There’s good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?
Let’s get the bad news out of the way. The Nashville Predators are now 1-10 this season in the 3-on-3 overtime. The good news, however, is that they’ve secured a point in five straight games with Saturday night’s 2-1 extra session loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
Ryan Ellis had the lone goal for Nashville while Jake Muzzin tallied in the opening period and Tanner Pearson notched the game winner for Los Angeles.
“The points are important but it’s disappointing coming off of a loss,” Nashville Head Coach Peter Laviolette said. “Anytime you leave an overtime loss, or a shootout loss, it’s difficult to be excited about a point. But, we’ve got to keep collecting them.”
The Predators are now 27-21-11, good for the final wild card spot in the extremely tight Western Conference.
“It’s disappointing to lose all these overtime games,” Pekka Rinne said. “It feels like a loss. Right now you don’t think about the point but I guess it’s a big point.”
Indeed it is. Despite the disappointment, since January 14 Nashville is 8-4-3 and has collected 19 of a possible 30 points. Furthermore, those points have come against quality competition. They dominated the San Jose Sharks two weeks ago, throttled the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Florida, went to overtime with the Tampa Bay Lightning and divisional powerhouse Dallas Stars, knocked off one of the NHL’s best road teams in the Boston Bruins and now notched a point against the Pacific Division-leading Kings.
The Preds will now head out on the road to take on the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs — two teams out of the playoff picture — and then conclude the trip on Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks. If they can win two of those three games, they should gain some momentum and confidence headed into the extremely important month of March.
Puck drops on Monday night at 6:30pm in Montreal. You can hear all the action on 102.5 The Game and the Predators Radio Network.