The Preds returned home to host the Kings in a high-stakes game, and it didn’t go the way they were hoping.
The Kings opened the game strongly, and a brief Nashville pushback was interrupted by a brutal Luke Evangelista turnover, promptly followed by a Carl Grundström goal at 8:51. The Preds got their skates back under them after that, putting some chances on David Rittich, and Tommy Novak eventually drew a slashing penalty with 1:01 left in the period, sending Matt Roy to the box and the Preds to the power play.
Los Angeles killed the penalty smoothly, helped out by the intermission and what looked like a certain lack of urgency on the Preds’ part, and play returned to five on five. Dante Fabbro then committed a holding penalty, and Colton Sissons got a pair of good shorthanded chances on the breakaway, but Rittich made even better saves.
While the Preds were able to kill off the penalty itself, they weren’t able to stem the tide, and Alex Turcotte–totally undefended–made it 2-0 just eleven seconds after the penalty expired. It looked as if Tyson Barrie got it back shortly after, but Cody Glass was determined to have interfered with Rittich, and the goal was overturned, to the displeasure of the Bridgestone Arena crowd.
Nashville continued to try to get it back, this time for real, but continued to meet with no success. The second period wound to a close with no further score. The Preds got another power-play opportunity early when Drew Doughty interfered with Cole Smith, but one of the best chances of the power play was Anže Kopitar shorthanded.
However, the Preds continued to press once Doughty was released, hemming the Kings in around Rittich’s net, and Filip Forsberg managed to get the Preds on the board at 5:15 just after a shot that rang iron. He’d been out for the entire power play before that–a 2:24 shift in total. Pierre-Luc Dubois then took a penalty of his own, hooking Ryan McDonagh as McDonagh activated.
Unfortunately, just 16 seconds in, Ryan O’Reilly took a penalty of his own, and the teams played 4v4 for a bit before Kevin Fiala took a holding penalty. Nashville continued to push, hitting two more posts, but the next goal was scored by Trevor Lewis, after a fantastic play by Quinton Byfield to retain possession and set him up.
With just 6:40 remaining in the period, and a two-goal deficit they were struggling to close, the Preds were at a severe disadvantage. Josi hit the post again, the Preds’ fourth of the period, and then a few moments later made a phenomenal pass through most of the players on the ice to set Phil Tomasino up to make it 3-2 with 3:25 to go.
Gus Nyquist almost tied it up with Saros pulled for the extra skater, but instead Fiala scored into the empty net with 1:09 remaining. Saros left again, but the Preds weren’t able to manage anything 6v5, and the final buzzer sounded on a regulation loss.