Brady Skjei nets his first goal with the Predators, but Nashville suffers its third straight loss to open the season.
The Nashville Predators were doomed by poor team defense Tuesday and could not withstand a third-period ambush from the Seattle Kraken, falling by a final score of 7-3 at Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators fell behind 2-0 early as the Kraken kicked things off with Ryker Evans beating a screened Juuse Saros for a goal at 3:37 and Oliver Bjorkstrand cashing in on an odd man rush at 7:07.
Nashville began to claw back at the end of the first period, courtesy of its bottom-six forwards. Making his 2024-25 season debut for the Predators, Juuso Pärssinen passed a backhander to Michael McCarron, who beat Joey Daccord to cut Seattle's lead to 2-1 at 14:47. Just over two minutes later, Tommy Novak won the puck behind the Seattle net then took a backdoor pass from Mark Jankowski and scored on a wide open net to tie the game at 2-2.
Seattle retook the lead right before the first intermission, when Brandon Tanev tipped in Brandon Montour's shot from the point.
The Predators played a solid second period and tied the score once again at 3-3. After Jonathan Marchessault retaliated on Tye Kartye for a boarding penalty, Brady Skjei quickly buried the rebound off a Filip Forsberg shot after Nashville won the face-off at 4-on-4.
Things quickly unraveled early in the third period, however, as the Predators allowed another goal off a rush to Jaden Schwartz, who beat Juuse Saros glove-side on a forehand-to-backhand.
Jordan Eberle made it 5-3 at 2:40 on a wrist shot on a pass from Jared McCann, who later gave the Kraken a 6-3 lead at 11:57 on a pass from Matty Beniers in the crease. Adam Larsson scored into the empty net at 17:56 for the 7-3 final.
With the loss, Nashville falls to 0-3-0 on the season. They host the winless Edmonton Oilers Thursday.