The Nashville Predators dropped a 2-1 decision in overtime to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason matchup on Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena.
Special teams were the name of the game, with all three goals coming on the power play and both teams racking up a total of 22 penalty minutes.
It was a game until 12:43 of the second period, when Tampa Bay’s Maxim Groshev scored a power-play goal on a partial breakaway to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead.
The Predators trailed until 4:16 of the third period, when Tommy Novak went top-shelf to beat Lightning goalie Matt Tomkins on the power play and tie the score at 1-1 and send the game to overtime.
Just over a minute into the extra frame, Cody Glass was whistled for tripping, giving Tampa Bay a 4-on-3 advantage. Tyler Motte capitalized and bounced a shot past Yaroslav Askarov for the 2-1 final.
ROSTER REPORT
Of the 54 players attending Preds training camp, 20 dressed to play on Wednesday. The roster for Wednesday’s game can be found here.
GOLDEN DEBUTS
Defenseman Luke Schenn and forward Ryan O’Reilly made their Preds preseason debuts on Wednesday after signing with the team as free agents in July.
In addition to Schenn and O’Reilly, Filip Forsberg, Ryan McDonagh, Roman Josi and Tyson Barrie skated in their first game of the 2023 preseason on Wednesday. Fourteen players who suited up for the Preds on Wednesday also played in one of the doubleheader games on Monday at Florida.
TOP SHELF TOMMY
Novak tied the game with a goal on the man advantage in the third period. Per NHL PR, his five power-play goals in 2022-23 were tied for the third most among Preds players, behind only Josi (8) and Glass (6).
PRESEASON PERFECTION
Askarov, who relieved Juuse Saros in net for the third period, has not allowed a goal in regulation this postseason. He stopped all eight shots he faced in 26:15 of work on Monday at Florida and was 7-for-7 on Wednesday prior to the OT game winner.
THEY SAID IT
O’Reilly on moving on from the loss:
“It's back to work tomorrow; back at it. There were some good things in the game that we did well, but there are things personally you just want to be better at and work through and honestly, as a group, just structure and such. I'm sure we’ll review it and take the lessons from it.”
O’Reilly on playing at a fast pace:
“I think this whole training camp, the pace has been very high and [we’re] just getting more and more comfortable with it. Especially having the structure at that pace… At times, it’s just not predictable because it's not comfortable yet. I think as the game went on we did get more comfortable with it then. Once you're on the same page, it is dangerous and will be effective… We have a full group doing that and being committed to it. I think it'll be very effective. And I think it just gets easier; even tonight, everyone's working hard, but sometimes you’re just kind of questioning if you're in the right spot and such, and it makes it hard on everyone out there. So the more we get comfortable with it, the more we can trust each other in those situations.”
Head Coach Andrew Brunette on the players’ adjustment to his fast-paced system:
“It's been four days and these guys are probably not used to that kind of style. We're asking a lot of them to get up. So when you get caught in between, when you're not sure, a lot of times you're making either a poor decision to try to get up or you're staying too far back and giving up too much ice a little bit on their part.”
UP NEXT
The Predators will travel to Tampa for their second and final preseason game against the Lightning on Saturday. The puck drops at 4 p.m. CT, and the game will be streamed on NashvillePredators.com and broadcast on 102.5 The Game.
