The Nashville Predators know the situation they’re in. They understand that the odds are currently not in their favor, that the path forward will pressure test every facet of their game.
And yet, the path forward still remains.
Now facing elimination after a stinging overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, the Predators departed for British Columbia on Monday morning focused on the immediate task at hand: winning Game 5 on the road to force a Game 6 back home.
“We need to get the result,” Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “It's hard not to like a lot of parts of our game, but at the same time, we've got to find ways to close it out and find ways to win games. We talked about our desperation level after Game 1 and proved that we can get that in Game 2. We have that to lean on here and that's what we’ve got to do, is focus on winning one game.”
“It’s an Etch-a-Sketch, goldfish kind of mentality,” Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We had to win a game [at Rogers Arena] regardless. So just go win one. And everything, all the focus, all the effort is just about tomorrow night. It doesn't matter how you got here. This is playoff hockey. Things happen fast, things change fast, and let's change the narrative tomorrow.”