Fedor Svechkov tallied his first of the season, but a four-goal first period for the Florida Panthers led the visitors to an 8-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Monday night at Bridgestone Arena.
Florida also added three goals in the final frame to leave the Preds disappointed in their effort and searching for answers following the final horn.
“Just a horrible game,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “Right from the first period, we just played poorly. I don't know, it's hard to explain. We have a good effort against Colorado [on Saturday] and we come back with that. I wish I knew why, but it's not acceptable. We can't play like that and think we can win.”
“I think it falls on all of us,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “You're relying on a good start. We talked about it, and we're just having a hard time grabbing it, a little bit of the consistency that we struggle with for some reason. I wish I had an answer. I think we've talked at length about it, we're just not grabbing or not doing it on a nightly basis… We just did too many things that were not good hockey.”
After surrendering a goal just 15 seconds into the contest on Saturday against Colorado, Nashville saw Florida find the back of the net just 11 seconds after the opening puck drop on Monday. The Panthers added another before Filip Forsberg and Svechkov responded less than four minutes apart to even the score at 2-2.
But Florida potted two more in the opening frame, and they added a fifth less than two minutes into the second stanza for a 5-2 advantage through two periods. Justus Annunen took over for Juuse Saros after the fifth goal, and after Nick Blankenburg scored on the power play to pull the Preds back to within two, Florida added three more before the night was through - far from the effort Nashville was hoping for.
“Everybody's frustrated,” Josi said. “It's a lot of things… We can't play like that. It's not acceptable. We can't play with that kind of effort. You're not going to win much.”
From here, the Preds will head to Detroit for a date with the Red Wings on Wednesday night, and they’ll certainly be looking to respond from a frustrating evening at home.
“We don't have much of a choice,” Forsberg said. “It's a very urgent situation we're in, obviously, and I thought we played really good [against Colorado on Saturday]... Compared to the other night where we barely gave up any scoring chances; that's a little bit of the problem. There's now a lack of consistency from all of us.”
Notes:
Nashville’s lineup remained unchanged on Monday with defensemen Justin Barron and Adam Wilsby serving as healthy scratches.
The Predators will now start a stretch of three games in four days surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday beginning in Detroit with a Wednesday night tilt against the Red Wings.
