Games like this are bound to happen.
The Nashville Predators were red-hot, but so were the Vancouver Canucks. But it was the former who came crashing back down to earth as the latter handed them a 5-2 defeat to complete the season sweep and snap Nashville’s four-game win streak.
The Predators allowed Vancouver’s first two goals within 31 seconds of each other in the final minutes of the first period. Just when it looked like Nashville had climbed back into the game with a Jeremy Lauzon goal in the second, the Canucks immediately slammed the door with two unanswered – 46 seconds apart this time – to retake the two-goal lead. The rest, as they say, is history.
Predators’ Mental Game
Predators head coach Andrew Brunette didn’t exactly pull any punches when asked to assess his team’s performance against Vancouver.
“I don’t think anybody on our team looked really good,” Brunette said. “[Vancouver’s] a really good team. Obviously, they’ve got a lot of weapons. They play the right way. They’re very well-coached. They don’t give you a lot of space or room out there, and they make you earn it. Tonight, it honestly didn’t really feel like we earned it; and that was the game.”
"We didn't do the right things and that is the disappointing part"
— Bally Sports: Preds (@PredsOnBally) December 20, 2023
Andrew Brunette after tonight's loss to Vancouver👇 @KaraHammer | #Smashville pic.twitter.com/q4Jm0WyooD
As Brunette sees it, at least four of the Canucks’ five goals were easily avoidable – or, in some cases, entirely self-inflicted. Low energy, mental lapses and poor concentration were to blame, he said.
“I didn’t like our focus,” Brunette said. “That’s something we talked about, especially this time of year with everything that’s going on. Mentally, we weren’t sharp. We didn’t have the energy, either. I think you rinse it, but I think there has to be some lessons learned. We’ve had some of these games where… we kind of self-inflict. It’s happened earlier in the year at different times, and it kind of showed up again.”
Related: 3 Takeaways from the Predators’ 3-1 Win Over Capitals
Brunette made several more mentions of his team’s shortcomings and self-inflicted wounds against the Canucks, not the least of which were mental.
“I thought we just self-destructed tonight,” Brunette said. “ There have been other games where the other team’s really taken it to us. But tonight, I felt that we cost ourselves four goals with mental breakdowns; and those are hard to overcome, especially the momentum swings after you make it 2-1. To me, that was the hockey game.”
Goaltending Isn’t Enough
The Canucks tallied their fifth and final goal at 1:16 of the third period, prompting Kevin Lankinen to tag in for Juuse Saros between the pipes and make 11 saves in relief. The result saw Saros’ career-high six-game win streak come to an end and left his teammates understandably frustrated and eager to play better in front of him.
“We’ve got to be better for [Saros],” Lauzon said. “We knew they were a good team, and they had a lot of offensive power, and we kind of let him down a little bit. I think we’ve got to bear down, and I think we weren’t ready for that game. We let them have an easy game.”
Lauzon did his part to keep the Predators in the game before it quickly got out of hand, cutting Nashville’s deficit to 2-1 at 14:23 of the second period with a wrist shot off the rush. Lauzon’s goal was his third of the season, tying his career-high set in 2022-23.
LAUZON THE SNIPER‼️ pic.twitter.com/fxt6kZF5fZ
— Bally Sports: Preds (@PredsOnBally) December 20, 2023
“I think I’ve just tried to play simple,” Lauzon said. “I know my role. I know the type of player I am. I’m not going to be a guy that’s going to be on the power play, but I’m a great skater. If I can jump in the rush from time to time when there’s space in front of me, I’ll do it. I think I have a good shot, so I can try to utilize that a little bit more and bring some offense.”
Predators: Rinse & (Don’t) Repeat
The loss saw the Predators move to 18-14-0 after a dominant month in which they led the NHL in points (26), wins (13) and point percentage (81.2) dating back to Nov. 15. Still, it’s a long season that isn’t yet half over.
“We need to be better,” Brunette said. “We haven’t played a good 60-minute game here for a while, so that’s going to be the focus.”
The players, for their part, are confident that the team is better than their performance against Vancouver would indicate. The key will be how they respond to their next challenge.
“I think it’s something obviously we’re going to discuss,” forward Ryan O’Reilly said. “Review it, see where we went wrong and adjust from there. But mentally, individually, I think we all know the areas we have to be a little bit better in. We have to put it behind us, and we’ve got a chance to respond in Philly.”
The Predators will be back in action on Thursday (Dec. 21) with a road matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers.
