Penalties proved costly in a game where the Nashville Predators led the majority of the way.
A late goal by the Lightning in the third period and a conversion in the third round of the shootout gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 win over the Predators on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena.
“I didn’t like our third period,” Predators head coach Andrew Brunette said. “Obviously, starting the game with a penalty didn’t help anything. I thought we got going and had a great second [period]. In the third we were kind of waiting around a little bit.”
The Predators were scoreless in the shootout as Steven Stamkos, Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault all missed on their attempts. Boris Katchouk scored the game-winning goal for the Lightning.
Here are three takeaways from the Predators preseason shootout loss to the Lightning.
Fans got a taste of what could be ahead of the Predators’ 2025 5th overall pick, Brady Martin, as he scored twice in the second period, both from the same area of the ice.
“It’s the biggest crowd I’ve ever played in front of,” Martin said. “It’s pretty cool to score in front of a crowd like that and to hear them go wild is pretty cool.”
On the first goal, Martin scored from the right side of the slot off a pass from Matthew Wood, who was on the right side of the goal line close to the net.
His second goal came on the power play on the opposite side. Michael Bunting gave Martin a pass from just above the left side goal line and Martin one-timed it high into the net. The Predators’ top prospect was due for a goal as he led the Predators in ice time after the first period.
Martin finished the night with those two points. He’s been playing in a prominent spot in the lineup in these first two preseason games, centering the second line with Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault.
This bodes well for Martin as he’s looking to crack the Predators roster instead of heading back to Sault St. Marie for another season of juniors.
“Playing with the veterans, they’re leading me along the way,” Martin said. “I think just playing with them is helping me a lot. Learning all different tips and tricks is going to hopefully help me in the future.”
The Lightning committed 20 minutes in penalties in their first preseason game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. That carried over into Tuesday’s matchup as they logged 12 penalty minutes.
At the same time, the Predators committed 18 minutes in penalties, one of which was assessed before the game had officially started. Six seconds into the game, Fedor Svechkov was given a delaying game – Face-off violation for a hand pass. After he committed the penalty, the clock was reset to 20 minutes.
“He [Svechkov] played with his hand right off the face-off and that’s a penalty,” Brunette said. “They [the officials] brought it back to center ice and reset the clock, because it wasn’t a legal puck-drop. I didn’t know the rule either.”
Another notable penalty came in the second period when Jonathan Marchessault was given a two-minute minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. Tampa’s Grant Spada, who engaged with Marchessault on the penalty, was given a double-minor, putting the Predators on the power play.
Marchessault was in the box again for roughing in the third period.
What this all means is the Predators penalty killing and power play units got a lot of work.
Nashville was on the power play five times for a 9:12 total minutes, and converted on 1-of-5 opportunities. It was on the penalty kill six times and had a 100% execution.
The Predators took half of their six penalties in the third period, and while they were able to kill off each one, they were rarely on the attack and ultimately scored the game-tying goal.
On paper, the Predators’ special teams had a strong night, but they had constantly hampered themselves due to penalties.
On Tuesday, the Predators only top scorer from last season that did not play was Ryan O’Reilly.
Meaning that Nashville had all of its firepower, including Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Jonathan Marchessault, Steven Stamkos and more. The top of its depth chart played Tuesday night.
The Lightning did not bring at least nine of their top scorers from last season, which included Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Darren Raddysh was the only player who traveled and scored at least 30 points in a single game last season.
Even it’s goaltending tandem, Brandon Halverson played one game last season.
On paper, this should’ve been a game that the Predators ran away with, similar to their pair of victories over the Panthers on Sunday. However, Nashville played into the penalties, and it ultimately cost them in the end.
“The lucky thing is that game did not count, so we learn from it, go in tomorrow, practice hard and move on from it,” forward Michael Bunting said. “It’s just an unfortunate ending.”
While it is the preseason and the results don’t count, it is somewhat concerning that the Predators, at near full strength, struggled against the Lightning’s prospects, AHL players, and a few regulars.
It’s not going to get any easier for the Predators as they will travel to Tampa Bay on Saturday and Carolina on Sunday, face those top squads and may be depleted in those games as their top players may not travel.
One preseason loss is not the end of the world, as the Predators have three more games left before they open their 82-game slate against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 9 in Nashville.
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