Preds Give Up Early Lead, Fall 4-2 to Flames

The Nashville Predators jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, but four unanswered goals by the Calgary Flames led to a 4-2 loss on Tuesday at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Juuse Saros made a season-high 35 saves on 38 shots faced for the Predators, who moved to 5-7-0 on the season with the loss.

The Predators took an early 2-0 lead despite being outshot by the Flames, 17-6, in the first period. Nashville opened the scoring at 4:35, when Marc Del Gaizo found Liam Foudy in the circle and Michael McCarron directed Foudy’s pass home to make it 1-0. 

The Preds capitalized on a broken play by Calgary later in the opening frame, and Kiefer Sherwood scored on a give-and-go with Luke Evangelista to give Nashville the 2-0 lead at 14:34.

The Flames got within one at 15:06 of the second period, when Dillon Dube buried a feed from Nikita Zadorov off the rush to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Noah Hanifin went top shelf to tie the score at 2-2 at 4:45 of the third period. Calgary took a 3-2 lead less than two minutes later, when Blake Coleman took advantage of a 2-on-1 and found the back of the net with a top-shelf snipe of his own.

Nazem Kadri scored into the empty net at 18:21 for the 4-2 final.

PREDS STANDOUTS

Juiced Up: Saros’ 35 saves and 38 shots faced are both season highs. He is 8-2-1 in 11 career games against the Flames.

Chief Kief: Sherwood potted his third goal of the season in the first period, snapping a four-game point drought. He and his linemates, Tommy Novak and Evangelista, have combined for 23 points (10g-13a) in Nashville’s first 12 games.

Tommy’s Hot: With the secondary assist on Sherwood’s first-period goal, Novak has now recorded seven points (4g-3a) in his last seven games. 

Out for Vange-ance: With the primary assist on Sherwood’s goal, Evangelista now has nine points (1g-7a) in his last eight games, including two multi-point efforts.

Big Mac: McCarron’s redirect in the opening frame was his first goal of the season. He earned his only other point this season (1a) on Oct. 19 against the New York Rangers.

Delly, Again: With an assist on McCarron’s first-period tally, Del Gaizo now has two points (2a) in his first two career NHL games. He made his NHL debut with the Predators on Saturday at Edmonton and earned a secondary assist on Filip Forsberg’s first-period goal. 

THEY SAID IT

Sherwood on his assessment of the game:

“We're playing with fire, to a man. But we weren’t good enough. We weren't winning battles and weren't sharp enough. It’s just a matter of time when you play like that you can't hold on to a lead and you’re just on your back foot. We didn't have a response, and we’ve got to come ready because we took a step in the right direction against Edmonton, but we didn't do that tonight.”

Sherwood on where the game went wrong for Nashville:

“I don't think we were able to get enough possession and establish our forecheck and create turnovers. For our team, it’s a lot more taxing when you're playing defense, and we played more of the game in the D zone and we didn't get pucks out. I think we’ve still got a ways to go on the blue lines; we're not winning the battles on the blue lines.”

Sherwood on the play of Saros: 

“He kept us in it in the first period. He's doing exactly what he needed to do. Unfortunately, we didn't. We didn't come back and respond like we needed to. He's the backbone of the team, obviously, and we’ve got to find ways to support him.”

McCarron on the loss:

“I think [Calgary] had had a lot of great chances. [Saros] stood on his head for us the whole night and at the end of the day, we just gave up too many grade-A chances against them. You’ve got to limit those, even against one of the best goalies in the world.”

Head Coach Andrew Brunette on his assessment of the game:

“I think of all of our games this year, this is the first game that I walked away really disappointed in our group. I thought it was very flat. It wasn't anywhere near as good as we can play.”

Brunette on where the game got away from them:

“I think the game got away from us a little bit early… We just didn't respond. We lost way too many puck battles. When you're slow and you're not quick on pucks, you defend. We defended way too much tonight. 

UP NEXT

The Predators conclude their five-game road trip on Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets. The puck drops at 7 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.