Predators Take One on the Chin From the Flames in OT Loss

These kinds of losses always sting the worst as the Nashville Predators blew two separate leads to lose in overtime to the Flames.

The Nashville Predators had their four-game winning streak come to a screeching end at the hands of the Calgary Flames in an overtime loss. It appeared the Predators were cruising to their fifth-straight win.

These losses always sting worse than regular ones because everyone knows the Predators let this one slip away. They had a 4-1 lead, were dominating the flow of the game and then seemed to let their foot off the accelerator.  You can’t do that against any team, but especially one who was the No.1 seed in the Western Conference playoffs last season.

The Nashville depth had to show up big time to keep this such a high-scoring affair. Aside from Calle Jarnkrok, the top two lines were unproductive with no points collectively. It took a big effort from the bottom six to build the lead.

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How it started

The game started with Nick Bonino lighting the lamp first. This was his fourth-straight goal scored for the Predators, going back to his hat trick on Tuesday night. He did it the same way he’s been doing it recently, which is parking in front of the net and creating havoc.

Austin Watson made it 2-0 Predators around five minutes later, and the Predators were off and rolling. Calgary did make it 2-1 before Calle Jarnkrok showed up to the party. Jarnkrok tallied two shorthanded goals all in the 2nd period to bust this one wide open.

Jarnkrok’s two shorthanded goals tied two separate franchise records for scoring two shorties in one period and two shorties in one game by a single player:

Everything seemed to be going as smooth as possible for the Predators entering the 3rd period. Pekka Rinne was locked in once again, and the Flames weren’t showing a whole lot of life. Then they strike in the first two minutes of the final frame, and the comeback was on.

The collapse

The first goal of the comeback less than two minutes into the 3rd period was a product of great team passing from Calgary. It ends with a Rasmus Andersson, his second of the year. It beat Rinne’s glove.

Even after this, no one in the building could’ve been too worried. At least I wasn’t. Nearly 12 minutes go by before the Flames strike again. But what changed this game was Calgary tightened up defensively, and the Predators couldn’t add anymore goals. Usually four goals should be enough to hold a lead going into the 3rd period, but not on this night.

Calgary would tied the game with a little under four minutes remaining in the game. This goal ends after a relentless attack from Calgary in Nashville’s zone. Rinne made a couple initial saves on the barrage of shots, but eventually Calgary’s Alan Quine banged it home past Rinne.

What makes this loss all the more heartbreaking is that Watson gave the Predators back the lead with just over a minute remaining for his fourth point of the night. Now you’re thinking that the Predators are going to dodge a bullet and get out with the two points we all thought they would cruise to. Not so fast.

All the credit goes to Calgary for making two big comebacks, getting this one to overtime and winning on a goal from Matthew Tkachuk with just two seconds remaining in overtime. Tkachuk scored the final two goals of the game for his 5th and 6th goals of the year.

Rinne’s gem turned into a rotten apple pretty quickly on this Halloween night. He’s still having a great start to the season and hasn’t lost in regulation yet through nine starts. This is one the entire team needs to get out of their system and move on. The offense is still clicking in an insane way, but we know that the defense isn’t perfect right now. Back to the drawing board as the New York Rangers are up next in a matinee on Saturday.