Milwaukee Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor shares his takeaways after Nashville's game one loss to the Lightning in the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase.
Milwaukee Admirals Head Coach Karl Taylor shares his takeaways after Nashville's game one loss to the Lightning in the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase.
"More of the good stuff, less of the bad."
That is what Karl Taylor is looking for in Nashville's second game at the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase against the Florida Panthers prospects.
The Predators rookies took a 2-0 lead against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday afternoon, but game up four goals in a row before a late score by Joakim Kemell made it a one goal game. After the 4-3 loss, Karl Taylor talked about what he saw from the team.
Joakim Kemell's two goal performance
"I thought he played great," Taylor said of 19-year-old Joakim Kemell.
"He's got an elite shot. He can really shoot the puck," Taylor added.
Kemell played 14 regular season games for the Milwaukee Admirals after his season in Finland came to an end and scored six goals and 13 points. During Milwaukee's postseason run, Kemell played 14 games and scored eight goals. Several of those postseason goals were one timers from the same spot as the goal against the Lightning late in the third period of game one.
Kemell has invested a lot of time in that shot.
"I used to shoot a lot of one timers and wristers," he said after the game. "It's always fun just to rip the puck."
Kemell played on a line with Jachym Kondelik and Reid Schaefer against the Lightning.
Managing momentum
Taylor liked the energy he saw from the rookies in their first game, but would like to see the team manage the momentum of the game a bit better.
"I think we were a little tentative early. Then you get a lead, and then we kind of sat back a little bit," Taylor said in his postgame interview.
"We let them get back into the game. They got some confidence and then when we had a chance to take it away, we didn't."
Managing the momentum of the game is one part of the learning process for the young group at the showcase. The rookies have had limited ice time together as a team and are just beginning to implement basic systems ahead of training camp. With some of the first game nerves out of the way, the players may show more consistent energy from the players as the weekend progresses.
Aggressive play
The Predators visited the penalty box five times and the Lightning converted on two of those chances, but Taylor doesn't want to pull back on the aggressive play. The penalties are not a big concern in the first game of a rookie showcase before training camp begins.
"We want them to make mistakes," Taylor said. "We want to win the game in the moment obviously. We had lots of good looks to try and tie it up."
"We're going to try and win every game we play here, but it's more about the guys understanding how we want to play."
Taylor isn't worried about the penalties from today's game and hopes the players can use their remaining ice time to get ready for training camp beginning next week.
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