Matthew Wood recorded his first NHL goal, but the Nashville Predators fell to the Philadelphia Flyers by a 4-1 final score on Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena. The Preds outshot the Flyers by a 33-18 margin on the night, but the home team had the advantage where it counted by the final horn.
“Another tough loss - disappointing,” Preds Alternate Captain Ryan O’Reilly said. “Opportunities could have been different, but it’s the way it’s going right now. [We just have to] keep fighting.”
“It was a great effort, we played really well but didn’t get the result,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think we're all a little bit frustrated over it, but we’ve got to go through this. Every team does, and it's how we handle ourselves fighting through this. And the guys showed a lot of fight tonight, and I expect us going forward to keep fighting. If you play games like you played tonight, you're not going to lose too many of them.”
The Predators outshot the Flyers by a 10-3 mark in the opening 20 minutes, but neither team was able to find the back of the net. Nashville’s barrage at the Philadelphia net continued in the second stanza, but it was Trevor Zegras who found the back of the net midway through the period to put the Flyers up 1-0.
Philadelphia then potted another minutes later, but before the middle frame was out, Michael Bunting found Wood streaking down the slot, and the rookie buried a wrister into the twine to give him his first-career goal.
“It was great,” Wood said of the feeling of scoring his first goal. “It was a great play by my linemates, [Erik] Haula and Bunting there. And kind of a little relief, but a lot of joy. I’m just really fortunate to have that opportunity, and fortunate to have great people to have gotten me to this point.”
“He's a great kid,” O’Reilly said of Wood. “He works so hard, had some great chances. It's nice to kind of get that first one for him. Very proud of him. It's going to be the first of many for him. He's a great player, and obviously a positive there.”
The Predators continued to have their chances, but Zegras and the Flyers capitalized on a power play before adding an empty-netter to finish off the night and leave the Preds wanting more on the scoreboard.
“It's frustrating, it’s disappointing,” O’Reilly said. “Other guys are frustrated, too… It stinks, but what can you do? We’ve got to reset. There are some good things we did, and if we’re consistent with that effort, we're going to beat a lot of games and have a better chance to win a lot of games. So we’ve got to lead the way with that and come back to work and stick with it.”
The games keep coming for Nashville with another three in four days beginning Saturday, and all the Preds can do is take the good from Thursday’s loss and work their way out of their current skid.
“I liked a lot of our game,” Brunette said. “I mean, there's a couple things to clean up a little bit, but for the most part, I couldn't ask for a whole lot different tonight than what they gave me. I feel for them. It's an unfortunate result, but we can't feel sorry for ourselves. This is a really big and important stretch for us. So, we’ve just got to regroup. To go through these things, it's no fun, and never is. You always think it'll be good for you in the summer, but once you go through it, you're in it. We're in it here the last few games, but if you can get through it, you'll be better for it, and we're going to fight to get through it. We’ll bring our best on Saturday.”
Notes:
Preds defenseman Adam Wilsby did not play Thursday in Philadelphia and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Nick Blankenburg took Wilsby’s spot in the lineup and registered three shots in 20:52 of ice time while seeing time on Nashville’s top power-play unit.
Tyson Jost was Nashville’s healthy scratch on thursday; Preds Captain Roman Josi remains week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
With their single-game trip complete, the Preds will return home to host the Calgary Flames on Saturday afternoon and induct legendary Nashville broadcasters Pete Weber and Terry Crisp into the Predators Golden Hall.
