Preds Conclude Preseason with Four-Game Win Streak, Top Carolina Again

Four different Predators found the back of the net as Nashville defeated the Carolina Hurricanes by a 4-3 final on Saturday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena. The result concludes the preseason schedule for the Preds with a four-game win streak and a 4-1-1 record over that span.
Carolina led 1-0 after 20 minutes thanks to a goal from Jordan Martinook, but Nashville answered in the second stanza with three tallies in the first 7:33 of the frame. First, Preds Captain Roman Josi took a feed from Matt Duchene and converted on the power play just 32 seconds into the period for Nashville's fifth goal with the man advantage of the preseason.

Then, Yakov Trenin pounced on a loose puck in neutral ice and went to the backhand on a breakaway to beat Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Andersen to give the Preds their first lead of the day. Just 89 seconds after that, Filip Forsberg elected to shoot on an odd-man rush, and the winger wired home his third of the preseason to give his club a 3-1 advantage through two periods.
Tanner Jeannot got Nashville's fourth and final goal of the day, and although the Hurricanes made things interesting late, the Preds held on to finish the preseason with one more victory ahead of Opening Night.
Juuse Saros stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced through two periods for the Preds, and David Rittich preserved the win with 10 stops in the third.

Saturday Storyline:

Tanner Jeannot said it best following Saturday's preseason finale: "We got four [wins] in a row here, but now the real work starts."
The Predators forward, his teammates and their head coach have all made it through a grinding, challenging training camp, and after six exhibition games and a slew of practices, the group has a feeling of satisfaction of the effort paying off - at least to this point.
Yes, the games actually count starting Thursday on Opening Night, but at this juncture, the Preds have still been able to accomplish what they set out to do as camp opened last month.

"I thought that training camp was very demanding, but I think the effort that the players put in day in and day out, whether it was practices or the games - even today, we played at three o'clock today, we were on the ice two hours yesterday, two hours the day before, hard practices - the guys put in the work," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "[I'm] really optimistic by a lot of individual performances throughout the preseason, very optimistic about the team chemistry and how guys have worked together and pushed each other, and the environment around the team is positive. I think that they're proud of the way that they work now, whether it's in practice or in the game, so I think we set the table to give ourselves the chance to get off to a good start."
Saturday's game wasn't Nashville's best body of work - the Preds say they would have preferred to control the play a bit more and create more chances at the Carolina net - but they still prevailed, a theme of the past three weeks.
"We were a little sloppy, but at the same time, [we] found a way to win," Forsberg said. "Overall, it's been a really good preseason, and I think just from the working standpoint, we just worked really hard in practice and everybody showed up to play in every game that we played, too. It's been really good, the work has been put in, but obviously [we're] excited to get going for real."

Nothing is ever perfect, but there is something to be said for having a successful preseason when all is said and done. That's the first goal achieved by these Predators, and as Jeannot stated, the journey is just beginning.
"I think that's kind of the point of preseason; you want to build on the start of the season, and you want to work on the things that you want to focus on going into the season," Jeannot said. "I think we did a pretty good job… So, we want to just build on our momentum we have and keep improving every day."

Highlight of the Afternoon:

They Said It:

Tanner Jeannot on how he feels personally with the preseason now complete:
"I feel really good. The confidence is there when you're winning, and you just want to get better every day and build on - kind of snowball on what you're building. I feel really good, the team is in a good spot and we're really excited about what's going to happen this year."

Notes:

Forwards Rocco Grimaldi, Mathieu Olivier, Michael McCarron and Egor Afanasyev, defensemen Matt Benning, Jeremy Davies and Mark Borowiecki, as well as goaltender Connor Ingram were scratched for Nashville on Saturday.
The Predators currently have 28 players on their roster; they must submit their 23-man roster on Monday afternoon ahead of Opening Night on Oct. 14.
"We have a couple of decisions to make, so we have them made up now, but I think it's best when you're making some difficult decisions to be able to sleep on it, and make some final choices tomorrow," Hynes said regarding the final roster cuts that will come soon.
That first contest of the 2021-22 regular season comes Thursday night for the Preds when they host the Seattle Kraken at Bridgestone Arena for the first-ever meeting between the two. That outing starts a four-game homestand for Nashville to begin the new campaign;
click here for tickets
.