Juuse Saros pulled in the first after a disastrous start the Nashville Predators couldn't dig out of.
Last night's game against the Seattle Kraken was a chance for Nashville to show the team was finally on the right track after putting together two back to back wins. Instead, their sixty minutes of hockey at Climate Pledge Arena just emphasized the struggles and inconsistencies that continue to plague the Predators.
The game began much like the Vancouver game Saturday night - with Juuse Saros letting in an early goal from a low danger area just :38 seconds into the game. It was a save one would expect Saros to normally make, but the early goal was made possible because of lackluster defense in all three zones. Saros couldn't stop four the Kraken's first six shots and was pulled from the game at 16:25 in the first period with Seattle up 4-0.
It would be easy to place the blame for the abysmal start at the feet of a struggling Saros, but the reality is that this poor start was a total team failure. An offensive zone turnover and a two on one chance resulted in a rebound goal for the Kraken while the Predators appeared to merely spectate in the slot at 7:29. Nino Niederreiter and Ryan McDonagh both turned the puck over in the defensive zone leaving Saros out to try on two more first period goals.
Nashville was able to push back in Saturday's game against the Canucks, but offensively the Predators weren't able to finish their chances in Seattle. Filip Forsberg scored the only goal of the evening after blocking a pass in the defensive zone and taking it all the way to the net for Nashville's single score of the evening.
It might seem easy to pin this loss on Saros who has had a rocky start this season, especially early in games. That would be underselling the battle the Predators are going to have trying to correct and clean up mistakes up and down he lineup that spanned all 200 feet of ice last night. The Predators defense hung Saros and at times Kevin Lankinen out to dry, couldn't finish offensively even on high danger chances, and yet again executed poorly on two anemic power play opportunities.
After the game, Captain Roman Josi evaluated the performance with a somewhat measured response.
-"Like I said, I didn't think we played that bad. The goals they got we kind of gave to them and they were massive chances in front of our net. So, we've got to clear that up. Obviously you can't give a team that many grade-A looks and that's definitely something we need to be better at."
It certainly could be argued that Nashville ran into a hot goaltender in Martin Jones (who finished the game with a .960 save percentage), the Kraken were gifted golden opportunities and capitalized on every one, and the Predators high danger chances reveal the team was actually more competitive than the final score reflected. But in the end, this loss means the team hasn't yet found their stride and, though it is still early in the season, the pressure to turn things around continues to rise.
The Predators must reset quickly before they take on the reigning Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night in Denver.