Nick Bonino of the Nashville Predators [Photo courtesy of Getty Images]
The Preds entered the third period with a 3-2 lead, thanks in part to Bonino’s two tallies, as well as the first three-point night of Kevin Fiala’s career, but the Rangers scored twice in the final frame to earn the victory.
After the fact, there was frustration and disappointment in the Nashville locker room, but also the belief that the group is close to breaking out of the slump, something they desperately want to accomplish.
“[The losses] are mounting, and we have to put an end to it,” Preds Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “We did enough good things through the course of the game, we got ourselves a lead going into the third, and I think that’s what makes it a tough one to swallow is because, typically we’re good in that situation where we have a lead. We go out, we close it down or get the next goal and it didn’t happen.”
“We can’t lose six in a row, not in this League and not in this division, not with the parity there is,” Bonino said. “We’ve just got to get better.”
New York took a 1-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest on a power-play goal, but the Preds struck back with a man-advantage marker of their own, courtesy of a tip from Bonino off a Mattias Ekholm point shot.
The 1-1 draw held after 20 minutes, and after the Rangers took the lead once more early in the second, Fiala converted off a 2-on-1 by beating Henrik Lundqvist for his seventh of the season. Then, on the power play once more, Bonino deposited a rebound in front for his second of the contest and first multi-goal game as a member of the Preds.
In the third, Marc Staal evened the score at three, and Jesper Fast’s second of the evening with 12:25 left proved to be the game-winner.
“It’s not good enough for us, and we need to be better,” Fiala said. “We want to be the top team in the League, and we know that we can be that, we just have to do better.”
From here, the Preds will jet off to Washington D.C., for a date with the defending Stanley Cup champions as they’ll not only look to bust their overall streak, but also the road skid of 10-straight defeats.
The team will have their mothers along for the trip, something that they hope – combined with building off the positives of the last two outings – will help them get back on the right side of the ledger.
“We find ourselves losing a bunch in a row, and at times, that’s going to happen throughout the year,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “We’re going to have ups and downs; the injury bug or whatever it is. But, we’re not here to make excuses. We’re going to prepare the same way and work hard. We know it will turn eventually, and when it does, we’ll come out a better team because of it.”
Notes:
Preds forward Kyle Turris was absent from Saturday’s game and is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Forward Filip Forsberg joined the Preds for their morning skate prior to Saturday’s game, the first time he’s skated with the team since suffering an upper-body injury earlier this month.
Zac Rinaldo and Anthony Bitetto re-entered the Nashville lineup on Saturday night.
The Preds will play their final game of the 2018 calendar year on Monday when they pay a visit to the Nation’s Capital to face the Capitals at 11:30 a.m. (CT). Nashville will then return home to host the Philadelphia Flyers on New Year’s Day, a 7:30 p.m. puck drop. Thunder Radio will bring you BOTH contests as part of the Fifth Third Bank/Nashville Predators Radio Network. Predators hockey is brought to you locally by the law offices of Burch and Lockhart
