Jonathan Marchessault scored his first goal as a member of the Predators, but Nashville ultimately fell to the Edmonton Oilers by a 4-2 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena.
The result sees the Preds remain winless through their first four games of the season (0-4-0), and although Nashville saw a better effort than their previous loss - a 7-3 defeat to Seattle two nights earlier - the end result still didn’t yield the desired outcome.
“There was some good there, just right now, I think we're having a hard time in the big moments,” Predators Head Coach Andrew Brunette said. “We’re kind of going in spurts right now where we put a good four or five shifts together, but we can't sustain those things. And if you look at our group, to a man, I think there's more there. There's a little bit more to give.”
“It was a good effort, and we're facing a pretty good team…so it was a good challenge for us, but for our group, we’ve got to find a way to win hockey games here,” Marchessault said. “We can't have [just] a glimpse of our game to be good. I think it needs to be more of a consistent effort, and we're not doing that right now.”
The Preds took their first lead of the season when Filip Forsberg tipped home a Roman Josi point shot midway through the opening frame, but Brett Kulak evened the score for Edmonton before the period was out.
The Oilers took a 2-1 lead midway through the second stanza when Jeff Skinner got a puck to cross the goalline after a scrum in front, but Marchessault struck on the power play with a beautiful redirection past goaltender Calvin Pickard to tie the game once more.
However, Connor McDavid potted his first of the season when he beat Preds goaltender Juuse Saros late in the middle period, and that proved to be the game winner with Edmonton adding one more into an empty net before the night was done.
“I thought it was better than the other night,” Forsberg said of his team’s effort. “We're competing, and I think we're doing a lot more things right tonight, but we're still leaving stuff out there, obviously giving up a few odd-man rushes again. It's hard to put a finger on it. I think we're right there. I mean, every game is tight. We're working hard, but we’ve just got to make a couple more plays, find that execution that we're kind of lacking in certain areas, and it's hurting us pretty quickly… It's a step in the right direction from the Seattle game, but still some work to do.”
Now the Predators will shift their focus to hosting Detroit - a team they saw just one week ago - on Saturday afternoon, and the home team will once more be searching for a victory.
“The reality is we're 0-4, so the urgency is high to get that first win, and it has to be,” Josi said. “I think everybody's got to try to give a little bit more. There’s a deep trust in this team, deep belief in this team that we're going to do it and we're going to get out of this. It’s a big test for us right now, but the urgency has definitely got to be high.”
“We just can't put it together,” Brunette said. “I don't know if we're thinking or we're deferring, or we're waiting for somebody else to do it instead of grabbing it ourselves...but every man has to play better. And to me, that's just the bottom line.”
Notes:
Preds defenseman Luke Schenn skated in his 1,000th NHL game; Schenn became the 395th player in NHL history to reach the milestone.
Per NHL Stats & Info, Filip Forsberg gave the Preds their first lead of the season and overtook Craig Smith (44) for the most game-opening goals in Nashville history.
Forward Juuso Parssinen was Nashville’s lone healthy scratch on Thursday night.
Nashville’s four-game homestand continues on Saturday afternoon when the Detroit Red Wings come to town for a 1 p.m. CT puck drop at Bridgestone Arena.
