#LGRW Final: Bernier battles but Red Wings fall to Predators, 2-0

DETROIT --Since returning from injury on February 13, Detroit Red Wings goalie Jonathan Bernier has been stellar, and Tuesday night's performance was no different, but the puck luck didn't go Detroit's way as the Wings lost to the Nashville Predators, 2-0.

Bernier made 31 saves, but the Predators went 2-for-4 on the power play with goals from Filip Forsberg and Eeli Tolvanen, and Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne earned his first shutout of the season, helping the Predators improve to 8-10-0 while the Red Wings fell to 5-13-3.
Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said Bernier kept his team in the game, but said the Red Wings didn't execute well enough to produce offense and give themselves a chance in the end.
"I thought he did a really good job again," Blashill said about the veteran goalie. "It's a lot of games in a row where he's done a good job. He put us in a position to stay in it.
"I thought our individual players' execution and battle level wasn't good enough. Kind of across the board, individually, we needed to execute way better. We've got to be better than that as a group to really give ourselves a chance to win."

After a scoreless first period, the Predators believed they took a 1-0 lead late into the second when Forsberg found the back of the net, but the Wings challenged that Nashville center Mikael Granlund interfered with Bernier's skate, and after a lengthy official review, the goal was disallowed.
The challenge kept the game scoreless going into the third period, making it just the third time in 102 all-time regular season matchups between Detroit and Nashville that the two clubs went scoreless into the third.
The Predators peppered Bernier with several shots the first few minutes of the third, but the Wings' goalie was up to the task, keeping the game at 0-0 for the time being.
But Red Wings forward Vladislav Namestnikov was called for holding at 4:19 of the third, giving the Predators their third power play of the game, and Nashville immediately took advantage.
Seventeen seconds into the power play, Forsberg took a shot from the point that went off Wings defenseman Marc Staal's stick, floated into the air and over Bernier's shoulder, giving the Predators a 1-0 lead 4:36 into the third.
Forsberg was credited with the goal, earning his team-leading ninth goal of the season. The Predators' alternate captain has registered a point in his each of his last six games against Detroit.
Nearly five minutes later, Wings defenseman Patrik Nemeth was called for hooking at 9:02, and Nashville struck again on the man advantage as Tolvanen scored his third career NHL goal on a well-executed passing play that Bernier had little chance to stop, giving the Predators a 2-0 lead.

Bernier headed to the bench with 2:34 left in regulation and Detroit kept fighting with several chances, but the Red Wings came up empty, resulting in their third scoreless game of the season.
The Predators outshot the Red Wings, 33-24, in the contest, and Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said his team didn't do enough in front of the net to put significant pressure on Rinne.
"We didn't make it hard enough on him tonight," Larkin said about Rinne, who had 24 saves. "We had some looks, but not many second and third opportunities, not many times we had our team in the zone and made it difficult for them to defend. We just didn't get enough in their zone to make it hard on Rinne.
"You can't win if you don't score. We had some looks but we weren't hungry enough around their net and they scored on their power play. That was the story tonight."
The Red Wings hope to even the season series with the Predators when they return to action Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, with puck drop set for 7:30 p.m. Fans can tune into the TV broadcast on FOX Sports Detroit or on radio at 97.1 The Ticket.