Four different Nashville Predators found the back of the net, but the home team ultimately fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime by a 5-4 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result sees the Preds split the first two contests of their four-game homestand but gives them points in three of their last four outings.
Jonathan Marchessault, Luke Evangelista, Steven Stamkos and Brady Skjei all tallied for Nashville on the night, but Bryan Rust’s second of the game eventually gave Pittsburgh the extra point in the standings.
“Effort was good,” Skjei said. “Our effort is never the question… The effort’s always there. Obviously disappointing, not getting two points. But again, we did some good things. No question, we took it to them. Obviously, a few D-zone mishaps led to their goals, but definitely more things we can take from this game to move forward with. And like I said, a good effort.”
“I actually thought it was a pretty good effort for the most part,” Evangelista said. “We were hounding their ‘D,’ making them turn, we were getting some good O-zone time, some good looks. And they’ve got some Hall-of-Famers over there. They made some great plays, put up some good points tonight and scored some big goals, and that's going to happen. So [if you] can just limit those big dogs [of] an opportunity, then, it'll be a different game. But I actually thought we did some good stuff to build off of tonight."
Marchessault gave Nashville a 1-0 lead when he directed a Filip Forsberg feed past Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry and into the twine, but Rust evened the score when he beat Juuse Saros at the side of the Nashville net.
Evangelista gave the Preds the lead back when he cashed in on the power play before the opening period was out, and Stamkos put Nashville up 3-1 early in the second stanza, but Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell both converted soon after to even the score at 3-3 through 40 minutes of play.
Skjei got Nashville’s fourth and final goal of the night in the final frame as he took a feed on the right side while streaking to the net and put a shot top shelf, but Erik Karlsson evened the score once more before the end of regulation to force OT where Rust ended it.
“We feel a little more connected,” Stamkos said of Nashville’s offensive efforts. “Certainly I think we're starting to get comfortable; whether it's settling into some lines or some of us new guys getting really comfortable with what we're trying to do and how we're trying to play. It's nice to see some pucks go in the net finally, but again it's a process that's better. Now, let's clean up some other areas of the game and hopefully we can keep getting some points here.”
From here, Nashville will continue their homestand on Saturday afternoon against Los Angeles, and they’ll look to carry the good from this one as they have over their last four games.
“We're just plugging away, or trying to chip away, trying to get back to even .500 at home, and go from there,” Preds Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We've had some overtime losses…and we let some games slip away and we won some. So, I think we're playing well enough to win two out of three…and when you play that well, sometimes you can get on a little run. And that's kind of what we're aiming for.”
Notes:
Prior to Thursday’s game, the Predators activated defenseman Jeremy Lauzon from Injured Reserve and placed Captain Roman Josi on IR with a lower-body injury. Lauzon returned to the Nashville lineup after missing 10 games, and defenseman Marc Del Gaizo also played Thursday after clearing waivers earlier in the day.
On Wednesday night, the Predators acquired defenseman Justin Barron from Montreal in exchange for Alexandre Carrier. Barron arrived in Nashville on Thursday afternoon but did not dress against the Penguins.
In addition to Barron, defenseman Kevin Gravel and forward Juuso Parssinen were scratched on Thursday.
Per NHL Public Relations, Preds center Ryan O’Reilly became the third player from the 2009 NHL Draft class to record 500 assists, joining John Tavares (598) and Victor Hedman (593).
Nashville’s homestand continues on Saturday afternoon when they host the Los Angeles Kings for a 12:30 p.m. CT start before Carolina comes to town two nights before Christmas.
