The Nashville Predators earned another point, but they ultimately fell to the New Jersey Devils by a 3-2 final in overtime on Thursday night at Prudential Center. The result gives the Preds a pair of OT losses on their trip thus far, with MIchael McCarron and Filip Forsberg tallying in the loss.
“That's a tough pill to swallow,” McCarron said. “We had the lead in the third… but they get that extra point right now the past two games. I feel like we played better tonight than we did in Boston. Kind of 50/50 hockey. Going into that third period, it was a tie game, and we were able to get one, Fil with a great goal. And unfortunately, I think my line especially, we spent too much time in our own zone. We were taking on water, and they were able to get one to tie it up, unfortunately.”
“I thought it was a really good road game…but I was disappointed not to get out of here with two [points],” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I thought we played well enough to get two and get out. And again, we go to overtime and flip a coin, and Nico [Hischier] made a great shot.”
The Predators needed just over five minutes into regulation to take a 1-0 lead when Jonathan Marchessault’s wraparound went off of McCarron and over the line to put the visitors up. But, in the second stanza, New Jersey evened the score when Dougie Hamilton beat Justus Annunen for a tie headed into the third.
In that final frame, it was Forsberg who gave the Preds the lead once more early on, but the Devils tied the game once more before Hischier scored the OT winner less than a minute into the extra session.
“I think we do understand the urgency in the situation we're in, but… both these games are winnable, in my mind,” Forsberg said. “It's good that we're getting points, but we need two, and we’ve got to keep stringing together. So, that will be the mindset going into Saturday, for sure.”
From here, the Preds will conclude their three-game trip on Saturday against the Islanders, and with two points collected so far, their “win the week” mantra is still in play for the finale.
“Well, we're .500 right now in two games on the road,” McCarron said. “If we can get a win [on] Long Island, I think it'd be a successful week. Four out of six points on the road is always good. So, we have one more game on this road trip. Have to stay detailed and come ready to play in a couple days.”
“There’s still an opportunity to win the week here,” Brunette said. “We're collecting points, which is big. We could have used two. I thought we probably deserved two, maybe even both nights, and we didn't get them. So, we’ve got to go back to work and finish this week off with collecting more than just one.”
Notes:
Prior to Thursday’s game, the Preds assigned forward Fedor Svechkov to Milwaukee of the AHL. Brunette had this to say via the radio pregame show on Svechkov’s assignment:
“I think it’s just a good opportunity for him to get some games in before the Olympic break. Play some big minutes, get some confidence back in his game, have the puck a lot more, feel better about it; he’s been inconsistent for us this year. He’s had some good flashes of play, and then he’s just had trouble sustaining it. So, I think it's a great opportunity. He’s a young player, go play big minutes, get on the power play, touch the puck, feel good and we’ll see him again here this year.”
The Predators went back to 12 forwards and six defensemen on Thursday with blueliner Andreas Englund serving as the lone healthy scratch.
Nashville will conclude their three-game trip on Saturday night against the New York Islanders before returning home to host St. Louis on Monday.
