Arvidsson Ties Record as Preds Fall to Blue Jackets in Fabbro's Debut

Viktor Arvidsson tied a club record, but the Nashville Predators ultimately fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets by a 5-2 final on Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result ends Nashville's two-game win streak and keeps them tied for first in the Central Division with 94 points.
The Predators kept pace with one of the League's hottest teams to open the contest, but Columbus began to pull away as time went on, a fact that left a disappointing feeling in the Nashville locker room when it was all over.
"In the first I don't like the way the score went," Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. "We're chasing the game, and it seems like we get in those situations, we haven't responded very well. We did fight back to cut it to one in the second period, but I think just the start, I don't think it was that we weren't ready to play or we were out-played necessarily in the first period, but the scoreboard goes in a different direction."

The first period saw four goals in total, and three of those belonged to the visitors, including the first from Cam Atkinson that came just 50 seconds into the contest.
Arvidsson evened the score midway through the period when he struck on a shorthanded breakaway for his 33rd of the season in just his 55th game, a tally that tied the Predators franchise record for goals in a single season.

"It's awesome, especially if you look at how many games he has done it in," Preds winger Filip Forsberg said of Arvidsson. "We have a couple more games to give him that on his own, and we will do everything we can for that."
The Blue Jackets got two more goals before the first was finished, and after Filip Forsberg brought the Preds back to within one when he tallied his 27th at 12:14 of the second stanza, Columbus got their fourth and fifth of the night with another coming from Atkinson, as well as one by Boone Jenner.

Predators goaltender Juuse Saros stopped Atkinson on a penalty shot late in the third period to keep him from recording a hat trick, but Nashville couldn't get any closer as the Blue Jackets won their fourth straight.
Predators defenseman Dante Fabbro made his NHL debut on Saturday night and finished with three shots on goal, three blocked shots and one hit in 16:12 of ice time.
Other than an unfortunate play at the blue line that led to Columbus's fourth goal, the rookie was solid in his first taste of NHL action, and credited his defensive partner Dan Hamhuis for helping him adjust to the pace of play.
"It was a lot of fun," Fabbro said of his debut. "Going into the game, I was a little bit nervous, but the guys really helped me out out there. I got an unfortunate play in the second, but I was able wash that away and try to get back at my game."
"He was really good," Laviolette said of Fabbro. "It's unfortunate [on Columbus's fourth goal] he got caught there, and it looked like he toe picked or his edge kind of wobbled on him and a guy got behind him. Short of that, I thought his game was strong. He delivered some pucks to the net, did a good job defensively, and moved things quickly. He's a good skater, and he seemed to see everything fine, so I thought his game was good for coming into that situation."
Coming off of an impressive victory on Friday night in Pittsburgh, the Predators were unable to duplicate their effort the next night, and as the final week of the regular season arrives, Nashville will have three more opportunities to shore up their game before the postseason arrives.
"Last night we had that desperation, and today it wasn't good enough," Forsberg said. "Columbus is a good team, and they played well tonight, but our game has to be better on Tuesday."

Notes:
Arvidsson is the third player in Preds franchise history to score at least 10 shorthanded goals, joining Greg Johnson (11) and David Legwand (10).
Prior to Saturday's game, the Predators reassigned goaltender Troy Grosenick to Milwaukee of the AHL and activated defenseman Dan Hamhuis from Injured Reserve. Hamhuis dressed for the Preds in Saturday's game after missing the last 12 with a lower-body injury.
Yannick Weber, Matt Irwin and Rem Pitlick were among the scratches for Nashville against Columbus.
The final week of the regular season has now arrived, and the Predators will play their last road game of the campaign on Tuesday evening in Buffalo against the Sabres (at 6 p.m. CT). Nashville will then host the Canucks and Blackhawks to close out the season before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin on April 10.