Postseason Run Concludes as Preds Fall to Hurricanes in Game 6

A season unlike any other in Nashville Predators history has come to an end.
The Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Preds by a 4-3 final in overtime on Thursday night to win Game 6 and take the first-round series by a 4-2 count. The result brings a conclusion to Nashville's campaign, a reality that never gets easier to take.
Finding words in the immediate aftermath is never an easy task, but the Predators gathered some thoughts on not only their series with Carolina, but also what they had just been through over the past four months.

"It's tough to end that way so abruptly, but I'm really proud of this group," Preds Associate Captain Ryan Ellis said. "I mean, where we came from at the start of the year to how we started playing to where we are now - and give [Carolina] credit, they played a great series - but I think this group showed that we have a lot of character in that room. We have a lot of talent, a lot of potential and we work really hard. It got us this far, and obviously we wanted to go farther, but four overtime games in a row; that's a really good hockey team over there, and we showed that we can hang with them."

"It was a great series back and forth, and we did a lot of good things, and they did good things and found a way to make it happen in the last two games in overtime," Preds centerman Ryan Johansen said. "Our group, though, so proud of our group. All the new faces, young guys, some older guys from around the League we brought in, just amazing character traits. We take a lot of pride in who we are as people in this organization, and starting with [Pekka Rinne], coming down [with Roman Josi], [Ellis], and then very proud of the way those young guys carried themselves and became professionals this year. With the start we had and to stick with it and just continue taking it day by day and working for each other, I'm definitely a proud teammate right now."
Nick Cousins, Mikael Granlund and Johansen scored for the Preds in Game 6, and once again, Juuse Saros gave his team a chance to win until the very end with 27 more saves in what was simply a sensational postseason performance.

Cousins needed just 1:44 into the contest to send the crowd of 14,107 inside Bridgestone Arena into a frenzy when he tapped home a feed from Erik Haula to give the Preds a 1-0 lead, but Brock McGinn evened the score a few minutes later for a 1-1 draw after 20 minutes.

Nashville followed up that fast start in the opening frame with an equally quick counter to start the second when Granlund converted while wide open in front, and then on a 5-on-3 advantage Johansen directed a perfect pass from Josi past Hurricanes goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to put the Preds up by two.

Carolina cut that lead back to one before the second stanza was out courtesy of Sebastian Aho, and at 13:59 of the third period, Dougie Hamilton tied the game and forced overtime once more.
For the fourth consecutive contest, the Preds and Canes needed overtime to decide a winner, and Aho sent his team to the second round with his second of the night.
That brought about one final standing ovation from the Nashville faithful, and for a season that began with only friends and family in the stands, to end with more than 14,000 at Bridgestone Arena was something special in a time when that energy was missed more than ever.
"It was special, from the end of the season and now the playoffs, it was so much fun to have so many fans out there," Granlund said. "That's probably the best feeling in the world to play hockey. It's awesome, and I'm really happy for the fans that they could come here and support us too, so it was a lot of fun."

"I'm just super proud of our group for the character that we showed, and it was fun having fans back at Bridgestone," Johansen said. "Having our city come together again, it was a lot of fun. Obviously disappointing right now, but we had a blast. We had a blast playing in front of our fans, in front of the city here in Nashville."
From here, the Predators coaching staff and management will hold exit meetings with players over the coming days, and then the work will begin to prepare for another season, another chance to find success as the group works toward improving every day.
"We learned a lot about our team, particularly reestablishing an identity that is conducive to winning," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "The work ethic, the commitment, the structure needed to play with and how hard it is to win, regardless of what your talent is, getting to play at the level that takes and the work level it takes to be able to give yourself a chance to win, we did that in the regular season. I think we did that lots of times through the playoffs, but obviously we're sitting here closing out our season and losing Game 6… We have to take a step here as a group. We fought hard, we did some things, we established an identity and gave the fans something to be proud of, but there's another level we have to get to individually and as a team."
As the 2020-21 Preds departed their home ice for the final time as a group, they did so with their heads held high, sticks raised to salute their supporters who seemingly went through the highs and lows of the past year with them together.
While the loss stings, there was already some optimism to be found with even brighter days ahead.
And after plenty of dark days, the city of Nashville is making a comeback - and so is its hockey team.
"I think there's a lot of optimism around here, I really do," Ellis said. "And there should be, because from where we came from the last couple of years to the identity we have now, the way we play now; I mean, we just hung with [one of the top teams in the League], hung with them punch for punch, and we showed that we're a contending team and that we deserve to be in the playoffs for one. Four overtime games could have gone either way, a bounce here, bounce there; obviously we're done tonight, but unbelievably proud of this group and everything looks good around here."