a 6-3 loss.

"We got what we deserved."

That is how Filip Forsberg summed up the Predators' performance and loss Thursday night against the Flames. 

"It was definitely not good enough," Forsberg said.

The Predators had hoped to get off to a quick start, play a solid sixty minute game, and get a win on home ice, but none of those things happened in the 6-3 loss to the Flames. 

"I think we talked about it," Andrew Brunette said of expectations. "We knew the importance of this game. We discussed how home ice means something, how we want to establish our game, how we want to dictate, how we wanted to win battles, how we wanted to outcompete them."

"We did none of them."

The Predators went down by two goals early in the game after Connor Zary scored a power play goal, and a half a minute later Juuse Saros fumbled a shot from the circle by Blake Coleman that ended up in the net. 

Nashville's top line answered back quickly as FIlip Forsberg cleaned up a puck in front of goaltender Dan Vladar. Nazem Kadri stole the puck from Roman Josi and skated the length of the ice to put the Flames up 3-1 midway through the period. Colton Sissons got the Predators back within a goal after he tipped in a shot from Dante Fabbro, but Rasmus Andersson scored from the slot to make it a 4-2 game at the end of the first. 

Juuse Saros held up under pressure better in the second period, but the Predators again gave up a late period goal to give Calgary a three goal lead. In the third period, Vladar bobbled Michael McCarron's shot from the blue line for Nashville third goal and the Predators pushed offensively. With just under sic minutes left in the game, Kevin Lankinen, who came in in the third period for Saros, turned the puck over behind the net resulting in the Flames' sixth goal.

"It was a tough feeling tonight for the effort and importance of the game for us," defenseman Ryan McDonagh said postgame. 

"For us to put that kind of a display was not great."

"A lot of sloppy hockey, a lot of slow twitch thinking and playing, not ready to start. Pretty much everything," Andrew Brunette said when asked what he saw in the game. 

"I don't think we did anything well."

Brunette explained the decision to pull Saros for the third period and have back up Lankinen finish the game.

"I thought [Saros] kept us in the second period," Brunette said. "We weren't very good in the second either for the most part. So I think we're probably thinking let's just get [Lankinen] some time. We'll make a decision for Saturday. Lanks hasn't played for a bit."

"You know, we weren't played very good hockey," Brunette went on to say. "Didn't want to leave [Saros] in there. It wasn't on him. It was on our group."

"Our group. for whatever reason, didn't understand the importance of tonight."

Brunette was asked how much of the poor performance was a mental issue and how much was on ice execution. He felt it was a bit of everything.

"You could say the execution wasn't great. To me it was a little more the mindset. We just, we weren't on our game for one, and we weren't ready to compete at the level they were."

Brunette credited the Flames with coming out and playing at a higher level than the Predators. 

"Credit to them. As upset as you are that we didn't get to our game, I thought they did a heck of a job early, Brunette said. "I thought they played really fast."

"They started fast and they dictated the play, and we got caught on our heels. Took us a long time to get off our heels and a little bit on our toes. I thought in the third period we started pushing and then, unfortunately, a misplayed goalie handle and that was it."

"I think they just played faster. They moved the puck faster," Brunette said. "They exposed us."