Jonathan Marchessault and Tyson Jost tallied for Nashville, but the Predators fell to the Colorado Avalanche by a 4-2 final on Saturday night at Ball Arena. The result saw the Preds split a pair of games against the Avs this week, and although Nashville put forth a solid road effort against the League’s best team, they were unable to find two more points.
“We faced a pretty good NHL team. They're the best in the League for a reason,” Marchessault said. “They had a lot of rush chances and they were all in their offensive zone, our D- zone. I think it was hard to defend them. They move. They have…five guys active, and it was tough for us to limit their chances. And, yes, disappointing.”
“I really liked the road game,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought [Colorado’s] first goal probably was a little bit of a breakdown, kind of a lucky bounce in the second goal… Their goalie was kind of the difference in the game. We hung in there. We had our chances. I really [liked the] first 10 minutes of the second period. [We] kind of dictated, then we got in penalty trouble, something that at times when we're not moving our feet, it catches us a little bit. They're a very fast team, the number one team in the League for a reason, but I thought we hung in there. I'll take that road game any night of the week.”
Nathan MacKinnon, the NHL’s leading goal scorer, gave Colorado a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game, and the Avalanche scored another midway through the frame. But, on a Nashville power play, Ryan O’Reilly found Marchessault in the slot for a one-timer that beat Scott Wedgewood to get the Preds on the board to close out the scoring in the first.
Colorado went back up by two midway through the second stanza, and they added an empty-netter in the third before Jost potted one late for Nashville’s second of the night.
“It was a game that could have been had,” Brunette said. “We had some really good opportunities to tie the score, but it didn't happen, and we really liked our overall game. There were no passengers. It's kind of been a little bit of the pattern we've had for the last two or three weeks, and we'll continue to do that moving forward.”
From here, the Preds will head to St. Louis to face the Blues on Monday, and they’ll look for a similar effort with a few tweaks against another division rival for the second time in a week.
“Obviously, we [had] a really good game against them [on Thursday], so they'll be waiting for us,” Marchessault said of the Blues. “It's on us to be able to match that intensity and being ready, right off the bat for them. They're going to be energized. They're a good team, same situation as us. So it's going to be a good battle for us.”
Notes:
Forward Cole Smith and defenseman Justin Barron both remain on Injured Reserve and did not play on Saturday. Forward Tyson Jost returned to the Nashville lineup against Colorado; the Preds did not have any healthy scratches.
Nashville’s two-game trip concludes on Monday night in St. Louis before the Preds return home to host Carolina on Wednesday.
