"Tonight it wasn't competitiveness, tonight it was smarts," Head Coach John Hynes said. "We started with the penalties - offensive zone penalties, penalties on the power play and penalties at key times. You can't get any momentum when you do that and you're putting their top guys on the ice… So, for me tonight, it was just our attention to detail and the discipline… Those things have to improve."
Penalties once again proved costly for the Predators, who racked up 18 PIM over three periods of play.
"We took nine penalties tonight, and six of the nine were in the offensive zone or the neutral zone and were undisciplined stick penalties," Hynes said. "That's not going to put you in a position to be able to have success. So, that's the first area we've got to address."
Cody Glass scored his first goal as a Predator on Nashville's first shot on goal to give the Preds a 1-0 lead early in the first period, beating Cal Petersen glove side on a delayed penalty.
"It was nice getting the first one," Glass said. "It was kind of a good feeling, but would have felt a lot better if we got the win tonight… I felt like five-on-five we were doing good things, and then taking penalties kills our momentum. I think we just need to stay out of the box. We know we're a good team. We know we're gonna get bounces going our way here, but I think it just starts with those little details."
Vilardi tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 4:24 of the second period, but a one-timer from Filip Forsberg put the Predators back in front 2-1 at 8:32. Tanner Jeannot extended the lead to 3-1 with under a minute to go in the second period, knocking in his own rebound following a wraparound attempt.
Roy cut the Preds lead to 3-2 at 13:00 of the third period, then tied it 3-3 at 17:52 to send the game to overtime. A Drew Doughty holding penalty gave Nashville a 4-on-3 advantage with 1:48 remaining in overtime, but the Preds were unable to capitalize before heading to the shootout.
Mikael Granlund had two key assists, and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville in the loss. The Preds will continue to work on generating offense and staying out of the penalty box as they shift their focus to their next matchup, a road tilt at Columbus on Thursday.
"I think for two periods we were definitely the better team, and we could have scored more than three," Forsberg said. "I thought their goalie played really well. So, I don't think there's anything we need to change. We've just got to stick to it for all 60."
