Steven Stamkos and Juuso Parssinen both scored for the second consecutive night, but the Nashville Predators fell to the Florida Panthers by a 6-2 final on Thursday at Amerant Bank Arena. The result gives the Preds consecutive losses in back-to-back outings, and the visitors didn’t achieve the desired outcome in Florida.
“They were just way better than us,” Preds Captain Roman Josi said. “From start to finish, they kind of embarrassed us out there. I felt like they were just the way better team. They were faster, they were quicker, they made better plays, they won battles, and just in every aspect of the game we’ve got to…play a lot better as a team. Like I said, they kind of embarrassed us tonight.”
“I actually thought, you know, back-to-back, tough travel, I thought we came out with some pretty good energy, but kind of the story this season all summed up,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We made some mental mistakes, and then we took way too many penalties. Florida is a fast team, but we can't play against them shorthanded the whole game. And kind of careless penalties two nights in a row here that put us behind the eight ball.”
The Panthers had a 2-0 lead just over five minutes into Thursday’s contest with goals from Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk. Florida doubled that lead midway through the second stanza as Evan Rodrigues and Carter Verhaeghe found the back of the net.
Stamkos got the Preds on the board with a one-timer on the power play on a feed from Josi. The goal gives Stamkos six points in his last six games.
Florida added their fifth of the night before the middle period was out, and they went up 6-1 in the final frame before Parssinen tipped in Nashville’s second of the night to finish out the scoring.
Nashville went 1-for-6 on the power play and killed off six of Florida’s eight chances with the man advantage in a game that saw both teams combine for 44 penalty minutes. Preds goaltender Scott Wedgewood made 28 saves in the loss.
Now, the Predators will turn their attention to Saturday night when they host the Utah Hockey Club for the first time, and Nashville will certainly be eager for the chance at a better performance.
“Regardless of expectations, it's not fun to be in this situation,” Josi said. “We’ve got to find a way out of it. It feels like there's games like last night [in Washington] we play better. We couldn’t get the win, but I thought our game was better. And then come into the night and we take a step back again. It’s not fun at all right now. We’ve got to figure out really quickly, and we’ve got to get consistency in our game and do it every night. And if you don't do it, you see what happens tonight.”
“I mean, obviously you're concerned about the record, but it's more how we're playing every night,” Brunette said. “We just can't seem to grab any momentum… We're just not grasping the connection here with this group, and that's the frustrating part. The record is the record for me. It's more of the process right now. I think we put ourselves, obviously, in a tough spot, but we were 5-10 last year [to start the season]. In this League, you never know what can happen, but for me, the biggest thing is our standard, and our standard has not been upheld here.”
Notes:
Predators forward Colton Sissons, who left Wednesday’s game in Washington after blocking a shot, did not play Thursday and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Forward Tommy Novak (day-to-day, upper body) was also out of the lineup Thursday.
Mark Jankowski replaced Sissons in the Nashville lineup against the Panthers, while defenseman Dante Fabbro was scratched.
The Predators return home to host Utah on Saturday night before a five-game road trip arrives next week.
