Viktor Arvidsson of the Nashville Predators
Five different Maple Leafs found the back of the net and the Nashville Predators fell to Toronto by a 5-2 final on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena. The result snaps Nashville’s 15-game point streak and gives them their first regulation loss in more than a month.
From the drop of the puck, an energized Toronto team utilized their speed and outplayed their opponents, with Predators Head Coach Peter Laviolette calling the Maple Leafs the quicker team throughout the night.
“One team was fast, the other team wasn’t fast,” Laviolette said. “To me, that’s where you get lopsided. The ice seems to tilt one way… We were off the mark with regard to that tonight and we’ll look to fix it and be better.”
“I think we deserved every second of that,” Preds defenseman Ryan Ellis said. “[A] good team came in here and played a lot better than us.”
Toronto took a 1-0 lead in the first period courtesy of James van Riemsdyk, and although Viktor Arvidsson potted a P.K. Subban feed on a second-period power play for his team-leading 27th of the season, the Maple Leafs added two more before the middle stanza was out thanks to Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
Mitch Marner and Jake Gardiner put the Leafs up by three and then four in the third period, and Scott Hartnell’s tally wasn’t enough for the Preds to mount a comeback with Pekka Rinne suffering just his second regulation defeat in his last 24 tries.
Although the Predators have predominantly been winning as of late, Ellis believes the Preds may have been getting away with a couple victories, their play not up to the standard they’ve come to expect from themselves as the season has gone along.
“I think you look at this stretch we’ve had with 15 games with points, and we’ve been squeaking out wins and finding ways to win, but that’s not playoff hockey,” Ellis said. “We’ve gotten away with that for some time, but it finally caught up with us playing a really good team. I give them credit. They were so much better than us tonight.”
Thursday’s result might just serve as a bit of a wake-up call for the Predators, and they’ll be anxious to rectify the results with a pair of heavyweight divisional tilts coming back to back this weekend up north.
“It’s Minnesota and Winnipeg – two tough teams in the Central,” Arvidsson said. “We have to pick our game to even have a chance to win against those teams.”
“We’ve been on a really good run, but tonight wasn’t it,” Ellis said. “I think we just need to shake this off, learn from our mistakes and realize the playoffs are around the corner. We have to be at our best.”
Notes:
Thursday’s contest against Toronto marked the 600th career NHL game for Preds forward Kyle Turris.
Anthony Bitetto, Yannick Weber and Miikka Salomaki were scratched for Nashville on Thursday.
The Predators will now jet off to Minnesota to face the Wild on Saturday night before crossing the border into Manitoba for a date with the Jets on Sunday evening. Nashville will then return home for a three-game set, beginning on Tuesday against Minnesota.
Pete Weber’s Postgame Report
