NASHVILLE, Tenn. — These are the moments and games that become part of a hockey team’s lore, the crazy ones, the inexplicable ones, the ones that sneak up on a Sunday afternoon of beer guzzling and catfish snapping and singalongs and unleash a completely different kind of evening.
Sunset was arriving just as Nashville Predators fans filed quietly out of Bridgestone Arena on Sunday, fitting imagery to describe a playoff series that now sees the Vancouver Canucks up 3-1 with a chance to end it in their building Tuesday. This feels over. That doesn’t mean it is — Sunday’s Game 4 is the best possible lesson against conclusion jumping in this tournament.
It sure felt over with the Preds ahead 3-1 and less than 3 minutes left in regulation, having controlled the game, against a team forced to start its No. 3 goalie and getting very little from its oft-targeted, oft-popped, superstar defenseman.
Losing that game, 4-3 in overtime? Considering the mistakes required to do so? To go from tying the series while finding the way to a clear territorial edge against a banged-up opponent, to enduring a five-hour flight to face what is now an elimination game against an opponent riding the high of one of the greatest postseason magic tricks in the history of its franchise?
Yeah. Feels over. Feels like Preds forward Gus Nyquist looked when Brock Boeser completed his hat trick with 6.2 seconds in regulation to force overtime — doubled over in the agony of disbelief. The Predators did their best to keep things matter-of-fact afterward, flush it and win one game, though Nyquist was speaking barely above a whisper when asked how many losses he’s experienced like this and said: “Not too many.”
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The realest Nashville Predators quote came from its former general manager, David Poile, shaking his head and walking in the hallway at ice level not far from the Preds locker room.
“Speechless,” Poile said.
And at that point, it was still technically anyone’s game, the break between the end of regulation and the start of overtime. That’s the thing — the Preds had time to regroup and figure out a way to enter this one into the “good lore” category. A nice, easy, convincing 3-1 win would have been preferable, of course. But what a show of mental toughness it would have been to win that game after squandering that lead.
Instead, the Preds gave up the winning goal 62 seconds into the extra session, and the defensive coverage was so inept, Elias Lindholm found himself all alone in front of the net to pop it in. The Preds may as well have been playing with five guys doubled over the way Nyquist was when Boeser tied it. Nyquist was on the ice for all three of the late goals, as was linemate Ryan O’Reilly, and it appeared O’Reilly was the main player out of position when Lindholm got the puck.
“We just kind of broke down,” Preds coach Andrew Brunette said, “and lost a little composure there near the end.”
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Boeser somehow found himself alone with the puck for the goal that made it 3-2 with 2:49 left in regulation, just as he found himself alone for the first goal of the game. On the tying goal, O’Reilly and Roman Josi both hit the ice trying to get in the way of a J.T. Miller shot, a slightly more forgivable way for Boeser to — you guessed it — find himself alone enough to have a shot stopped by a sprawling Juuse Saros and then have time to gather and send home the rebound.
That’s how an easy win becomes part of a franchise’s “bad lore,” a loss perhaps rivaled only by a 2015 playoff loss to the Chicago Blackhawks that involved a late collapse. But this one marks the first time the Nashville Predators have ever held a two-goal lead in the third period of a playoff game and lost it.
“It’s tough,” Josi said. “It hurts, obviously. Everybody’s a little bit hurt right now. But sometimes you’ve got to focus on the process.”
Things are going well in that regard, for whatever that’s worth, and whatever chance it may have to counteract the psychological beating this team just took. Colton Sissons, who was not made available to the media, had a chance to end all of this with a backhanded attempt at an empty net with 1:51 left, but he just missed it off the post.
WOW. Nashville Predators center Colton Sissons hits the post with an empty net with just under two minutes to go. 👀😬pic.twitter.com/I81fkWUEAj
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) April 29, 2024
That was not a gimme play under defensive pressure, by the way. Also, by the way, anyone who wants to put this game on Saros is more lost than the Preds were in the last few minutes of Sunday’s game. The Canucks put four of their 19 shots past him, and Saros — who also was not made available — had no chance to do anything about any of the four.
Mistakes like the Preds made will end the season of an overachieving team looking to pull a playoff upset real fast. They’ve overshadowed the fact that the Preds found their game again in two losses in Nashville.
As the sun started to set Sunday, they were in control of things against a team forced to start No. 3 goalie Arturs Silovs with backup goalie Casey DeSmith out with an undisclosed injury — making him unavailable to start again for star goalie Thatcher Demko, who is out “week to week” with his own undisclosed injury.
Josi, who assisted on Filip Forsberg’s goal to go up 3-1, was the better of the star defensemen, even with a puck to the ear creating a lot of blood and forcing an extended departure for stitches. The Preds were finding ways to get at likely Norris Trophy winner Connor Hughes, who was hobbling after a double hit from Colton Sissons and Jason Zucker.
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Zucker, Kiefer Sherwood, Michael McCarron, Mark Jankowski — the Preds’ role players — were causing problems for the Canucks. The top line was creating, with O’Reilly getting the puck to Nyquist for a two-on-one and Nyquist using the threat of passing to Forsberg as an opportunity to pick a spot and rip one past Silovs.
Tennessee Titans center Lloyd Cushenberry was snapping a catfish to quarterback Will Levis before the game, and Levis was kissing the catfish and pretending to throw it and getting the crowd riled up. Former Titans lineman Taylor Lewan was slamming a beer and lifting his daughter high after she guzzled some water to delight the crowd. The Bridgestone timeout standing ovation was in full effect, and everyone seemed to know the words to “Just A Friend” and “Fight For Your Right (To Party)” and “Friends In Low Places.”
LFG @titans pic.twitter.com/3ZtaWkU6Fr
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 28, 2024
Like father like daughter 😌 pic.twitter.com/irkwYUE4M1
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) April 28, 2024
It was a special day, and the emotionally invested could see a way to this franchise winning its first playoff series since 2018. Then it wasn’t, then night arrived, and now that seems as distant as 2018.
Brunette pointed out that he’s endured crushing losses as a player and trailed 3-1 in series and won them. He likes the way his team is playing, minus the expensive mistakes, and said of what’s ahead: “The hockey gods may give you a little bit of a break here.”
They might need to offer up something close to a miracle just for the Preds to get this back to Nashville for a Game 6 on Friday. The Predators winning three straight games to win this series sounds a lot less likely than the Canucks scoring three goals in a span of 3 minutes and 51 seconds to turn a two-goal deficit into an overtime win. And that never should have happened.
(Photo of Elias Lindholm scoring the game-winner in overtime: Steve Roberts / USA Today)
