The Nashville Predators were shut out on Saturday night as they fell to the Chicago Blackhawks by a 3-0 final at Bridgestone Arena. The result sees the Preds begin their back-to-back weekend set with a loss as the Hawks evened the season series.
Nashville outshot Chicago by a 36-21 margin, but the Preds say they were simply "disconnected" for too many stretches in the loss.
“Definitely not our best,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “Kind of just felt like it was just a 50-50 game. Kind of left it up to chance. They got that first one, and we just never got to our game really - maybe for a couple minutes, but not for a long period.”
“We came out in our first eight minutes or so, and I liked our game…and then we got really sloppy with the puck,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “Our execution was fairly poor by our standards, and it didn't allow us to get to our game. We pushed a little bit at the end, but I think the whole game, I'm not sure if we thought it'd be a little bit easier than it was. Then we got frustrated with it and seemed to compound, which we haven't done that often. Regardless, we weren't sharp. They were the better team for most of the game.”
After neither club was able to find the back of the net in the opening period, Tyler Bertuzzi put the Blackhawks on the board with a power-play goal in the second stanza. Chicago doubled their lead midway through the third, and after Nashville had a late push, the visitors added an empty-netter to finish the night.
“We weren't sharp enough,” Preds defenseman Nic Hague said. “We had moments, but at the end of the day overall, we weren't clean enough. Felt a little disconnected.”
The Preds won’t have to wait long for a chance to bounce back when they host Washington tomorrow evening, and they’ll look for a better effort against a Capitals team who beat Chicago on Friday night.
“We’ll look at what needs to be looked at from tonight, and then cut it loose,” Hague said. “Our mindset has to shift right away. I think that after a game like that tonight, I think that's going to be a good thing, and you'll learn from things. At the end of the day, we know what makes us good, and we were just off a little bit tonight. So, it's a good opportunity to come back and turn the page and show up with a better effort tomorrow.”
Notes:
Nashville’s lineup was unchanged on Saturday night with defenseman Justin Barron serving as the lone healthy scratch.
The Predators will conclude their weekend back-to-back by hosting the Washington Capitals tomorrow evening before their four-game homestand concludes on Tuesday against Edmonton.
