Fedor Svechkov scored the lone Nashville goal as the Predators fell to the Edmonton Oilers by a 3-1 final on Sunday night at Rogers Place. The result sees the Preds go 1-2-0 against the Oilers as the season series concludes with one more game left on Nashville's five-game trip.
The Predators certainly had their chances in Edmonton, and they hit the post on at least a couple of occasions - including with an extra attacker late in regulation - but they were only able to solve former Nashville goaltender Connor Ingram once before the final horn sounded.
“We had our looks in third, but they got off to a pretty good start, and kind of the theme for us [as of late],” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “[We had] three power plays in the first, and our penalty [kill] wasn't going well. You convert on the power play there, it might be a different game, but I think we're kind of hoping to win a little bit, and we're down to nothing. Made a bit of a push, but you’re kind of flipping the coin every game, and you're not going to win consistently like that.”
“I liked our game, even from the start,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We knew they'd be a desperate team, and I thought we handled ourselves pretty well. Obviously, you give up the PK goal a little bit early, but I thought it was a battle out there; they’re a very good hockey team. Power play didn’t connect, kind of let us down a little bit tonight, and hit the crossbar, post… So, another one of those games that we've been in a million of them, we just didn't get on the right end of it.”
The Oilers had a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes of play courtesy of a Leon Draisaitl power-play goal, and Edmonton doubled that advantage with another tally in the second stanza.
Svechkov scored his first goal since being recalled from Milwaukee out of the Olympic break to bring the Preds to within one, and Steven Stamkos nearly tied the game when he hit the post with Justus Annunen pulled for an extra attacker. But just moments later, Edmonton iced it with an empty-netter before the night was done.
The Predators are now down to their final outing of their five-game trip - a meeting with the Jets in Winnipeg on Tuesday - and they’ll look to build off the positives against the Oilers.
“We’ve got to play the way we play towards the middle of the game, or the end of most games, and we’ve got to come out like that and play with confidence,” Josi said. “We’re in a playoff race. We’ve got to go after it, and we’ve got to win some games consistently. We’ve got to go out and try to win the game and not just hope to win the game. Obviously the Jets are right behind us, so it's another big game.”
“The desperation level we showed in the third period, I think that's something we have to carry into the game,” Brunette said. “At different times, we’re kind of getting our feet wet. Obviously, we’ve got a younger team, and it showed a little bit early tonight, so we have to be prepared to kind of attack it right away, not wait for it.”
Notes:
Joakim Kemell was Nashville’s lone healthy scratch on Sunday night in Edmonton.
The Predators will conclude their five-game trip away from home on Tuesday night when they face the Jets in Winnipeg before returning home to host Seattle on Thursday.
