Preds Return from All-Star Break with Loss to Stars in Dallas

A divisional matchup went the home team's way as the Nashville Predators fell to the Dallas Stars by a 4-3 final on Wednesday night at American Airlines Center. The result brings an end to Nashville's five-game point streak as they come out of the All-Star break with their first loss of the month.
Eeli Tolvanen, Matt Duchene and Yakov Trenin all tallied for Nashville on Wednesday night, and Juuse Saros made 23 saves in net, but the Preds gave the Stars six power-play opportunities and never had the lead as Dallas evened the season series at one game apiece.

"We have an identity that we want to be able to play with, and we didn't do that consistently enough tonight," Preds Head Coach John Hynes said. "We want to be able to play a consistent game and a brand of hockey that gives us a chance to win every night, and we didn't do that. I thought we played a volatile game, undisciplined, and we beat ourselves tonight … We gave up nine odd-man rushes - I think there were five 3-on-2's, two 2-on-1's, two breakaways - that's not a recipe to success. That's not the way we want to play. It's not what our identity is."
"I thought we started really well, played really well - the first 10 minutes especially - and created a lot of chances, a lot of zone time, and then we just got in penalty trouble and they scored on the power play," Preds Captain Roman Josi said. "Even in the second, I feel like we were almost killing the whole period, we took so many penalties. So, it's hard to get into a rhythm, and then obviously they scored that fourth goal and we couldn't get one in the end."

After the Stars potted the first goal of the night on the man advantage, the Predators answered when Tolvanen beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger through the five-hole for a 1-1 count after one period of play.
That score held through the first 16 minutes of the second stanza, but then the two clubs went back and forth to close out the frame. Jason Robertson beat Saros for the second time with another power-play goal, but 19 seconds later, Duchene deked around Oettinger to even the score at 2-2. Less than two minutes later, Roope Hintz gave Dallas the lead once more, but with nine seconds to play in the middle period, Trenin jammed home his 11th of the campaign to tie the game once more.

Dallas needed less than four minutes into the final frame to take a 4-3 lead when Luke Glendening converted on a 2-on-1, and that turned out to be the final marker of the evening as Oettinger stopped all nine Nashville shots he faced in the game's final 20 minutes.
"There were definitely some good things, especially in the beginning, but I think after we took so many penalties it kind of took some momentum away," Josi said. "We got away from our game 5-on-5 a little bit too, just maybe forcing things a little bit too much. I think it starts with the penalties. I mean, we've addressed it before, but we've got to stay out of the box."

The Predators will now have two more days to discuss how to reverse their fortunes ahead of hosting Winnipeg on Saturday night, and Nashville's bench boss knows what will be top of mind.
"We're going to continue to talk with the players about it and show them on video what needs to be done," Hynes said of taking penalties. "We did some things tonight that we've addressed, and we've been in situations where we've had complete control of the game and then we take undisciplined penalties - tripping penalties, offensive-zone penalties, put ourselves down 5-on-3 - so, it's awareness, it's mindfulness, its habits and it's got to get fixed."

Notes:

Preds defenseman Mark Borowiecki did not play Wednesday due to a non-COVID illness and is day-to-day. Fellow blueliner Matt Benning missed his second-straight game with a lower-body injury.
The Predators will now return to Nashville for a two-game homestand by hosting the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night (6 p.m. CT) and the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m. CT).