Gustav Nyquist and Ryan O’Reilly tallied for the visitors, but the Nashville Predators fell to the Anaheim Ducks by a 5-2 final on Saturday night at Honda Center. The result sees Nashville’s five-game win streak come to an end in their first meeting of the season with the Ducks
“We got away from our identity,” O’Reilly said. “We talk about being harder to play against, and we didn't manage the puck very well. [We were trying to] find the east-west plays, and when we did put it behind them and take care of the puck…that's where we generated our offense from. So, it's tough. We’ve got to reset and get back to us. For myself, too. Leaders on the team have to lead the way, especially grab a hold of…when it's a game like that and simplify and get back to what we do. So, it's an issue, and we'll fix it and get back to what we're doing.”
“[It’s] a tough one,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I don't think we managed the puck very well. Kind of got away from us. I think we've done a really good job of late managing it, and tonight, too many turnovers without pucks in bad areas. We kind of got away from our identity a little bit. And the effort was there. I thought we buzzed pretty hard. You take away momentum swings. We give up two goals in a minute. All those things that really equate to losing hockey, we kind of did tonight.”
After Anaheim took a 1-0 lead, Nyquist evened the score in the opening period when he converted on a backhand shot on a breakaway for his ninth of the season. However, the Ducks took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission as Mason McTavish tallied with just five seconds to play.
O’Reilly tied the game at 2-2 when he put home a rebound at the top of the crease as the Preds made a push to start the second stanza, but Anaheim scored three unanswered to go up 5-2 through 40 minutes of play.
The Predators pushed in the third, and they pulled Juuse Saros with over four minutes remaining, but Nahville was unable to find the back of the net once more before the final horn sounded.
“It’s just holding each other accountable,” O’Reilly said. “As leaders too, it’s saying the right things and getting right back to what we want to do. It was a good run there. We found ways to win. Tonight kind of caught up to us with the way we were taking care of the puck, and it's a discussion. It's everyone digging back in, getting back to our identity and getting back at it.”
Notes:
The Predators elected to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen on Saturday night with Vinnie Hinostroza and Kieffer Bellows serving as healthy scratches.
Filip Forsberg extended his point streak to 10 games and joined Jonathan Marchessault (10 GP entering Saturday) as the second Predators with runs of that length this season. The pair became just the second pair of teammates in franchise history to post double-digit runs in the same season behind Roman Josi (13 GP) and Matt Duchene (10 GP) in 2021-22.
Nashville will now head home to host Vancouver on Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena before a back-to-back set in Buffalo and Pittsburgh later in the week.