Preds Focused on Discipline, Fast Start in Game 2 Against Coyotes

There was at least one thing the Predators knew for certain in the immediate aftermath of Game 1 on Sunday afternoon.

Seven members of the Preds went to the penalty box in their 4-3 loss to Arizona to begin their Stanley Cup Qualifier series, and six of those instances resulted in power plays for the opposition. Only one of those stays in the bin resulted in a goal for the Coyotes, but even so, it's difficult to get into a rhythm when the penalty killers are being called upon with that much regularity.

So, before they even sat down on Monday morning to review what went wrong the day before, it was clear team discipline was going to garner a mention or two.

Predators Head Coach John Hynes did indeed have that conversation with his club on Monday prior to an on-ice session in Edmonton, and now that it's been addressed - among other items that contributed to the result in Game 1 - the focus has now turned to evening the best-of-five series tomorrow.

"You take the penalties out [of the equation], and 5-on-5, it's a pretty even game," Hynes said of Game 1. "We played pretty well in that situation. We were coming from behind, which is not ideal, and I think we need to shore up a couple things up on the penalty kill that can be better. But I think the big difference in the game last night was really two things: I thought we took some ill-advised penalties, and we took them at bad times where we had momentum… If you can shore those things up and touch up a couple areas, we'll be ready to rerack again."

"It's all about discipline, and we definitely took way too many penalties," Preds Captain Roman Josi said. "You've just got to be aware of your actions, you've got to be aware of your sticks and it's definitely something that we need to work on. It kills the flow of the game… We definitely took too many, so that's something we have to improve on tomorrow."

The Predators would also prefer not to surrender the first three goals of the game in the first period, as was the case on Sunday. After the Coyotes were gifted a goal on a double deflection to start, they added two more before Filip Forsberg scored with three seconds to play in the opening frame.

Arizona's fourth came while shorthanded in the second stanza, but Nashville rallied in the third period and scored twice, while putting 20 shots at the net. The Preds weren't able to get another past Darcy Kuemper, however, and they know playing from behind doesn't often fall favorably.

"You always want to end up with a lead to, but it's not always going to happen," Forsberg said. "You're not going to be up after every shift… You just want to build momentum for your team and try to carry that all the way through, through the first [portion of the opening period] and then just keep building on that."

The Predators are hopeful their showing in that final 20 minutes of Game 1 will serve as a building block for the opening faceoff in Game 2. A perfect 60 minutes is virtually impossible to achieve over the course of a game - especially in the postseason - but Nashville knows what they're capable of as a group, and they showed it as time was winding down on Sunday.

"We played more aggressive," Josi said of Nashville's third period in Game 1. "We were getting pucks deep, and we had a lot more zone time. Just going back to the penalties, there's so many power plays and penalty kills, and it's hard to get that flow of 5-on-5 if you take too many penalties. The third period was a little different. We had more time at 5-on-5… and we were making a push. It's just us getting in the zone more often, getting pucks deep and then we started our cycling game a lot more, and I think that that generated chances for us."

Nashville will need to do plenty of that once more if they're to avoid an 0-2 deficit in the series, but they're not about to give in easily. Instead, they're embracing the highs and lows that come with the playoffs.

As Predators Associate Captain Ryan Ellis said following Game 1, that effort in the third period is what he expects from this group - as does everyone else in that locker room.

The puck drops Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. CT from Edmonton. Watch the game on FOX Sports Tennessee or NHL Network (nationally) and listen on 102.5 The Game.