The Preds’ road trip continued with a stop in Winnipeg, where they faced a strong Jets team having a good night.
The Jets got out to a great start, setting up shop in the Preds’ zone and not leaving, until Mason Appleton scored four minutes in. Nashville got some energy after that and went on the attack, and Filip Forsberg made a huge effort and was able to score to tie the game 1-1 at 6:43.
Play was back and forth after that, marked much more by two fights–Adam Lowry against Jeremy Lauzon at the halfway mark of the first period, and then another when Cole Smith took exception to Lowry’s hit on Mark Del Gaizo. Smith was called for instigating, which meant that he had to sit for a ten-minute misconduct, while Tommy Novak served the minor penalty for instigation and the Preds went to the penalty kill.
Although the Jets didn’t threaten much on their power play, they finished the period strongly. While they didn’t capitalize before intermission, they did shortly afterward, as Kyle Connor collected a pass from below the goal line and put it past Juuse Saros.
This time, the Preds didn’t respond successfully, and Connor quickly scored another to make it 3-1 Winnipeg at 3:48 of the second. Again Nashville was not galvanized, and the Jets continued to push. At 8:37, Del Gaizo sent the puck over the glass, and while the Preds tried to kill that penalty Gustav Nyquist interfered with Mark Scheifele. The Jets quickly scored on the brief 5-on-3, with the goal going to Cole Perfetti.
The Jets then shortened their own power play by putting six skaters out, giving the Preds a chance to retaliate. Forsberg scored his second of the night on the 4-on-4, a shot that pinballed off Jets goalie Laurent Broissoit’s arm and mask before going in. The Preds then went to the power play, but didn’t get anywhere.
With one second remaining on the Preds’ power play, the Jets committed a second too-many-men penalty, and Nashville got to keep the skater advantage. However, again, they didn’t manage to have an impact on the scoreboard with it, despite finally giving Saros a break.
Although the Preds finished the second period with some time in the Jets’ zone, they weren’t able to narrow the lead, and intermission allowed Winnipeg to reset. Nikolaj Ehlers helped the Preds out by grabbing Tommy Novak, and Nashville went to the power play. Neal Pionk laid a pair of dodgy hits on Novak while on the penalty kill, with no call, but shortly after the teams returned to even strength Brendan Dillon was called for slashing and the Preds returned to the power play. The Canada Life Centre was unimpressed by this decision.
The Preds then cut their power play short as Ryan O’Reilly committed interference, at just about the halfway mark of the period.
While the Preds were able to kill that penalty, Dillon scored not long after leaving the box to make it 5-2. In a rare total miss from the Preds’ video staff, Andrew Brunette challenged for goalie interference, but the goal was pretty clearly clean and was upheld. However, not long after that, Perfetti hooked Liam Foudy and the Preds got another chance on the power play with almost six minutes remaining in the period.
Again, however, the Jets’ penalty kill was perfect. While the Preds pushed back a little, and pulled Saros for an extra attacker, they were unable to score again. Kyle Connor completed his hat trick into the empty net, and the Preds lost another on this grueling road trip.