Kevin Lankinen got a rare start this evening as the Preds hit the road, and he made the most of it. The Preds set a new franchise record, a sixteen-game point streak, with a commanding win over one of the league’s best teams.
Roman Josi got a strong chance as the teams traded looks early, before Jason Zucker and Nick Cousins traded punches at 4:02 and both took a seat for five. Carter Verhaege took a hooking penalty–and the Preds got him off the ice–but Nashville was unable to convert on the power play, as the Panthers’ elite penalty kill shut them down.
Another great Preds chance came not long after, as Ryan O’Reilly got a great shot on Sergei Bobrovsky, who made a spectacular and athletic save to stop it. The Preds continued to attack, piling on the pressure in an overwhelming first period, and were finally rewarded as Gustav Nyquist made it to the blue ice, collected a short-range pass from Filip Forsberg, and got the Preds on the board at 17:47.
Cole Smith and Jonah Gadjovich promptly dropped the gloves, and play resumed after they’d been separated. With 28 seconds left in the period, Josi got caught tripping Matthew Tkachuk, and the Panthers got their first chance on the power play.
While Nashville was able to kill off the penalty, the Panthers took the momentum from their power play and ran with it. Lankinen and the defenders were kept busy until the Preds finally managed to get the puck back. Not long after, Oliver Ekman-Larsson tripped Zucker, and the Preds got another power play of their own.
Forsberg did a beautiful job of tipping a Tyson Barrie shot-pass on the power play, adding to the Preds’ lead at 7:32, and the Preds continued to press, with Kiefer Sherwood making a valiant effort to add another right away. Bobrovsky had that one, however, and the Panthers began to find their way back into the Nashville zone.
Lankinen had a big save on Evan Rodrigues off the rush, then another flurry of saves a few minutes later as Alex Carrier took a hit to the face and went down. The Preds weren’t able to get the puck back more than briefly, though Michael McCarron had a great chance on one of Nashville’s brief possessions. With just a couple of minutes left in the second, the Preds finally managed to break out of their zone and get a few more shots on Bobrovsky.
Josi opened the third with a cross-checking penalty, giving the Panthers’ lethal power play another opportunity. Lankinen was called on to make a couple of impressive saves and a lot of alert adjustments, but the Preds blocked some shots and Lankinen saved the rest. With five minutes elapsed, the Panthers had a stupendous sequence that had Lankinen making a kick save just outside the blue ice and some very good luck for the Preds with the rebound.
Eetu Luostarinen took a whack at Forsberg fight in front of the Preds’ bench at 6:24, and the Preds got another chance with the skater advantage. The Panthers’ penalty kill was aggressive and relentless, helped out by O’Reilly’s stick breaking, and play returned to even strength with the Panthers continuing to push.
Shortly after the halfway mark, Josh Mahura lost an edge and went into the boards awkwardly, clearly getting injured on the play. Play was stopped while he made it off the ice, then resumed as the teams continued to fight for ground. Nashville continued to try to limit the Panthers’ offense, and a counterattack and some hard work right in front of Bobrovsky let Forsberg deflect a Nyquist shot off of a Panthers defender and into the goal at 14:19.
The Preds continued to play hard defensively as well, as the Panthers recovered the puck and took it back to the defensive zone. Paul Maurice did not opt to pull Bobrovsky, leaving him in net as the clock ran down and out.