The holiday cheer will be hard to find for the Nashville Predators after suffering another brutal overtime loss in front of their home fans, this time at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 5-4 final score.
The irony is thick with this one because finally the offense decided to come alive and give support to Juuse Saros, but Saros couldn't deliver his usual gem. Many of the goals weren't entirely on him and it's his first game of giving up five goals since October 31 in a loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
According to MoneyPuck, the Predators' had an 80 percent chance to win the game after Brady Skjei's transition style goal to put his squad ahead 4-3. There was a little over 12 minute remaining in regulation, and the Penguins would strike back a few minutes later on a goal from Erik Karlsson.
It was a relief to finally see Skjei find some offense by using some speed. The breakout was started by Zachary L'Heureux's pass up the boards to Ryan O'Reilly, with O'Reilly making a touch pass to the streaking Skjei.
L'Heureux is now up to five assists on the season, while O'Reilly notched his 500th career assist.
🍎s are always in season for Ryan O’Reilly.
— NHLPA (@NHLPA) December 20, 2024
Congratulations to the @PredsNHL defenceman on notching NHL assist. No 500! pic.twitter.com/hKJOMeKw4E
Nashville Predators can't win close games
To make things even harder to accept in the overtime loss, the Predators for most of the game kept the shot totals low for the Penguins. Entering the third period, the Penguins only had nine shots on goal but had three goals.
The other goal scorers for the Predators were Jonathan Marchessault for his ninth, Luke Evangelista on the power play for his fourth, and Steven Stamkos for his ninth of the season.
The Predators fall back to last place in the NHL with the Chicago Blackhawks getting two points in there game. To be this deep in the season and see this Nashville Predators squad in last place in the entire league has all of us speechless, and even General Manager Barry Trotz called it "unexplainable".
#Preds GM Barry Trotz: "Sometimes you can't explain the unexplainable." Says Preds got off to a tough start this season, but it's been tough to gain traction. "We are where we are, let's worry about our game... Andrew Brunette has done a really good job of adjusting our game to…
— Brooks Bratten (@brooksbratten) December 19, 2024
One thing that is really hard to explain is Filip Forsberg's continued goal drought. He's now at 11-straight games without a goal, and only one goal in his last 18. And yet he's still tied for the team lead in goals with nine, joining Stamkos and Marchessault.
Forsberg leads the NHL in a category you don't want to be leading in, having 71 shots that have missed the net entirely. This is an issue that has plagued the entire Predators team and is a big factor into why they're the lowest scoring team in the NHL.
The Predators just can't figure out a way to win close games. They have won a one-goal game since October 26 against the Columbus Blue Jackets are are 1-7 in overtime games.
Next up the Predators will host a red hot Los Angeles Kings squad who is 19-9-4 and 8-1-1 in their last 10.