Predators Season Ends in 1-0 Loss to Canucks

That’ll do it.

The Nashville Predators put forth a valiant effort in a must-win Game 6, but ultimately saw their season come to an end after a 1-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Bridgestone Arena.

“Every time you have a chance to play in the playoffs, you want to make the most of it,” Predators Captain Roman Josi said. “Just the way we lost tonight and I think just the whole series, we felt like we were in the series. We felt like a lot of times we were also the better team and had our looks. And it stings right now. Not much more you can say, it hurts.”

“It’s hockey, at times,” Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “Sometimes it’s unexplainable. It felt like you’re in a really good place for a lot of those games, and especially our home games. I don’t want to say it’s disappointing, because I thought we played extremely well. They're a really good team, and every game basically came down to a margin, came down to a bounce. Even when we won, it was little things. And you're gonna think about it, unfortunately, for the rest of the summer.” 

QUICK HITS

Superb Saros

Of little surprise, Juuse Saros iced another stellar performance between the pipes on Friday, keeping his team knotted in a scoreless tie through 58 minutes of play. 

Unfortunately, a late marker scored by Vancouver’s Pius Suter would be the only goal needed to decide the game, and the series.

“He was unbelievable,” Predators forward Ryan O’Reilly said. “All season I think he was the backbone of our group and he was just unbelievable. And again tonight, he gave us a chance. Especially when we had some breakdowns, he was there to make the big timely saves for us. And it's tough. You feel like you let him down.”

“He’s all fight,” Brunette said. “The saves he made in the last two games to keep the score where it was I think speaks volumes of his commitment to be great. And unfortunately one went by him at the end. I had a feeling tonight it might have taken all night to get one by him and unfortunately one went in.”

Special Teams Struggles 

While the Predators largely liked their efforts at even strength, their power play left more to be desired once again, as Nashville went without a goal on three chances, including a four-minute double minor.

The Predators concluded their six-game series going 2-for-22 on the man advantage.

“That’s going to keep you up all night, probably,” Brunette said. “On the flip side, they only had two power play goals, too… I thought we had some things that were there that we missed. It needs to be better. I take responsibility for that. But at the same time, we put ourselves in opportunities to make plays, we just unfortunately didn't make the plays.”

Plenty to Build On

Though the sting of a series loss was unavoidable as the Predators exited the playing surface on Friday, Nashville’s locker room was no doubt also aware of their accomplishments as a group through a grinding roller coaster of a season and a gritty six-game run through the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“Proud of this group for the whole year,” Predators defenseman Ryan McDonagh said. “Especially in the middle of the year, we could have packed it in with our backs against the wall and on the outside looking in, but we really rallied and showed our character there. Obviously we had a pretty memorable stretch of games to get ourselves into a playoff position here. So I know it doesn't feel great right now, but there's a lot of things to be proud of with this group.” 

“I'm very proud of the group,” Brunette said. “I asked them to do some things that were uncomfortable. They went through some adversity, they hung together, they grew together as a group. And once the dust clears and the hurt stops a little bit, I think the players will look back and they'll be pretty proud of what they did and who they did it with and how they did it together.”

NOTES

• Juuso Parssinen rejoined the Predators lineup for his first game since Jan. 20 and recorded one shot, two hits and one blocked shot in his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut.
• Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Cody Glass, Gustavs Grigals, Cole Smith (upper body) and Spencer Stastney (upper body) were scratched and did not play in Friday’s game.