Preds Rookies Win Prospect Showcase Tournament After Besting Florida 6-1

The Nashville Predators are 2022 NHL Prospect Showcase Champions.
Five different Predators skaters tallied and Nashville's defense kept Florida frustrated in a dominant 6-1 victory over the Panthers prospects, who entered Monday's tournament finale at PNC Arena undefeated.
The result saw Nashville finish atop the tournament standings with five points and a 2-0-1 record.
"It was good to have a game like that for us," forward prospect Luke Evangelista said. "Everyone kind of got their touches, everyone had their mojo… Overall it was a really good weekend getting points in every game."

Nashville got on the board first within the first five minutes of regulation as Egor Afanasyev cashed in on an odd-man rush for his fourth goal of the tournament.
Florida struck back within the opening minute of the second stanza - burying a quick backdoor feed past goaltender Yaroslav Askarov - but that was all the Predators would allow for the remainder of the game.
Over the next 39 minutes, Cam Hausinger, Juuso Parssinen, Jimmy Huntington and Evangelista would all find twine to cement Nashville's tournament win.
"It feels good," Hausinger said. "I thought all around our three games were pretty solid. We played heavy, we played strong and all going against a team like that. I don't think we really had any expectations but to win this game, and we all played really well all game."

That included 19-year-old netminder Braden Holt - a tryout invitee from the WHL's Everett Silvertips - who swapped in for Askarov to start the third period and made several big saves to keep Florida off the board during the final 20 minutes.
"[Askarov] is obviously a world-class goalie and he showed it this weekend, but then we were really excited for Holt to get that opportunity there in the third," Evangelista said. "He played great, he didn't let any in and had a great shootout too. So, we were really happy for both of them."
For a 23-man roster made up of several young players who have never skated a single shift together - and may never skate together again - the outcome from Nashville's tournament appearance was nothing short of impressive.
"[Head Coach Karl Taylor] was saying that it was really awesome to see how close we came in such a short amount of time, and you saw it out there," Evangelista said. "Guys were sticking up for each other, blocking shots, fights, hits - all that stuff. For a group of guys that didn't know each other very long, we came together pretty quickly."
Several of these young prospects will carry the weekend's experience into the Predators official training camp, which kicks off Wednesday back in Nashville.

"It was perfect for me here to get these first three games," defensive prospect Adam Wilsby said. "I'm just going to try to do my best in that main camp and show the coaches and other players that."
"It'll be my first NHL main camp, so I'm just kind of excited to see the gap between last year in junior and going up against NHL-caliber players now," Evangelista said. "So, I'm just excited to see what room for growth I have and just what the next level is like."
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