Predators Fall to Canadiens 4-3 as Askarov Makes NHL Debut

Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves on 35 shots faced in his NHL debut, but it was not enough for the Nashville Predators in a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday at the Bell Centre.
The Predators wrapped up their five-game road trip against Eastern Conference opponents with back-to-back losses, going 3-2 on the trip and falling to 19-15-6 on the season.

THE STORY

The Preds were the first to light the lamp when Roman Josi threw the puck into the crease, bouncing it off Nino Niederreiter and into the net to give Nashville the 1-0 lead at 10:35 of the first period.

Montreal got on the board minutes later when a Jake Evans shot slid into the goal after Askarov made the initial save to tie things up at 1-1. Less than two minutes later, Kirby Dach potted one home at 4-on-4 to give Montreal the 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
Filip Forsberg tied it for Nashville, receiving a pass from Matt Duchene in front of the net and sending the puck home just 12 seconds into the second frame. The Canadiens retook the lead later in the period on the power play when Cole Caufield netted a go-ahead goal from the circle to make it a 3-2 game.

Caufield netted his second power-play goal of the night in the third period to extend Montreal's lead to 4-2. Juuso Parssinen fired a shot past Sam Montembeault to bring the Preds within one, but Montreal held on for the 4-3 final.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Asky's Debut
With Juuse Saros starting Wednesday's game at Toronto and Kevin Lankinen out day-to-day with an illness, the Predators recalled Askarov from Milwaukee (AHL) on Wednesday to make his NHL debut in the second game of Nashville's back-to-back road set.
At 20 years, 210 days old, Askarov became the youngest goalie to ever start a game in goal for the Predators. With his second-period tally, Forsberg extended his team lead in points to 37 (17g-20a) and his team lead in goals to 17. He now has 33 points (15g-18a) in his last 33 games dating back to Oct. 22 vs. Philadelphia. The right-catch goaltender was named to the 2023 AHL All-Star Classic on Wednesday after beginning his first professional season in North America with a 13-6-2 record, 2.66 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.

The 6-foot-3, 178-pound netminder is fourth in the AHL in wins (13), and among qualified rookies, is first in victories, sixth in goals-against average and seventh in save percentage. He's recorded two shutouts - tied for the most among AHL rookies - in his last seven starts, including the first of his Admirals career on Dec. 9 at Hartford, a 24-save performance. Askarov won 10 of 11 starts from Oct. 28-Dec. 1 and has helped Milwaukee sit second place in the AHL's Central Division with a 20-11-0-2 record (42 points).
Swiss Connection
Josi and Niederreiter have been a formidable duo since the latter signed with Nashville as a free agent ahead of the 2022-23 season. The Switzerland natives have combined for seven goals so far this season - two of Josi's 10 goals have been assisted by Niederreiter, and Niederreiter's first-period goal vs. Montreal was his fifth of the season assisted by Josi.
Fil's on Fire
With his second-period tally, Forsberg extended his team lead in points to 38 (18g-20a) and his team lead in goals to 18. He now has 34 points (16g-18a) in his last 34 games dating back to Oct. 22 vs. Philadelphia.

THEY SAID IT

Askarov on starting in his first NHL game:
"It's an unreal emotion [to play] my first game in the NHL. It's awesome - awesome. Yeah, we lost, but I think I'll remember this game forever."
Niederreiter on Askarov's debut performance:
"I thought he was great. He definitely felt very comfortable in net and he made a lot of plays with the puck. He's definitely going to be an elite goaltender, you can see that."
Coach Hynes on Askarov's debut performance:
"I thought [Askarov] came in and played well. He got tested - and I thought we needed to play better in front of him - but it was a good first start for him. He made some big saves, and was tested a lot. So, I give him a lot of credit."
Niederreiter on his connection with Josi:
"Obviously, he's a fantastic player. With him it's like everything gets to the net. And I think that's something I tried to do tonight, and luckily it hit me on one end. But I know him so well from Switzerland, and I kind of know his tendencies quite well to know exactly what he does. And I feel like he knows what I do and luckily we've found a way to get some goals together."
Ekholm on Nashville's back-to-back effort:
"It was more about a mental thing in the first. Obviously, they looked a lot fresher than we did and they had some more juice, but I thought the first was not our brand of hockey. And then we got better going into second and the third. We got a lot of shots off and had a lot of attempts and their goalie stood tall for them. We got one late and pressured again. When you look at these last two games on the road trip you'd like to have at least a point or two, so that's disappointing, but we battled until the end and there's some good and bad with it obviously."

UP NEXT

The Preds return home to host the Buffalo Sabres Saturday at Bridgestone Arena. Puck drops at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.