The good news in all of this? Nashville still has a 3-2 series lead. All they need is one more win. And they intend on collecting it in Colorado on Sunday evening in Game 6.
"It's difficult right after a game when you still feel it, but you wake up the next day and you do some work and you talk to the players, you accomplish some things and then you turn the page and you start to get ready for the next game," Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette said prior to the team flight on Saturday. "We have some work to do today. We'll get it done, but I think there's a lot of confidence in the room and belief in the room that we can go to Colorado and win a game."
A starting point for the optimism? A total of 45 shots registered on Avalanche netminder Andrew Hammond, who was making his first start of the season in favor of the injured Jonathan Bernier. Sure, the Predators only scored one goal. But another effort like that on Sunday? The law of averages says the puck will eventually go in multiple times.
"The shots were good and there were some chances," Laviolette said. "I still think we need to do a better job and there are some things to talk about. Their goalie played well, and we'll try to get a little bit better."
There are also items the Preds would prefer to improve, and as the bench boss alluded to, they'll hit on those points over the next 24 hours. And then it'll be time to get back to work, another chance to close things out.
"In playoffs, it's always up and down," Predators Captain Roman Josi said. "We have to look at some things from yesterday, but today we're all focused on tomorrow. We have a huge chance to finish the series tomorrow in Colorado. We're positive, and we're excited to play tomorrow."
"We know the situation," Nashville center Mike Fisher said. "There's no panic. We would've loved to have gotten it done last night and been relaxing today, but playoffs are tough. We're playing a great hockey team and things happen, it's just how you regroup… We're only concerned about one game and that's tomorrow. That's our focus."
A theme preceding and during this series has been the Predators learning from the experiences they've gained over the past three years. It's those experiences that tell them they still have a tremendous opportunity ahead of them.
Game 5's result stings. That much is obvious. But the Predators also have no room to be negative at the moment. After all, the postseason doesn't come without a little bit of adversity. Sunday brings their chance to respond.
"It's one loss," Laviolette said. "That's what the playoffs are all about; it's about picking yourself back up when something doesn't go your way and going back out and trying to make things right. There's a lot of confidence in the room that the guys will head on out to Colorado and get this done."
