Joakim Kemell scored twice in his rookie tournament debut, but the Nashville Predators prospect squad fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s rookies 4-3 in their first outing of the 2023 Southeast Rookie Showcase in Estero, Fla.
The Predators took an early 2-0 lead, but the Lightning scored four unanswered goals en route to the 4-3 final.
“I think we were a little tentative early,” Head Coach Karl Taylor said. “We gave up the lead, and then we kind of sat back a little bit. They got two power-play goals. We let them get back into the game. They got some confidence, and then we had a chance to take it away from them but we didn't. That's a young group learning and just understanding what's happening.”
Navrin Mutter moved in hard on the forecheck and put pressure on the Tampa Bay defense force a deflection and was credited with a goal to put the Preds on the board first with the lone goal of the first period. Mutter, who was second on the Admirals in penalty minutes last season (72) and took two against Tampa Bay, profiles as a physical forward who isn’t afraid to drop the gloves, but he showcased his offensive upside in Friday’s game.
“I think I play physical every game,” Mutter said. “Those penalties today were stick infractions and I wasn't too happy with those, but I just try and play physical. I think my shot’s pretty good and I bring a lot of speed to the game.”
Kemell got things going early in the second period, receiving a feed from Jachym Kondelik and firing a one-timer past Tampa Bay goaltender Hugo Alnfelt from the edge of the face-off circle to extend the Predators lead to 2-0.
“I love to shoot one-timers,” Kemell said. “It’s always just fun to rip the puck.”
Yaroslav Askarov and the Preds kept the Lightning rookies off the board until 13:67 of the second period, when Declan Carlile cut Nashville’s lead in half to 2-1. With Zachary L’Heureux in the box for tripping, Tampa Bay tied things up on the power play in the final minutes of the middle frame. Taylor, for his part, was impressed with L’Heureux’s response.
“I thought Zach L’Heureux really played well,” Taylor said. “He had a mistake on the faceoff goal and then his response after that – he played really hard and really well. It's good to see that energy from him after making an error.”
Askarov saved 13 of 15 shots on goal through two periods of work before being replaced by Austin Elliott for the final frame.
Tampa Bay took the lead on an unassisted Joseph Carroll goal early in the third period. Emil Lilleberg scored Tampa Bay’s second power-play goal on an Egor Afanasyev penalty, but Kemell responded with his second goal of the game – another one-timer on a cross-ice pass from Tanner Molendyk – for the 4-3 final.
Kemell was the only Predators rookie to score in the five-man shootout following the conclusion of the game.
“I thought he did a great job,” Taylor said of Kemell. “I don't like singling guys out but obviously… he's got an elite shot. He can really shoot the puck. He's just the guy that really stood out for me.”
Despite the final score, Taylor feels anything but discouraged about the prospects’ performance in Friday’s game and views the rookie showcase as a learning experience.
“We want them to make mistakes,” Taylor said. “We're not worried. We want to win the game in the moment, obviously. At the end of the game, we had lots of good looks to try to tie it up. We're going to try to win every game we play here, but it's more about the guys understanding how we want to play, what the differences are, what [Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette] is looking for ,what we're trying to implement, so when they hit camp, they're ready to roll.”
The Preds rookie squad will return to action on Saturday in a 5 p.m. CT tilt with the Florida Panthers prospects. The full rookie camp roster can be found here, and the schedule is below. Both are subject to change. All of Nashville’s games at the showcase will be streamed live on NashvillePredators.com.
2023 NASHVILLE PREDATORS ROOKIE CAMP SCHEDULE (All times CT)
Saturday, Sept. 16, 5 p.m. - Predators vs. Panthers, Hertz Arena (Estero, Fla.)
Sunday, Sept. 17 - Day off
Monday, Sept. 18, 9 a.m. - Predators vs. Hurricanes, Hertz Arena (Estero, Fla.)
