Things continued to go poorly for the Preds. Already without Ryan O’Reilly for the second game in a row, they lost Alex Carrier to injury in the third.
After a slow start to the game for both teams, Jacob Bernard-Docker got the Sens on the board at 5:07 of the second period. The Preds promptly turned the puck over to give Ottawa another chance, but Juuse Saros bailed them out.
The Preds gave up their second power play of the game — and almost gave up their third as well — late in the second. Again the penalty killers and Saros turned in a good performance, but it wasn’t what they needed from the period.
It only got worse for them a few moments later, when Claude Giroux tipped a shot to make it 2-0 Ottawa with just over three minutes remaining. Cole Smith and Zack Ostapchuk fought to close out the period, but that didn’t accomplish anything the Preds needed either.
Nashville’s troubles continued into the third, as Brady Tkachuk collided with Carrier, who bounced off the boards and then off of the ice, and had to be helped off.
Despite finally getting a power play of their own, the Preds weren’t able to score, and gave up a third goal to Nick Cousins on a breakaway just when they’d finally managed to get a good stretch of offense put together.
It was too late to make a difference to the result, but with 1:57 left in the game, Fedor Svechkov got the Preds on the board, then saved an empty-net goal when Andrew Brunette decided to pull Saros for the extra attacker just to see. A good performance from a talented young player was a very welcome end to the evening.