The Nashville Predators' comeback effort fell short in Monday's matchup against the Vancouver Canucks as Brock Boeser scored with two seconds left in overtime to give the Canucks a 5-4 win over the Predators.
Filip Forsberg put the Predators up early in the first period off his sixth goal of the season. Nashville fell into a 3-1 hole in the second period, and Erik Haula scored on the power play to cut into the Canucks lead.
Vancouver built its lead back up to two goals in the early third period, but conversions from Michael Bunting and on the power play, Nick Blankenburg, sent the game to overtime.
In overtime, Elias Petterson swatted the puck to Boeser in front of the net and he scored on a backhander to end the game. It was his second goal of the game.
"It's too bad," Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said. "I guess we're learning our lessons a little hard here. Factor (Ryan O'Reilly) did a great job winning a battle, and we kind of just let our foot off the gas.
"We got on the wrong side of stuff coming out of the corner, and that's why you play right to the buzzer."
Here are three takeaways from the Predators loss to the Canucks
Predators haunted by another overtime loss
Nashville has won beyond regulation this season, which was a 5-4 shootout win over the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 25. However, it is 0-for-3 in games decided in a five-minute overtime.
Against the Utah Mammoth, the Predators were dominated in the possession battle and saw Utah convert just under three minutes into extra time. Against the Canadiens, Cole Caufield stung Nashville twice at the buzzer, ending the game with three seconds left in extra time.
"It obviously sucks to lose, if it's in the first second or last second," Forsberg said. "That's kind of what I have to say about that."
Monday was another overtime, with the opponent dominating possession. Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes hung onto the puck for long periods of time and forced the Predators to chase them.
"You get a guy like Quinn Hughes skating around. He's hard to get the puck off, now he has more room, and he's kind of raging it, and waiting and waiting," Brunette said. "It kind of gets into that kind of game a little bit."
Nashville had one chance as Brady Skjei got a good look at the net. It was able to shove a few Canucks off the puck, but the Predators could not get a good rush going.
Unlike in the past, the Predators battled back to force overtime. They faced a two-goal deficit midway through the third period and got their offense going. It was an improvement, but not enough for the win.
"These games, the margins are so tight," Brunette said. "Night in and night out and for us to succeed, we're going to have a lot of these games. The positive I take out is we're going through it and we'll get better for it."
Power play flourished, penalty kill struggled
On most nights, the Predators' power play is bad, and the penalty kill is elite. Coming into Monday's game, Nashville had a 12.5% (30th) power-play efficiency and an 88.4% (6th) penalty-killing efficiency.
Against the Canucks, it was the power play that dominated and the penalty kill that sputtered.
The Predators' power play converted on 2-of-4 opportunities, which included the game-tying goal. It's the first time this season the Predators have scored twice on the power play in a game and the first time since April. 10, they've scored more than once with the man advantage.
"It's a big point for us being down two goals. It's never easy to come back in this league, and good resiliency by our group," Haula said. "It's nice that our power play was able to step up. We've been needing that."
It's the boost the unit has needed all season, considering the power play is one of the worst in the league.
"Obviously, the power play needs to be going for us, and, both units are contributing," Blankenburg said. "We've just gotta continue to build out and keep moving forward."
On the flip side, the penalty kill successfully killed off only 1 of 3 penalties. Their successful kill, which was one of two penalties on Vancouver's 5-on-3 advantage, was followed by a Canucks goal six seconds later on the 5-on-4 power play.
Nashville also gave up a power-play goal in the first period off a long one-timer shot from the point by Evander Kane. The lapse on special teams comes after the penalty killing unit debuted customized hoodies.
Kane scored his second goal of the game in the third period, which was on a delayed Predators penalty. It won't be counted as a power-play goal allowed, but it's another situation where Vancouver had the man advantage and scored.
Cole Smith's presence was missed as the Predators announced Sunday that the forward was week-to-week with an upper-body injury. He has played a significant role on the penalty kill.
Saros had to make up for offensive shortcomings…again
Nashville struggled with getting the puck on net all night, while Vancouver had no issues getting shots on Juuse Saros.
The Predators were outshot 36-29, had just four shots on net in the first period and barely eclipsed double figures in the second period. Nashville's offense is one of the lowest-scoring in the NHL, averaging 2.46 goals per game, ranking 30th.
Meanwhile, this was the eighth game this season that Saros was tasked with making 30-plus saves.
Saros continues to lead the NHL in shots faced and saves made, now with 361 shots faced and 325 saves made. While Saros is proving that he is one of the best goalies in the league, the Predators continue to ask a lot of him in the early season.
Everyone on the team, including Brunette, has praised Saros' efforts this season and stated how they need to play better in front of him. The hope is that Nashville doesn't exhaust him after the first month of the season.
Up next: Nashville Predators at Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. CST
