Late Push Not Enough as Preds Fall to Coyotes in Game 1

Two goals in the third period gave the Nashville Predators life, but they were unable to erase the three-goal deficit they suffered in the first frame.

Nashville fell in Game 1 to the Arizona Coyotes, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon. The victory gives Arizona a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, with Games 2 and 3 coming back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"They won the first period and capitalized on their opportunities… both teams competed hard, we had a really strong push in the third period, but we didn't capitalize like they did when they had their push," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "It's all about Game 2 now, so we'll take the lessons out of this game and make sure that we're ready to go for round two."

The Preds spent the final 11 minutes of regulation seeking the tying goal, but 43 shots yielded only three goals and Nashville did not claw back from an eight-minute span in the first period, which saw three Coyotes score.

Arizona claimed each of the game's first three goals in the opening period, as Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Christian Dvorak and Clayton Keller all beat Preds netminder Juuse Saros. Saros made his first-career postseason start and recorded 33 saves.

The first goal in particular was the definition of a friendly bounce for the Coyotes, as the puck deflected off the stick of Kyle Turris and off the body of Matt Duchene before carroming into the net.

"He had some situations where I thought he stayed mentally focused, and he had some big saves throughout the game," Hynes, who declined to name a starter for Game 2, said of Saros. "As the game went on, he made saves when we needed them. When we were making a good push, they had a couple opportunities and he was there. He kept it at four [goals for Arizona], and we were able to keep pecking away at the score and that's what you want from your goaltender."

Nashville gained some life before the end of the first, as Filip Forsberg tallied a 4-on-3 power-play goal with three seconds to play.

In the second period, however, Arizona capitalized on Nashville's man advantage, as Michael Grabner scored on a shorthanded breakaway to give the Coyotes a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Even with special teams goals split at two a side, Nashville was frustrated with the number of penalties they took on Sunday afternoon. The Preds gave the Coyotes six power-play opportunities and struggled to get their stars on the ice in the first two periods, with five of those minors coming in that span.

Defenseman Ryan Ellis one-timed a shot at the blue line only 30 seconds into the final frame and beat Darcy Keumper to cut the Coyotes' advantage to 4-2. Forsberg potted his second of the night and second on the power play at 8:56 off a beautiful feed from Roman Josi, who had two helpers in Game 1, but that was as close as the Preds came to evening the score.

"There's going to be some ups and downs in the game, so I think we can handle that… but I also like the fact of the way we responded throughout the game and continued to push and stay mentally tough," Hynes said. "We were engaged on the bench, and we gave ourselves a chance to get back in the game. When we made a hard push in the third, we had some really good looks, and unfortunately they didn't go in."

A third period that belonged to Nashville did top an opening 40 minutes that saw them play well below the standard they hold themselves to, however.

"It's a clean slate for everyone [after being off for four months], and we're trying to get back on track as quick as we can," Ellis said. "That third period, we had stretches of excellent play and that's what I expect from this group."

The Predators will now look to build upon their play in the third period and carry that into the second meeting of the series, which comes on Tuesday afternoon.

"In an ideal world, we would have won every game throughout this whole playoffs, but that's obviously not going to happen," Forsberg said. "We can't do anything about Game 1 now, we're just looking to Game 2. We'll have a good day tomorrow, and see what we did well and what we can do better. There's no time to think about what could've happened. We're just ready for Game 2."

Notes:

Dan Hamhuis, Korbinian Holzer, Daniel Carr, Eeli Tolvanen, Yakov Trenin, Colin Blackwell, Alexandre Carrier, Michael McCarron, Troy Grosenick and Connor Ingram were scratched for the Preds in Game 1.

Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Qualifier series between the Predators and Coyotes comes on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. CT from Edmonton (Watch: FOX Sports Tennessee, NHL Network; Listen: 102.5 The Game). Game 3 follows the very next day, another 1:30 p.m. start (Watch: FOX Sports Tennessee, NHL Network; Listen: 102.5 The Game).