Preds Drop Decision to Golden Knights

Colton Sissons's first-period tally was taken off the board, and the Vegas Golden Knights responded with the game's first three goals to top the Predators, 5-1, on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena.
The result denies Nashville's bid for a three-game sweep of their season series with Vegas and keeps them at 73 points. The Preds will complete their two-game trip in Dallas on Tuesday.
Nashville allowed 50 shots on the night, with goaltender Juuse Saros turning aside 45 of them to keep his club in it for most of the contest, undoubtedly the best player for the Preds.

"In front of Saros, we're lucky it wasn't 6-0 after two periods," Preds Captain Roman Josi said. "We have to be a lot better in front of him."
"It wasn't a good game," Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. "We were outdone in a lot of areas and the score reflected that."
Sissons appeared to give the visitors their first goal in the opening 20 minutes since Feb. 7 and a 1-0 lead late in the first period, but a Vegas challenge showed the play was offside and the Golden Knights took their own 1-0 lead just a couple of minutes later.
Nashville struggled to protect the slot especially across the opening 40 minutes and goals by Max Pacioretty and Brandon Pirri put the Golden Knights up 2-0 with a whopping 41 shots on goal through two periods.
"The second period is, for me, unexplainable," Laviolette said. "That's back-to-back second periods where we just didn't show up."
"In the second, they just completely took over," Josi said. "They were faster than us, they played better, they played right in front, they wanted it more, and it's a really bad second period from us. We left Saros all alone."

Kevin Fiala cut the Golden Knights' lead to 3-1 early in the third period, but a failed power-play chance and a shot that went wide of the net on a 3-on-1 bid meant that was as close as Nashville's comeback bid would go.
Oscar Lindberg's goal and Pacioretty's second of the evening stretched the Vegas lead to 5-1 in the final minutes of the third.
"We have to look at it," Josi said. "It's been happening too much that we play a good first and come out in the second flat and don't play well at all… We're capable of playing a lot better and we have to fix it."

Notes:
Preds defenseman P.K. Subban took on his younger brother, Malcolm, on Saturday. The Subbans are one of 17 brother pairings currently in the NHL.
Miikka Salomaki took part in the Predators' morning skate on Saturday and remains on Injured Reserve. Frederick Gaudreau, Cody McLeod and Matt Irwin were scratched for Nashville against Vegas.
Nashville will face Dallas at American Airlines Center on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. (CT). Be on the lookout on Monday for photos from the Cotton Bowl, the venue that will host the 2020 Bridgestone Winter Classic between the Preds and Stars.