Takeaways: Too Many Penalties And Dominant Goaltending Doom Nashville Predators In Carolina

The Nashville Predators were unable to keep their momentum from the last week going in Raleigh on Saturday.

Stellar goaltending by a 22-year-old rookie goaltender and too many penalties hurt the Predators in a 6-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center.

Taylor Hall, Nikolaj Ehlers, William Carrier, Jackson Blake (2) and Sebastian Aho scored for the Hurricanes.

Michael Bunting, Matthew Wood and Filip Forsberg tallied goals for the Predators, all coming in the third period after the Canes had built a 5-0 lead.

Wood, who took a crushing hit in the first period, shook it off and scored two points in the loss. Forsberg's goal gave him 700 career NHL points.

Juuse Saros was pulled in favor of Justus Annunen in the third period after allowing six goals on 39 shots faced.

Carolina dominated in shots on goal, 41-24. Rookie goaltender Brandon Bussi moved his record to 8-1 on the season, stopping 21 of 24 shots faced.

The goals from Hall, Ehlers and Carrier accounted for Carolina’s three first-period goals. After they built a 5-0 lead, Bunting finally got Nashville on the board with a power-play goal at 6:26 of the third period.

Blake restored the five-goal lead at 8:12 before Wood and Forsberg attempted to bring the Preds back. The desperate rally fell short, and the Canes escaped with the 6-3 victory.

The Preds came into the game winners of four of their last five. Saturday night, however, they reverted back to some of the familiar negative patterns that have haunted them over the course of the season. Here are three takeaways from the game.

The Canes started 22-year-old undrafted rookie Brandon Bussi in net. On the surface, it might have appeared to be an advantage for the Preds, particularly with the way they have been playing lately.

Dig deeper into Bussi’s numbers, and you’ll see a 7-1 record with a 2.11 goals-against average and .908 save percentage coming into Saturday.

The Canes’ defense has protected their goalie well; in a shutout victory over Calgary Nov. 30, Bussi made 15 saves in a 1-0 overtime win. He made 15 or fewer saves in two consecutive games.

This is by no means a knock on Bussi’s talent. Just ask the Predators. The rookie made numerous key stops, including at least three on Steven Stamkos, who came into the game with six points over his last five games.

The Canes’ defense did play their part, controlling puck possession and not allowing the Preds to get too much traffic in front of the net. The Preds finally woke up in the final 20 minutes with three goals, but it was too little, too late.

Still, it was a bleak showing for a team that appeared to be turning a corner.

One aspect of the game that has haunted the Preds at times throughout the season is spending too much time in the sin bin.

Nashville went 6-for-6 on the penalty kill in their victory in Florida on Thursday. They accumulated four in the first period alone against the Canes, leading to two power play goals for Carolina.

Reid Schaefer’s unsportsmanlike penalty was justified, since he was defending his teammate, Matthew Wood, who was flattened by Alexander Nikishin. The slashing, delay of game and holding calls really hurt the Preds in the period.

Hague’s delay-of-game for putting the puck over the glass led to the Canes’ second goal, just 11 seconds into their 5-on-3 advantage.

The Preds’ penalty kill came into the game 15-of-84 (82.1%), putting them 11th overall. Although they were 19th in penalty minutes before Saturday’s game, they still have a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot by piling up minutes in the box. Saturday was one such night.

One almost has to hold their breath anytime a Preds player takes a big hit or comes up limping, the way the injuries have been taking their toll.

That was certainly the case when the Canes’ Alexander Nikishin flattened Matthew Wood in the first period. Wood was slow to get up, and it led to the unsportsmanlike penalty called on Reid Schaefer by defending his teammate.

Fortunately, Wood was OK and tallied two points in the game. The Preds had five inactive players prior to Saturday’s contest: Justin Barron (lower body, injured reserve), Ozzy Weisblatt (upper body, injured reserve), Nick Perbix (upper body, day-to-day), Zach L'Heureux (lower body, injured reserve), Cole Smith (upper body, injured reserve).

This does not excuse the Preds’ poor play against the Canes. Many teams around the NHL are battling injuries to multiple players, a number of them star-caliber. It is a concern, nonetheless.