Preds Score Twice on the Power Play in 4-2 Loss to Kraken

The Nashville Predators scored twice on the power play but ultimately fell 4-2 to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday at Climate Pledge Arena. 

Juuse Saros, who recorded a shutout against Seattle in Nashville’s home opener on Oct. 12, stopped 27 of 31 shots faced.

Seattle was just one second away from successfully killing a four-minute high-sticking double minor call on Adam Larsson that sent Gustav Nyquist down to the locker room at 2:36, but Tommy Novak got the Predators rolling with a power-play goal in the first period; he finished off a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from Luke Evangelista and Colton Sissons – the latter of whom had just come out of the penalty box after a tripping call – to give Nashville a 1-0 lead at 6:35.

With Dante Fabbro in the box for interference, the Kraken answered with a power-play goal of their own from Oliver Bjorkstrand at 15:21. Seattle then took a 2-1 lead on a laser from Adam Larsson at even strength in the final minutes of the first period.

Roman Josi capitalized on a Will Borgen holding penalty and netted the equalizer with a one-timer on the power play at 16:34 of the second period. However, Seattle retook the one-goal lead less than 30 seconds later on a Brian Dumoulin point shot.

Vince Dunn scored off the face-off to extend the Kraken’s lead at 8:38 of the third period for the 4-2 final.

With the loss, Nashville moves to 4-6-0 on the season and is now 1-1-0 against Seattle.

PREDS STANDOUTS

Tommy Yes-vak: Novak’s power-play goal in the first period tied him with Sissons for the team lead in goals with five. Novak recorded a three-game point streak from Oct. 21-28 (2g-2a). His seven points (5g-2a) are tied with Ryan O’Reilly for the second-most among Preds skaters, and he now has five points (3g-2a) in his last five games.

Out for Vange-ance: With a secondary assist on Novak’s first-period tally, Evangelista now has six points (1g-5a) in his last six games, including two multi-point efforts – on Oct. 21 vs. San Jose (1g-1a) and Oct. 28 vs. Toronto (2a).

Helping Hand: Filip Forsberg assisted on Josi’s power-play goal in the second period, extending his team lead in both points (9) and assists (8). Forsberg’s assist also earned him sole possession of Nashville’s career lead in points against the Kraken with six (2g-4a) in six games.

Captain Clapper: Josi now has points in six of his last seven games. His power-play tally in the second period was his second goal of the season; he scored his first, the OT winner, on Saturday vs. Toronto.

Carrier for Vezina: Defenseman Alexandre Carrier made a highlight-reel save to prevent a Larsson goal in the first period.

THEY SAID IT

Josi on Nashville’s play at even strength:

“I thought it was pretty good. Honestly, I felt like we had a lot of looks, a lot of good chances. Especially in that second period, we had a lot of pressure and it felt like we had a lot of really good chances that we couldn't capitalize on. Obviously, we’ve got to get some goals 5-on-5, but I feel like we're doing a lot of good things. It's a little frustrating right now because we're not getting the results; we're not getting the wins.”

Josi on what Nashville did well in the loss:

“I felt like we played with a lot of speed and especially in that second period, we put a lot of pressure on them. We did a great job forechecking and turned a lot of pucks over, which led to a lot of zone time.”

Head Coach Andrew Brunette on his assessment of the game:

“I think it's kind of been a constant theme of most of our games so far – we did lots of good things, and we probably deserved a little better. But at critical times, we didn't manage those situations well enough, and that's going to happen. Overall, I thought there was some good but there's things we’ve got to clean up.” 

Brunette on Nashville’s play at even strength:

“I thought it was good. I thought in the third we got away from our game a little bit and probably made some decisions that led to some odd-man rushes late, but I really liked the second period… Credit to [Seattle]; I thought they worked a lot harder than us in the third period, and we didn't manage the puck. Then we got into penalty trouble and we were chasing the game, and those are tough things to overcome.” 

Brunette on what Nashville did well in the loss:

“I thought we handled the puck, and we were on top of them. We had it a lot tonight, especially offensively. So I think those are little things to build off of. I think the last two games, we've done a really good job of being on top of things and keeping pucks; it was just those little plays in the second period and a face-off in the third period, and we were letting the team off the hook a little bit.”

UP NEXT

The Predators continue their five-game road trip on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers. The puck drops at 2 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on Bally Sports South, 102.5 The Game and El Jefe Radio.