The Predators are looking for their first home postseason win since game four of their series against the Carolina Hurricanes on May 23, 2021.
Tonight head coach Andrew Brunette is hoping to get to his team’s identity as soon as possible in game three against the Vancouver Canucks.
“We came in and got swept into the playoffs and we had an opportunity to go to the dance. They’ve basically been in the dance all year,” Brunette said. “We’re just excited to be here and we have nothing to lose. We feel good, play good, and try our best.”
Nashville is back in their home building and trying to take advantage of being in front of their fans, friends, and family.
“They’re frustrated a little bit, I think they felt they played well in that second game,” Brunette said in his pregame conversation with play-by-play voice Pete Weber. “Continue to be in their face and not give them time or space. Frustrate the highly skilled guys, and this is a good opportunity to push their will a little bit.”
One way Nashville was able to frustrate Vancouver and gut out a win on the road before returning to Bridgestone Arena was by blocking 32 shots.
Vancouver had 84 shot attempts in their 4-1 loss and defenseman Alexandre Carrier felt that their effort in the third period was what they needed to be victorious.
“Now we need to be cleaner on breakouts,” Carrier said. “We’ve been spending more time in our defensive zone and at some point when you play a great team like them it’s about finding chances and being clean on breaking the puck out.”
While clean play is needed from the Predators their special teams units will be itching for some consistency as well. Overall Nashville is six-for-six on the penalty kill but on the powerplay, Ryan O’Reilly has scored the only goal on eight opportunities through two games.
“We have to trust in our system and trust in what we’ve built through the season to this point,” Jankowski said of special teams play. “There’s some things to tinker and tighten up going into this game and I think we’ll be good.”
Tommy Novak on the rush during game two in Vancouver on April 23, 2024.
Jankowski said it’ll be important to remain connected on the ice in game three, especially coming through the neutral zone to create sustained offense on the Canucks.
Nashville has not eclipsed their regular season average in shots on goal (32) yet but hopes to get that going on Friday night. Forward Tommy Novak is one player who hopes to get going and help create those chances as well.
“It’s tough hockey there’s not a lot of space out there,” Novak said. “It was good to get a win coming back and now we’ll try to do the same thing here tonight.”
Novak and forward Luke Evangelista are new to playoff hockey and after getting two games under their belt they’ll focus on the chemistry they’ve developed all season. Novak wants to lean into that while he and Evangelista figure out how to be at their best in the playoffs.
“We’re learning a little bit, it’s a different game,” Novak said of his and Evangelista’s playoff experience. “Working hard to try to create things and it’s full steam ahead tonight in this game.”
Nashville put themselves in this position after learning a new system under Brunette. This postseason is simply a byproduct of all the relentless effort fans have seen firsthand as the regular season progressed.
Now it’s about controlling the night and rolling along trusting one another through the journey of playing in the playoffs.
“There are different things we could do a little better, different parts of game two and one,” Brunette said. “Our puck play wasn’t at a premium. I don’t think we gave ourselves a chance to really get to our identity and get to the forecheck. Get to taking away time and space, part of that is they’re a really good team. We weren’t as sharp in situations where we need to be.”
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Photos courtesy of Nashville Predators
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