Preds Conclude Season Series Against Kraken with Loss in Seattle

Matt Duchene scored twice, but the Nashville Predators fell to the Seattle Kraken by a 4-3 final on Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena. The result gives the Preds a pair of losses in three meetings with Seattle to finish the season series as Nashville begins a two-game trip.
Philip Tomasino also tallied for the Preds, and Roman Josi recorded his 500th career point, but in a game that saw the visitors own a 2-0 lead, the end result was less than satisfactory.

"To be honest, I don't think we deserved to win tonight," Josi said. I thought our first period was OK. It was pretty even, but in the second they had a long push, obviously scored those three goals, and we had a push toward the end, but I thought our third period just wasn't good enough. We were behind, and I feel like we didn't generate any offense and we didn't generate any zone time. They kept getting chances, and I think outchanced us, even in the third when we were behind. So, we've got to have a better push and just overall we've got to have a better effort than that."
"It was really two areas," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "Our execution with the puck wasn't as good as it needed to be throughout the game, and then without the puck, our attention to detail defensively was not at the level that it needed to be."
The Predators had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play courtesy of Tomasino's goal - with Josi picking up his 500th NHL point on the play - but the two clubs combined for five tallies in the second stanza, including three strikes in 2:39 for the Kraken.
After Duchene converted on the power play to put the Preds up 2-0, Alex Wennberg, former Nashville forward Calle Jarnkrok and Yanni Gourde all beat Juuse Saros to give Seattle the lead. Duchene evened the score at 3-3 with his second of the night before the period was out, but early in the third, another Kraken forward made his former team pay.
Colin Blackwell scored shorthanded just 3:19 into the third period to put Seattle back on top, and that proved to be the game-winner with the Preds only able to register three shots on goal in the final 20 minutes.
"When you look at that stretch [in the second period], our execution with the puck wasn't at the level it needed to be, and that cost us in certain situations," Hynes said. "And then also our attention to detail without the puck when you check and the commitment to to defend the right way; our details were not where they needed to be tonight, and we got exposed on them."
Now, the Predators will have another two days to regroup before facing the Sharks in San Jose on Saturday, and with the final two months of the regular season now underway, Nashville knows the urgency to collect points is only going to increase.
"Overall, it wasn't our identity tonight," Josi said. "I feel like our team always has a great effort - most of the time we're a hard-working team - but we weren't tonight. I felt like Seattle kind of outworked us, and that's [normally] something we take a lot of pride in and we were definitely not happy with [tonight]. So, I think we have to look at that, and we're in the middle of a playoff race, so it's going to be a huge game on Saturday."
Josi (131g-369a in 732 GP) became the fifth defenseman from the 2008 NHL Draft to record 500 career points, joining Erik Karlsson (151-500-651 in 821 GP), Drew Doughty (132-434-566 in 1,010 GP), John Carlson (125-440-565 in 860 GP) and Alex Pietrangelo (123-378-501 in 851 GP). No draft in NHL history has produced as many 500-point blueliners.
Josi reached the 500-point mark in 732 games. Among active defensemen, only Erik Karlsson (613 GP) achieved the milestone in fewer contests.

Notes:

Only four defensemen over the past 25 years have recorded 500 career points in fewer games than Roman Josi (732 GP): Erik Karlsson (613 GP, achieved in 2017-18), Sergei Zubov (680 GP, achieved in 2001-02), Nicklas Lidstrom (701 GP, achieved in 2000-01) and Sandis Ozolinsh (728 GP, achieved in 2002-03).
Three defensemen picked by the Predators in an NHL Draft have reached the 500-point milestone (Shea Weber, Ryan Suter & Josi). That's the highest such total among all franchises since 1998, when Nashville participated in its first NHL Draft - Chicago (Duncan Keith & Dustin Byfuglien) and Washington (John Carlson & Mike Green) are the only clubs to pick two 500-point scoring defensemen in that span.
Juuse Saros (101-63-20 in 199 GP) made his 200th career NHL appearance. Among all goaltenders in Predators history, only Pekka Rinne (105-62-22 in 200 GP) posted more wins through his first 200 appearances.
Preds defenseman Mark Borowiecki returned to the lineup on Wednesday after missing time with a lower-body injury. Alexandre Carrier (day-to-day) and Nick Cousins (IR) were both absent.
Nashville's two-game trip will conclude on Saturday night in San Jose against the Sharks.