Struggles on the power play and a lack of possession in overtime hampered the Nashville Predators, who fell to the Utah Mammoth, 3-2, on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.
The Predators were 0-for-5 on the power play and did not have a single rush in the 3-on-3 overtime period. Filip Forsberg and Erik Haula found the back of the net in regulation, and Brady Martin recorded his first NHL point on an assist.
“We had momentum most of the night, did a lot of really good things, probably deserved a better fate,” Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said.
Nashville failed to find the back of the net in the third period and Utah converted in the final three minutes of the game to tie things up. Dylan Guenther scored the Mammoth’s overtime winner.
Here are three takeaways from the Predators first loss of the regular season.
The Mammoth set the tone of what overtime would look like with eight seconds left in regulation. Instead of making one last push, one of their players went deep into their own zone and held the puck for those final seconds.
In overtime, the Predators couldn’t put together a single rush as Utah dominated the possession game. Even when Sean Durzi came off the ice after falling hard on his shoulder, and it was 3-on-2 for a few seconds, the Mammoth still managed to keep the Predators off the puck.
“We got a little bit, a little bit passive,” Brunette said on the Predators effort in overtime. ”Obviously, they’re the highly skilled team and they’re a fast team. When you lose the open draw, against them, it’s going to be hard to get it back.”
Utah cycled through the Predators’ own zone constantly before Guenther was able to find a gap, get goalie Juuse Saros down and score on his backhand to end the game.
Overtime losses are nothing new to Nashville as it lost eight games last year in extra time and won just four in the five-minute period. The loss to the Mammoth shows that the Predators need to clean up their 3-on-3 game.
It’s only two games into the season, but the Predators are 1-for-9 on the power play, for an execution rate of 11%. On Saturday, they had five opportunities on the man advantage and could not convert.
After not converting on their fifth opportunity of the night in the third period, Utah responded minutes later to tie the game.
“In the last period, we gave them too many looks,” Roman Josi said. “After they scored, I thought we had some good looks, but we couldn’t get a goal.”
The first unit is loaded with the Predators’ top players in Filip Forsberg, Jonathan Marchessault, Steven Stamkos, Roman Josi and Ryan O’Reilly. Still, the group looks unorganized when thrown into action.
“As a power play, we have to put the game away,” Josi said. “We had five power plays, but I thought 5-on-5 we played pretty well.”
Stamkos has been used as the trigger player on the right circle, but the Predators are struggling to get the puck to him. Shots are coming from the point and from the slot, but it appears the unit is struggling to establish a consistent flow.
It looked like the Predators had finally converted on the power play early in the third period as Josi scored blocker side. Upon review, it was determined that he was offside, and the goal was called back.
The Predators’ lone power play goal this season was off a low-to-high pass from Forsberg to O’Reilly, and O’Reilly had some impressive stick-handling skills to finish it off. It was more of an individual effort than something that could be credited to the unit.
In general, a lot of the Predators’ shots against the Mammoth came from in the slot and below the circles.
There were 45 combined shots in Friday’s game, with Utah owning the 23-22 edge. The Predators didn’t eclipse 10 shots in either of the three periods. On the other side of the ice, Utah had only three shots in the second period.
Nashville’s shot total on Saturday was 10 lower than Thursday’s total of 32 shots.
While Forsberg’s goal in the first period was off a turnover and a strong shot from the right side, the second goal was scored by Erik Haula in a net-mouth scramble. Luke Evangelista lobbed a shot toward the net, the puck fell in the paint and Haula tapped it in.
Haula’s conversion also came in another slow second period, which mirrored the pace of play in the second period of Thursday’s game.
“We played well enough to win the game, but we kind of took our foot off the gas there,” Haula said. “They were able to tie the game and in overtime it’s kind of a coin toss. They got the extra [point] today, but lots of good today.”
Nashville’s penalty killing effort remained perfect as it killed off all of Utah’s power plays. The Predators’ offense is still finding its identity, but is finding ways to put the puck in the net.
Seeing Utah come back late and close out in overtime, a strong offensive push is likely needed from the Predators.
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