Takeaways from Predators 5-3 Loss to Ducks

The Nashville Predators played probably their best game of the season Saturday night against the Dallas Stars on the road and then came home and played possibly their worst game of the season at Bridgestone Arena Tuesday night against the Anaheim Ducks. 

It was another maddening swing in a season with plenty of ups and downs at the halfway point. At different points in the season, the Predators have gone 1-4 on a five game road trip but also went on a six game win streak. The back to back great and then terrible performances have many fans feeling confused about who this resetting Predators team really is. 

Last night's game was no exception. The Predators got off to what Andrew Brunette referred to as one of their worst starts allowing the Ducks to score three goals in the opening period.  There were a few highs in the game, but a handful of concerning and repetitive lows in the loss.  

The Predators made a late push in the third period to keep the game from being a shutout for Lukas Dostal who did a good job handling 39/42 shots on goal by the Predators. Alexandre Carrier scored the first shorthanded goal of his career at 9:45 to get Nashville on the board. Tenacious puck pursuit by Michael McCarron set up Phil Tomasino for a goal at 17:02, and Denis Gurianov scored his first goal as a Nashville Predator in a net front flurry at 19:15 to get the Predators within two late. 

Nashville generated late game momentum that can hopefully carry over as they face the Dallas Stars on the road Friday night. 

With the assist on Carrier's shorthanded goal, Gus Nyquist extended his point streak to nine games. That is currently the longest active point streak in the NHL ahead of Connor McDavid and Artemi Panarin.

The goal was also Carrier's first career shorthanded goal. 

"For me, that first period was our worst period of the year," Andrew Brunette said after the game. 

Nashville earned the first power play of the game midway through the first period as Ryan Strome sat for a trip, but instead of capitalizing on the man advantage or building on momentum from the power play, Strome scored right out of the box. 

Three minutes later a tip went off the skate of Ryan McDonagh and in the net, and a late penalty by Filip Forsberg resulted in a power play goal to give Anaheim a 3-0 lead after twenty minutes of play. 

"It was a very poor start for us, lack of urgency, lack of winning puck battles, and compete," Ryan McDonagh said after the game. "Dig a hole like that, it's tough to come back."

After stringing together three home wins in mid December, the Predators have gone 1-5 at Bridgestone Arena since December 19. While three of the visiting teams are expected to make postseason runs, Nashville hasn't had a strong showing at home even in their shutout win over the second to last team in the league, Chicago Blackhawks. 

"I don't know if we just let the game come to us too much instead of trying to dictate," Ryan McDonagh speculated when asked about the home losses.

"It's a mindset. We've got to be prepared. Get yourself ready all day. It's a mentality. Like I said, it's something we can control and there's no excuses about it."

Last night's game does little to help Juuse Saros' season stats as he finished with a .848 save percentage, although the statistics don't tell the full story of goaltending in the game. Three of Anaheim's five goals were deflected past Saros off of a teammate, so the loss can't strictly be chalked up to a poor performance in net. 

Still, the stats are concerning. Saros has gone 1-3-1 in his last five starts for an .834 save percentage over that stretch and was pulled in two of those five games. While Saros earned a shutout in the January 2 game against the Blackhawks, it's been awhile since we've seen a "vintage Saros" performance. Andrew Brunette believes part of that is because of the play in front of Saros, which was an issue again last night against the Ducks. 

"I thought he was good at times," Brunette said of Saros in his post game press conference. 

"We didn't really give him a chance tonight to get his game going. We were sloppy. We were slow. We lost every puck battle all around him, all around our zone. Didn't give him a chance. Didn't give him a fair shake."

The Predators will have to sit in the disappointment and frustration of last night's loss as they prepare for Friday's road game back in Dallas against the Stars.