Roman Josi, Matt Duchene, and head coach John Hynes addressed the Nashville Predators 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights after the game.
The Nashville Predators had hoped to continue their winning ways at home Tuesday night as they returned to action after an extended All Star break, but the game certainly didn't play out like the players, coaches, or fans had hoped for.
"It just wasn't a good game," Captain Roman Josi said in the locker room following the Predators 5-1 loss that saw the team record only 17 shots on goal.
"We had a good start," Josi explained, referring Matt Duchene's goal at 5:04 in the first period. "And then just gave them a couple easy goals. It wasn't good enough, obviously."
The Golden Knights scored two quick goals within two minutes of Duchene's goal and added another five minutes later to give Vegas a 3-1 first period lead the Golden Knights continued to build on as the game progressed.
Josi didn't shy away from taking responsibility for his part in two of those first period goals.
"I've got to be better. I pretty much gave them two goals in the first."
While Josi had a jumbled play at the blue line that led to a breakaway and couldn't corral a puck in the neutral zone that resulted in a rush chance, the struggles were across the board tonight for the Predators. Not a player on Nashville's roster performed exceptionally well, the team had fifteen giveaways, and Juuse Saros finished the night with an .862 save percentage.
"You don't want to make excuses," Matt Duchene said after the game. "We weren't as sharp as we would have liked to be. We got what we deserved tonight."
Head coach John Hynes wasn't interested in excuses either.
"We weren't good in a lot of facets and there's no excuses for it."
Hynes cited speed, consistency in competitive level, and getting away from the style of game that has brought the team recent success as factors in the loss.
"We wanted to play a skill game when there was no time or space. We go back in that first period...a lot of turnovers, a lot of east-west plays, and the plays weren't there. That caused them [Vegas] to be able to transition back."
The Predators only recorded 17 shots on goal, with eleven of those coming in the third period. Hynes felt like the lack of offense was partly due to the puck possession game, missed opportunities, and poor execution.
"We weren't competitive enough to be able to get all the pucks to sustain offense," he stated. "I thought they [Vegas] did a pretty good job of blocking shots, but we had a lot of shots that went wide, missed the net, and some of them were in grade A scoring chances. If you want to generate shots and chances you've got to execute on those rush plays."
Hynes continued, "It also goes back to the offensive zone - having a competitive level that gives you a chance to stay in the offensive zone, a shot mentality, retrieval mentality. When we're playing our best hockey, that's what we're doing."
While Josi, Duchene, and Hynes were each disappointed in the performance Tuesday night, they were committed to preparing well for the next game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon.
"We have to use the time that's given to us and we have to use it wisely," Hynes said of the three day break until the Predators return to action. "We have to get some answers. Why did it occur? And then the next one is how are we going to make sure that we are a better team and playing a the level that we need to play at - that we know we can play at - against Philadelphia?"
"It's disappointing, but three days here and we'll be ready for Philly," Duchene said. "I know this team is hungry, and maybe losing this one's the best thing that could happen with how we played tonight so we get back in gear."
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