Nashville Predators: Young players impress but fall in preseason tilt

The Nashville Predators were defeated in Tampa Bay last night, but the positives outweigh the result as young, unproven players impressed viewers.

The Nashville Predators may have lost in Tampa last night, but the result was entirely negligible. The Lightning dressed players like Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, and Chris Kunitz. Meanwhile, the Predators’ composed a first line of Miikka Salomaki, Colton Sissons, and Frederick Gaudreau. No disrespect to the latter group, but that’s a serious imbalance of power.

The Lightning came out strong in the first period, with Victor Hedman tallying his first of the preseason after just 33 seconds. At 15:37, Tampa doubled their lead via Nikita Kucherov. In typical 2016-2017 preseason form, the referee announced seven penalties during the period, four of which were slashing. From a purely objective position, it’s tough to take many positives away from a period that puts you down two goals.

Goaltending showcase

Juuse Saros and Andrei Vasilevskiy both played lights-out in the second period, in which no goals were scored. The Nashville Predators amped up the pressure offensively, generating some highlight-reel saves from the Lightning netminder. Defenseman Anthony Bitetto spoke during the intermission, praising the tenacity of the young team around him. Additionally, per Bitetto, they felt that an early goal in the third period would have them “sitting pretty.”

That early goal did not come, although the Preds did force more greatness from Vasilevskiy, much to the home crowd’s delight. Yanni Gourde tallied his first of the preseason after just 3:26 to take the Lightning to a 3-goal lead. This marked a bit of a turning point in the Predators’ ferocity. The lights seemed to dim as the deficit loomed. However, Austin Watson heroically knocked one in at 14:05. More excitement came as Saros evacuated and the Predators up-and-comers flexed their offensive muscles.

Special teams

If nothing else, this preseason is serving as an excellent building block in developing the all-important penalty kill. The NHL is making a point by calling every single tap to the hands or body, and cracking down on faceoff violations. Last night in Tampa, the Predators fielded a PK group of Petter Granberg, Yannick Weber, Salomaki, and Watson. In a solid performance, this group held the Lightning to just one power play goal, though the team was penalized five times.

Final thoughts

All in all, it was an exhibition game. The result should not disappoint any Nashville Predators fan, as the young, unproven talent took on an all-star NHL-caliber lineup in their opposition. Saros played well, the Lightning simply brought out their big guns and fired them accordingly. Tampa Bay is poised to be one of the most electric teams in the Eastern Conference, and taking a loss to their starters in the preseason is almost expected.

Next: More penalties means bad news for Predators

Fear not, Predators fans.

Nashville takes on the Blue Jackets in Columbus tomorrow at 2:00pm central.