The Nashville Predators lost a special teams battle and fell to the Boston Bruins, 3-2, on Saturday at TD Garden.
Boston was the more penalized team – racking up 14 PIM compared to Nashville’s 10 – but the Predators’ penalties proved more costly as they led to all three Bruins goals.
Colton Sissons got things going early for Nashville in the first period, cashing in on the rush after Kiefer Sherwood found him inside the right face-off circle to put the Preds up, 1-0, just over three minutes in.
The Bruins got one back on the power play late in the first period, when James van Riemsdyk banked a shot off Dante Fabbro’s skate to tie the score at 1-1 at 14:48.
Boston took the lead at 14:46 of the second period, when David Pastrnak was awarded a penalty shot and beat Juuse Saros to put Boston up, 2-1.
The Preds got one back minutes later when Sissons tipped in a Roman Josi slapshot from the point on a delayed penalty, knotting the score at 2-2 heading into the second intermission.
Van Riemsdyk redirected a Charlie McAvoy point shot at 2:52 of the third period for his second power-play goal of the night and the 3-2 final.
PREDS STANDOUTS
Sissons Strikes First: Sissons got the Preds on the board first for the second straight game. He scored a shorthanded tally in the second period of Tuesday’s game against Seattle to give the Predators a 1-0 lead en route to a 3-0 win over the Kraken. With two goals vs. Boston, Sissons is Nashville’s leading goal scorer this season with three goals in the team’s first three games.
Juice Man: Saros stopped 19 shots at even strength in the loss. He has only allowed one goal at 5-on-5 through three games this season.
THEY SAID IT
Sissons on Nashville’s special teams:
“I think both sides of the special teams left us wanting more tonight. Definitely a lot of opportunities on the power play, but we've got to do our job on the penalty kill and it's not quite good enough.”
Sissons on Nashville’s 5-on-5 play:
“I think there's a lot of good to take out of the game. At 5-on-5, we definitely had some spurts of playing really good hockey and generating chances and playing fast, so I think there was a lot of good to take out of it and a lot of stuff to learn from as well. We’ve definitely got to watch the video and we keep getting better here.”
Head Coach Andrew Brunette on Nashville’s failure to convert on the power play:
“It was a little bit of a struggle. I'm not sure we were really sharp early. I thought we were a little slow all over the power play, so it wasn't wasn't crisp and clean. And it's one of those nights where, unfortunately, you get off the wrong foot a little bit, and you get six or seven [power plays] and they aren’t going well. I've been part of that as a player. It's frustrating. I think we had some looks there near the end of the second and just didn't finish.”
Brunette on the special teams battle:
“I liked our 5-on-5 game. That's a good hockey team. I thought we created enough chances. We defended well. We just had a couple of bad bounces and the penalty shot, and obviously when you lose a special team battle it's hard to win this league, and we lost.”
UP NEXT
The Predators return home to host the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena. 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. Click here for tickets.
