Preds Begin Road Trip With 5-2 Loss to Canucks

The Nashville Predators scored two goals 30 seconds apart in the first period but ultimately fell to the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2, on Tuesday at Rogers Arena. 

Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson recorded a hat trick to lead his team to victory, while Kevin Lankinen made his first start of the season in net for Nashville and stopped 22 of 26 shots faced.

Sam Lafferty lit the lamp first for the Canucks, deflecting a Quinn Hughes shot past Lankinen at 13:45 of the first period. An defensive-zone breakdown for Vancouver gave way to a Colton Sissons goal at 16:10, tying the score at 1-1. Just 30 seconds later, Gustav Nyquist provided a screen in front of the net that allowed Dante Fabbro to bury a goal and give Nashville a 2-1 lead.

Canucks center J.T. Miller received two minor penalties late in the first period (hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct against Filip Forsberg) late in the first period, causing Vancouver to start the second period shorthanded. With Tyson Barrie also in the penalty box for hooking against Pius Suter, Pettersson beat Lankinen blocker-side at 4-on-4 to tie the score at 2-2. Vancouver re-took the lead on Pettersson’s second goal of the period, a power-play snipe from the right face-off circle at 16:38 of the second.

Nils Höglander and Filip Forsberg traded interference penalties early in the third period, and Miller put away his own rebound at 4-on-4 to extend Vancouver’s lead to 4-2 at 4:11 of the final frame. Pettersson completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 17:02 for the 5-2 final. 

With the loss, Nashville moves to 4-5-0 on the season and is now 0-2-0 against Vancouver.

PREDS STANDOUTS

Factor 1,000: Tuesday marked Ryan O’Reilly’s 1,000th career NHL game. He became the fifth player to play his 1,000th career NHL game in a Predators uniform, joining Mike Fisher (March 3, 2016 vs. New Jersey); Mike Ribeiro (Feb. 6, 2016 vs. San Jose); Jason Arnott (Dec. 20, 2008 vs. NY Islanders) and Cliff Ronning (March 9, 2002 at Florida). The 32-year-old center, who made his NHL debut on Oct. 1, 2009, played his previous 999 career games with Colorado (427), St. Louis (327), Buffalo (224), Toronto (13) and Nashville (8). The rest of the Preds arrived at Rogers Arena wearing custom shirts bearing O’Reilly’s likeness and “Factor 1,000,” a nod to O’Reilly’s nickname, and several Nashville players mimicked O’Reilly’s helmet-less warmup routine.

B.C. Boys: Nashville’s first two goals against Vancouver were scored by natives of British Columbia. Sissons, a North Vancouver native, now has 11 points (7g-4a) in 22 career games against the Canucks. Fabbro, who hails from Coquitlam, B.C., and has three points (1g-2a) in 11 career games vs. Vancouver; Fabbro’s goal in the first period was his first of the season and the first of his career against the Canucks.

THEY SAID IT

Sissons on his assessment of the game:

“I thought we did a lot of good things throughout the game at different points, but we certainly needed some more of what we came up with in the third, down a couple of goals and really pushing the pace and playing hard.”

Sissons on the importance of special teams:

“It was huge. We've had a few games this year where the special teams was the difference. We've been pretty solid 5-on-5. But we definitely got to continue to get better at the certain details of the game and tighten things up.”

Fabbro on moving on from the loss, looking ahead to Seattle:

“Just stick with it. It's a hard league; you're not going to win every night, but if you can keep putting out a consistent product and everyone’s playing the same role, that’s going to be what drives our ship. I thought we had a lot of good performances out of guys tonight, and we’ve just got to keep going and try to get some wins here.”

Head Coach Andrew Brunette on Nashville’s effort in the game:

“I thought the effort was there. I just think crucial moments were a little sloppy. I think when we were skating, we were skating with them; and when we didn't do the right things, we kind of defended a little bit too much again. So, it’s a learning lesson; we’ll take it, and we’ve got to be better.”

Brunette on moving on from the loss:

“Keep the effort and stay positive. There's a lot of good there. Our start was a little better. I didn't think we were completely sharp with the puck early, but we managed it with effort and drive. So those are some good things, but we’ve got to clean up the other things.”

UP NEXT

The Predators continue their five-game road trip on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken. The puck drops at 9 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.