Tonight’s game between the Predators and the Ducks started slow, before picking up speed in a really unfortunate way as Juuso Pärssinen and Trevor Zegras collided, a tangle which led to Zegras needing help off the ice.
Halfway through the first, the Preds got a chance on the power play after a very strong shift from the top line and top pairing, which ended with Roman Josi drawing a tripping penalty from Ryan Strome. The Preds got some zone time on the power play, but didn’t score, and Strome intercepted a pass on his way out of the penalty box and immediately put it past Juuse Saros to get the Ducks on the board at 11:12.
Luke Schenn followed up a TV-timeout interview where he told Bally Sports South’s Kara Hammer that the Preds needed to change the tone with a fight with Ross Johnston. It didn’t seem to have an appreciable effect on the tone, as the teams continued to trade intermittent looks and the Preds continued to make some unsettling turnovers.
While Saros made the stop on one of those turnovers, he wasn’t able to stop a double deflection moments later, as a shot pinballed off Frankie Vatrano, then Ryan McDonagh, and into the Preds’ net. The Ducks continued to press, the Preds struggled to regroup, Filip Forsberg took a cross-checking penalty, and Mason McTavish promptly made it 3-0 on the power play at 17:37.
Ryan O’Reilly almost got the Preds on the board with under a minute to go in the period, but Lukáš Dostál had the save, and the teams headed to intermission with no further change in score. While Cody Glass had a good chance early in the second period, Dostál had the save, and Troy Terry scored not long after to make it 4-0 Ducks at 3:05.
Halfway through the period, Nashville managed a flurry in front of the Ducks’ net that had Phil Tomasino, Cody Glass, and Michael McCarron all getting a good look. Again Dostál was up to the task, and a late Preds power play and an attempted buzzer-beater were similarly unsuccessful.
The third period began with more of the same. Radko Gudas tripped Filip Forsberg early, and O’Reilly and Cole Smith took exception, but Gudas was the only one to get called on the play. The Preds got another chance on the power play, but again failed to convert. Gudas, fresh out of the penalty box, banked his own rebound in off of Saros to make it 5-0 Ducks at 3:16.
Glass took a hooking penalty, and Gustav Nyquist and Alex Carrier got the Preds on the board with a shorthanded goal at 9:44. Unlike Strome and Gudas, Glass wasn’t able to score on his way out of the box, but the Preds did at least kill the penalty off before that. Glass took another penalty a few minutes later, maybe hoping for another shorthanded goal since nothing else had worked, and it almost but not quite did.
Tomasino made it 5-2 at the end of a huge shift by his line, while McCarron was taking exception to Gudas for a hit on Tommy Novak. The Preds kept pushing, finally energized. With the goalie pulled, Denis Gurianov scored again at 19:16 for his first as a Pred, making it 5-3. It wasn’t enough for the win, but it was a great response from a team that got off to a very bad start.