Predators Drop Two In A Row, Dominant Swedish Meatballs

Playing one defenseman down against the Colorado Avalanche on the road wasn’t how Nashville drew up finishing a two-game road trip.

After taking a 4-2 lead in Ball Arena over the weekend Ryan McDonagh was assessed a match penalty for an illegal check on Avalanche forward Ross Colton.

Nashville had to continue without their best penalty killer and only surrendered one powerplay goal as the Avalanche then went on to score four more to win 7-4.

Head coach Andrew Brunette knew the penalty would lead to his defensemen being depleted but they had to continue to fight against one of the NHL’s best teams.

“You leave the rink feeling pretty good about yourself even though I thought we did some things that were uncharacteristic at different times,” Brunette said. “We talked about that goal in the last minute. The little things that early in the year we were doing and we went through a stretch where we weren’t doing it, but we’re not perfect and we’ll move on.”

Brunette thought his team created enough in the two losses this last week and now it’s about tweaking a few areas to be prepared to face off against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.

Looking back at his hit McDonagh said he didn’t regret his decision to make a play on Colton in open ice but he’s glad the forward is okay.

“My intent was not to hurt anybody out there, I try it play physical when I can and don’t go out of my way to look for hits,” McDonagh said. “I was happy to see he was okay. I didn’t know who it was at the time and It wouldn’t change my intent either way. The puck was bouncing off of the boards kind of sharper.

“I’m just glad I didn’t hurt him anymore with any long-term effects. Unfortunately, I know I put the team down there and that’s what stings too is giving a team like that a five-minute powerplay and the momentum. It hurt cause we had control of that game.”

Not much to do here. I get the match penalty but Colton got clipped shoulder on shoulder.

pic.twitter.com/N6YxDRz65X

— Nick Kieser🏒 (@KieserNick) March 30, 2024

As the second period continued it was former Predator forward Yakov Trenin who came out with the eventual game-winning goal. He scored his second as a member of Colorado with 29 seconds left in the period to give the Avalanche their first lead of the game and the rest is history.

“You can’t play perfect every night, I think over the course of the streak we’ve found an identity and recipe that helps us win,” McDonagh said. “The two losses in a row here we played well at times but I think we were hurting ourselves, finding ways to lose games and [getting] undisciplined penalties, executions, not sustaining momentum when we got it on our side. Those things will happen, but it’s good for us to learn it one more time as we get down to some important games.”

Coming into Tuesday’s game the Bruins have 101 points and are 6-4-1 in their last 10 games. While it’s no small task for the Predators they want to continue cooking what they’ve been dishing out over the last 45 days.

“We have contributions from everybody and everyone is playing the way that’s expected of them,” McDonagh said of why this team is having fun. “Each guy has their strengths but there’s different roles on the team and guys are put in those positions to succeed. When we’re clicking it’s a great feeling in the room.”

One thing McDonagh would like to see continue is the defensemen being quick on getting to pucks and being strong in front of the net. In the end, the Predators need to get back to their style of play holding teams off after allowing 15 goals in the last two games.

Nashville is still trying to get the ‘X’ by their name in the standings, meanwhile, all the Predators are worried about is taking on the Bruins and St. Louis Blues this week as the end of the season approaches.

Another contributing factor to the team at this point in the season is seeing Ryan O’Reilly’s line alongside Filip Forsberg and Gustav Nyquist set the tone production-wise. While gaffes were apparent in the last two games O’Reilly has still been impressed by Nyquist’s play this season.

“He’s just so smart and reads the game so well,” O’Reilly said of Nyquist. “It’s not an easy skill to see. The deception of his speed, it always seems like he’s able to get the puck in the right area or make the little play of sucking guys in. It looks like he isn’t trying at times but it’s a testament to how smart he is.”

Calling Forsberg and Nyquist his Swedish Meatballs was something that just came to O’Reilly while playing with them.

“They’re not meatballs out there on the ice. They’re pretty silky out there,” O’Reilly said.

Stay tuned for all the action this week as the Predators magic number to clinch a playoff spot is eight. Nashville needs any point combination of eight points to clinch a spot in the postseason. Whether that comes from gaining the eight or other teams losing them behind in the standings.