Head coach John Hynes, Mattias Ekholm, and Ryan Johansen talk inconsistency and momentum after last night's 4-1 loss to Dallas.
The Nashville Predators dropped their first home game of the season last night to central division rival Dallas Stars in a 4-1 defeat. After two wins in the Global Series to start the regular season, both head coach John Hynes and Predators fans at Bridgestone Arena hoped for a better result. Inconsistency was a problem for the Predators throughout the game.
"I thought we were sporadic," Hynes said after the game. "There were certain times in the game where you could see we had it, but it was very inconsistent."
-"I thought our execution wasn't where it needed to be today," Hynes continued. "Our decisions, our execution with the puck wasn't what it needed to be. And special teams were a difference in the game too."
Special teams play sparked significant momentum shifts in the game. The Stars capitalized on two of their four power play chances, while Nashville couldn't profit on any of their five man-advantage opportunities.
"Their power play gave them momentum. Ours didn't tonight, so that's something we'll have to work on," defenseman Mattias Ekholm stated.
"Some of it was self-inflicted tonight," Ryan Johansen agreed. "A few too many penalties, but we'll look at the game and go through it."
It would be easy to chalk the momentum shifts and inconsistency up to travel fatigue, but neither Hynes nor the players were interested in using that as an excuse.
"There's no sense blaming it on that at all because it doesn't matter," Johansen asserted. "It is what it is. We had to be ready to play our best game and we weren't."
Hynes agreed.
"It's the challenge of the schedule. I felt the guys had some good energy the last couple days, but tonight we played a team that played very well. We just didn't have enough push back in our game to get more consistency in the way you need to play to win."
Nashville gets a second chance to make a first impression in the second half of the back to back Saturday night at American Airlines Center. After last night's disappointing loss, the team is ready to learn from their own home opener and perhaps return the favor at Dallas' home opener tomorrow night.
"It's nice going into their barn here for their home opener to rebound for sure," Ekholm said.
Hynes summarized the loss and looked ahead to the rematch.
"Credit to Dallas. I thought they played very well. But for us, we just didn't have the level that we normally play with. We'll have to rest up and be a better group on Saturday."
The Predators get their second chance against the Stars at 7:00 pm CT tomorrow night.
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Predators -1, Stars - 4: Johansen Scores Only Goal in Loss